How to make cooking oil?

Answer 1

Cooking oil is any neutral-flavored (bland) oil. It is used for many things, including frying, and making sauces and salad dressings. It is made from a wide variety of plants, including olive, sesame, maize, coconut, palm, peanut, rapeseed (canola), sunflower, and other plants.

Cooking oils aren't typically made at home, because they require specialized equipment and a large amount of the raw material being pressed to make the oil.

However, if you want to learn how cooking oils are made, browse to: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Cooking-Oil.html

Answer 2

You can't really "make" it. It is a pretty simple substance pressed out of various vegetables but it is a messy project requiring special equipment, I'm sure. It is a basic ingredient that is readily available so there is no need to make your own.

If you are thinking about just melting shortening and using it liquefied...well, you can do this for the amount needed in a recipe, but if you try to store it on your pantry shelf like regular oil, it will just solidify again. You will also be looking at differences in nutrition. I think trans fat but not sure. These are the bad fats from chemically altering an oil to give it more shelf life.

Nutritionally speaking, if you are looking for a way to make cooking oil more healthy, you can limit yourself to the ones that are healthiest...safflower, olive, and canola come to mind.

Or you can use various substitutes in your recipes to avoid it altogether. Stick to olive oil for flavor, sprays (same stuff but less goes further to keep your food from sticking). Sometimes oil is used for a binder, esp in baked goods. In a spice cake or a muffin recipe you can use applesauce or bananas. In a chocolate dish you can use chocolate syrup. It increases sugar in chocolate dishes like cake and brownies but the result is a very decadent yet very low-fat food. You can use broth or milk in some recipes where the oil is used for moisture.

I'm curious your motivation...I hope I covered all the possibilities.

Answer 3

Instead of using solid fats such as shortening, lard and butter, use vegetable oil in your recipes. Types of vegetable oils include corn oil, canola oil and peanut oil. To substitute liquid oil for solid fats, use about 25% less than the recipe calls for. For example, if a recipe calls for 4 tablespoons of shortening or butter, use 3 tablespoons oil instead.