When buying olive oil you will want to obtain a high quality EXTRA
VIRGIN oil. The oil that comes from the first "pressing" of the olive,
is extracted without using heat (a cold press) or chemicals, and has
no "off" flavors is awarded "extra virgin" status. The less the olive
oil is handled, the closer to its natural state, the better the oil.
If the olive oil meets all the criteria, it can be designated as
"extra virgin".
"Light" olive oil is a marketing concept and not a classification
of olive oil grades. It is completely unregulated by any certification
organizations and therefore has no real precedent to what its content
should be. Sometimes, the olive oil is cut with other vegetable oils.
So when looking for olive oli look for " first cold pressed extra
virgin".
Olive oil can be used for gentle sauteing or as a dressing or dip but
you should not fry ot bake with it, the oil is not stable enough for that.
For baking you can buy a tub of Palm shortening ( at the health food
store) or use butter or lard or any mixture of all 3. Lard at the
regular stores is hydrogenated, but you can usually buy (
house)rendered lard at the Asian supermarkets and often this stuff is
ok, unless they burn it..and your nose will tell you that ( yes, it
does come from factory pigs but it is not hydrogenated). It runs about
$1/lb. Sometime you can buy organic lard mail order but it seems to be
10-15$/ lb, out of my range...
Palm shortening is not the same as palm oil ( which is a red oil)and
you may be very comfortable baking with it as ir really resembles
crisco. I use half butter half palm shortening for pie crust. For
frying my favorite is ghee, which I have only been using a few
months..it's like cooking with butter only the solids have been
removed so it doesn't burn. I make my own ghee but you can get it at
most markets in OKC- the asia marts have it, the gyro joints, and Buy
for less- any place with a middle easter slant will have ghee (
generally not Wal-Mart)..
Kathy gibb
OKC WAPF Chapter

-- In WAPFOKCentral@yahoogroups.com, "Jamie" <shepdawgz@...> wrote:
>
> I have quit buying veg oil but was wondering what you all use in
> baking. Sometimes I use coconut oil and like it, although my kids
> can "taste" something different. I find the same thing with EVOO. Is
> light olive oil an okay replacement in that situation? Tell me about
> palm oil. I've never used it and know nothing about it.
>
> BTW, I used CO to make a pie crust and thought it was to die for! Way
> better than the "good" ones I used to make with Crisco (shudder).
>
> Thanks!
> Jamie
>
e oil used should be {first cold pressed, virgin o