Coconut oil

[missgrunge]

Ok, the coconut oil experiment has been of mixed success.  I'm very happy to cook with it, baking is fine, it's a great substitute in the TMX for sauteing, and to shallow-fry it gives lovely results.  It has a lovely texture.  The only thing is that the beautiful extra virgin coconut oil I'm using does have a strong smell of coconut.  DH finally said that he is "sick of everything tasting of coconut" - oh dear -  - as he ate his Bacon and Pea Risotto.

What to do?  Is there a version of the coconut oil that doesn't have such a strong coconut smell??

Help!

Miss Grunge.

[tarosuma]

  Is there a version of the coconut oil that doesn't have such a strong coconut smell??

I have used a deoderised version of coconut oil from my local health shop - my hubby accidentally bought it for me when I asked him to get coconut oil.  (I always use the normal one)
I tried to make my usual choc spread recipe and it tasted awful with the deoderised version because it didn't have it's usual coconut flavour.   Maybe worth a try.........

[missgrunge]

Hi Tarosuma,
Do you remember the brand?
Thanks,
Miss G.

[tarosuma]

Hi Tarosuma,
Do you remember the brand?
Thanks,
Miss G.

I am in NZ Miss Grunge so not sure if you would have the same brands.  I can't remember now though as it was a while ago sorry.
I just stumbled across the following info though which might turn you off the deoderised version anyway, sounds very processed and not at all resembling the cold pressed coconut oil that is supposed to be so healthy.

Here's a description of how deodorised coconut oil is manufactured: "Most coconut oil sold in America is made from copra. Copra is the dried meat of the coconut which is left in the open to dry. Mold may grow on it, flies may land on it, and the meat turns brown and rancid while it dries. The oil industry does not worry about this, as they will "clean the oil up" at the end to remove these unfavorable constituents. Once the meat of the coconut has dried and shriveled it is easily removed from the shell and the oil is pressed out. Many companies use solvents to help in extracting the oil from the meat. Once this crude oil is produced and the solvent "reclaimed", they then add lye to the oil. This step in the refining process will drop out free fatty acids, some of the Vitamin E, as well as other nutrients and components. These items drop out as soaps to be filtered. Then they put the oil through a bleaching process which will turn it from the brown rancid color to a nice white/clear color. This process also eliminates more vitamin E and other nutrients. And then lastly they deodorize the coconut oil by bubbling gas through the oil at high temperatures while pulling the vapors off with a vacuum. This will eliminate the bad taste and smell of the crude oil it came from. In the end you have a tasteless, odorless, coconut oil with only fatty acid chains remaining "seasoned" with traces of solvents and residues from the refining process. If the coconut oil you have used in the past does not taste like coconuts, even though it was claimed to be organic and cold pressed, then you can be sure it is not a virgin coconut oil, and most likely it is a refined, bleached, deodorized coconut oil."
   
I know about the 'everything tasting like coconut'!  I cook with cold pressed coconut oil all the time as I avoid vegetable oils at all costs.  (funny how vegetable oil 'sounds' so healthy!)  I do use ghee though if I am wanting something without the coconut taste.  Or a good mix is half and half ghee to coconut oil - the ghee gets rid of the coconut taste.

I don't use olive oil for frying anymore as olive oil apparently should not ever be heated, according to a few sources, it causes it to oxidise.

[andiesenji]

Yesterday an article about Coconut Oil appeared in the New York Times.

It's very interesting and might answer a few questions that have popped up in this topic.

[tarosuma]

Yesterday an article about Coconut Oil appeared in the New York Times.

It's very interesting and might answer a few questions that have popped up in this topic.

Thanks so much for posting that article - brilliant!   



 

[judydawn]

Thanks from me too Andie, love the look of the roasted sweet potato. Will definitely try that one.

[CarolineW]

And me! There are a few I will try from that article.  Not least popcorn, which I love.

[Nay-nay]

Oh yes I love doing popcorn in coconut oil!! I just got my new bottles through yesterday in the mail. I get mine through Ebay - this is their company - Nature Pacific

[missgrunge]

Nay-Nay, that's the one I use too 
Miss G.

[Meagan]

Oh yes I love doing popcorn in coconut oil!! I just got my new bottles through yesterday in the mail. I get mine through Ebay - this is their company - Nature Pacific

What is the postage like Nay?

[Nay-nay]

The way mum and I buy it works out to be a fair price ($2.40 per bottle) We have a few of us that use it so buy the 10 x 1L bottles which is $24 postage so it only works out to be $14.40 per bottle. Pretty good for organic virgin oil I think. Just check cause postage is different for each state.

[Meagan]

I just noticed my bottle says best before oct 2010  how much leeway do you think you have with coconut oil??

[andiesenji]

I just noticed my bottle says best before oct 2010  how much leeway do you think you have with coconut oil??

As long as it smells and tastes okay, it is fine.

Those dates are not arbitrary and are often long, long before a product is unfit to use.

A week or so ago there was a big article in one of the national publications here about the expiration dates on medications being unrealistic.  Many medications were tested and found to be fully active with no degradation two YEARS after the expiration date.
The only exception was some fat soluble vitamins, (A, especially) lost some potency a year after the expiration date.

A current study is in progress, testing canned foods.  In the past, before this became law and cans were not dated, canned foods were used (as long as the cans were intact) years after production. 
At least one consumer protection group believes that manufacturers are "short-dating" canned foods so that people will discard them an buy more. 
One of the persons writing the article opened and consumed a tin of tuna that had a use-by date in 2008 and found it was perfectly fine. 
In the late '50s, when I was in the Army (WACS), we were fed canned "K" rations that had been produced in the mid-to-late '40s.  I was on KP and noticed a can of peas that had the date 11/14/47 stencilled on it.  Ten years and it was still good, at least none of us got sick from any of the stuff we were fed.

[meganjane]

Andi, I do agree that canned foods can keep for ages and ages.

As far as non virgin coconut oil for cooking, try using Copha. It's coconut oil that's been refined and has added soya lecithin. It still has a slight coconut taste, but not as strong as virgin CO.