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Comment by wapz | Hacker News Reader

I've always been taught that after olive oil, canola is the best to use for cooking. What am I supposed to use?!

There's coconut oil and palm fruit oil. (There may be environmental concerns about the latter.) I also use butter/ghee sometimes. (And olive oil, but you already mentioned it.) For non-cooking, I like flaxseed oil.

Interesting. I've been taught the opposite due to the low smoke point of olive oil.

I use Avocado oil; it has a high smoke point and seems healthier. Other oils are OK if you don't cook on high heat (use medium heat or lower).

Thanks I'll try out Avocado oil. Someone else mentioned it also. When I say "taught" I really mean my mom said "that one's good. Oh that one's good, too."

Olive oil comes in many varieties, and some of them have a smoke point comparable to canola, or even higher. Even the unrefined varieties tend to have a fairly high smoke point. So unless you're searing, olive oil is just fine for cooking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point

https://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/heating-olive-oil

Don't worry too much about the low amounts. Develop cooking techniques to use less oil (non-stick pans, measuring out oil, etc), and switch between oils when you cook. I don't figure I'm eating enough fats to worry about it, as I don't eat meat and limit fish/seafood to once every week or two.

I use either butter or a butter/canola blend for most stovetop cooking and generally use an olive/canola blend for breadmaking, with the exception of pizza crust which is oil-free.

The theory I go by is to avoid highly polyunsaturated oils (which include canola); prefer monounsaturates. Olive oil is indeed the best if you're not going to get it too hot; next is avocado oil. Hi-oleic safflower/sunflower might be a third choice (better, at least, than canola).

In India safflower and sunflower oil are recommended as being better for the heart, etc. Don't know enough to say if that is right or not.

Also, recently I think I read that coconut oil may not be as harmful as thought earlier by some (my guess is people thought it was harmful because it congeals at a higher temperature than other vegetable oils do). But on the other hand, people in coastal states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, etc., must be using it a lot, and I have not read about them having higher cardiac problems.

All this is just anecdotal, BTW.

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