Tuesday, 30 October 2007

Olive Oil and Frying


There are so many cooking methods that we often use to make our meal more appetizing, such as; boiling, baking, smoking and frying, with the highest temperatures being reached during frying.The temperature inside fried food remains almost constant at 100 degrees C until its water content evaporates. At that point the hot oil can penetrate.
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The food cooks quickly and the loss of nutritional value is lesser than with other cooking methods. Less fat is consumed than with other cooking methods, as the oil is not absorbed by the food.

Fats are subjected to auto-oxidative phenomena that are accelerated as temperatures rise. These phenomena are heightened by the degree of un-saturation of the fat and the presence of pro-oxidant substances, while they are checked by antioxidants. Some of the products of deterioration formed are volatile and easily eliminated; others (polymers) are poorly absorbed and some of those that remain can be toxic and can affect different organs and detract from the nutritive value of the food.

Animal fats, which have a low degree of un-saturation, do not contain antioxidants and soon undergo auto-oxidation. Seed oils are highly unsaturated and oxidize rapidly. On the contrary, olive oil is very stable because of its intermediate degree of un-saturation and the anti-oxidants if contains. Besides being affected by the type of fat, deterioration is related to the temperature reached, heating time, type of food involved, and the presence of catalysts.The stability of olive oil at high frying temperatures, has proven that food digestibility is not modified by frying in olive oil, not even when the same oil was used 10 times over to fry meat and sardines. This research would appear to indicate that olive oil is the oil best suited to frying owing to its higher resistance to oxidative deterioration.
Article Source:
http://www.oliveoil.com/health.html

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