Canola oil comes from the crushed seeds of the canola plant. Canola belongs to the Brassica family that cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower belong to. The oil is extracted from the seeds after harvesting in a facility. The oil is then refined and bottled. Canola oil has a pale golden colour, light texture, neutral taste and high heat tolerance.
With the worldwide focus on healthy living increasing day by day, there is a consistent and reliable supply of canola oil all around the world.
Cooking Tips
Canola oil being light in texture and neutral in taste is ideal for just about everything. It is wonderful to use for salad dressing and sautéing. The characteristic of high heat tolerance in canola oil makes it perfect for anything, be it baking or stir-frying or deep-frying or grilling.
Storing Tips
Canola oil should be particularly stored in a cool and dark place. If exposed to light, canola oil's healthy fatty acid gets easily oxidised and it loses its nutritional value. Storing the oil in a dark glass container would be ideal but if that isn't available, wrap the container with a dark-coloured cloth or an aluminum foil. Another thing you must make sure is that it gets no exposure of air. Thus, canola oil has to be stored in an airtight container. It can be stored at room temperature.
Nutritional Value
Canola oil is very low on saturated fats making it one of the healthiest cooking oil. It contains the highest amount of plant sterols amongst all oils making it helpful in reducing heart diseases. Canola oil is high on calories but its calories come from the good fats. It is especially rich in mono-saturated fatty acids that help in lowering bad cholesterol and increasing good cholesterol. Canola oil also contains valuable amounts of vitamin E which is an anti-oxidant and is required to maintain the integrity of cell membrane of mucus membrane and skin by protecting it from harmful oxygen-free radicals. It has a high smoke point which makes it ideal for deep frying because it can be heated to a higher temperature thus retaining less oil in fried foods.