Sunflower-seed oil

     Without sunflower oil is impossible to cook salad, to fry the fish, to paint a picture - this is a universal product, which for its popularity is comparable to other Ukrainian food favorite - to the lard! And for many items even surpasses it. Items of "sunflower superiority" are so exciting that the myths are composed about this. Here we decided to test, as far as mythmaking conforms to truth.

           Pedigree
     According to archaeologists, sunflower grew on our land, eight to ten thousand years ago, and then for unknown reasons, disappeared from the face of the continent and already had returned here as a North American "aboriginal" brought to Europe after the revelation of America. Unusual flower, tall, as the Russian tsar himself, for a long time grew up in the palace gardens as ornamental plant. In simpler in 1829 Russian peasant Daniel Bokarev found to make the most of it. And today our culinary life without sunflower oil is impossible to imagine!

           Vitamins
     As is known, sunflower accumulates in their seeds to 55% of famous "sun" oil, which comprises the usefulness of neutral fats of palmitic, stearic, arachidonic, oleic and linoleic acids. This chemical fact suggests that consumption of sunflower oil is much preferable to the use of animal fats. Furthermore, oil is rich in protein (up to 19%) and carbohydrates (to 27%). It also includes about 2% of phytin - compound organic preparation of phosphorus, containing a mixture of calcium and magnesium salts, and 1,5% of tanning agents. A vitamin "contingent" presented groups A, O, P and E. According to myths, in sunflower oil vitamin E is much lower than in olive. In fact, all vice versa - the contents of vitamin E in sunflower oil is ten times more.

           Cholesterol
     Some producers write on the package of sunflower oil "Without cholesterol," and we buy such a bottle and quietly rejoice at this. To rejoice, of course, one may, but on another occasion: cholesterol in the vegetable oil is not and never was, as it relates to animal fats. So there is skill of creative thought, and no fraud!
 
           Refined oil
     Most housewives today preferred refined oil because it is suitable for filling salads, and for frying doughnuts, and for cooking homemade mayonnaise. Indeed, there is a sense in this universal ease. Just do not forget that in the refined oil remains far less useful substances than in the dredge, so you need to have in your home "arsenal" both types. Of course, refined oil is right ideally for frying, but only if you follow a couple of simple rules. First, refined oil during frying one ought not to overheat - temperature should not exceed 160-170 C. Puff of smoke, which appears over the surface of boiling oil, is a signal that the temperature regime is violated and an irreversible process of formation of dangerous to health toxic compounds has begun. Secondly, even with the partial load temperature mode is not recommended to use the oil again and continue to fry with it, for example, another batch of cutlets - the result will be
"harmful", as in the first case.

     When specialists tested 6 popular domestic brands of refined sunflower oil, we are convinced that the popularity in this case is justified by the quality of the product, and at the same time understand the intricacies of the process of refining. This procedure is multistage, consisting of sedimentation, filtration, hydration, neutralizing, deodorization, bleaching and freezing. During the hydration process oil gets rid of protein and mucous substances, which spoil its taste, and while neutralizing - from free fatty acids, heavy metals and pesticides. During the bleaching oil is carefully filtered, cleaned of residual ballast substances - phosphatidic, wax and colouring components of carotenoids. During deodorization substances, giving him a specific taste and smell, are removed from the product, at the stage of freezing the remains of vegetable wax, because of it untreated oil forms sludge and becomes turbid at a temperature of 0 ° C, are removed. Incidentally, deodorizers are not substances to improve the smell of oil, they are special industrial capacities to clean oil from aromatics and free fatty acids. However, not every refined oil is subjected to deodorization and freezing, but if the product has passed such treatment, this must be stated on the label.

     Here is another nuance: refined sunflower oil is often accepted to separate the two brands - D (dietary) and F (foody). This information also can learn by reading the data on the label. In dietary version acid number should not exceed 0.4 mg per gram, while in foody - 0,6. The number is non-permanent - it increases during storage of oil and affects on the taste or smell of the product. That is why this number on the label usually is not written, but it is always present in the tests, because it determines the availability of free fatty acids in oil, which lead to faulty product. 
  

     Read, choose and be healthy

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