Canola Oil instead of Olive Oil

[map man]

For people on long distance hikes who need to resupply at convenience stores and small country stores sometimes, olive oil is sometimes not available at these places, but canola oil, and vegetable oil as well, are available at these stores most of the time. I know that's the case at the two convenience stores closest to where I live.

I'm finding that for my purposes canola oil can be a substitute for olive oil. I use it to add calories to my trail diet (canola and olive oils have the same calories per serving) by applying it out of a squeeze bottle onto Trisquit crackers. An added benefit is that it makes the crackers moister and easier to eat (I often have a case of dry mouth my first two or three days on the trail). I suspect canola oil can be a good substitute for olive oil in other trail applications too. I prefer canola oil to vegetable oil because it has no trans fats. It's even lower in saturated fats than olive oil (1 gram of saturated fats per 14 gram serving in canola, and 2 grams in olive oil). And canola oil is about ten times less expensive than olive oil for those on a tight budget ($20.00 for a 48 oz. bottle of a fairly inexpensive brand of olive oil at my grocery store, versus $1.50 for a 32 oz. bottle of canola oil).

Now, for all of you lovers of good food out there, I am NOT saying canola oil adds the same zest to foods that olive oil does. If I tried to say that I believe Mags, and certainly his family, would charge me with some kind of serious felony in food court :D . But, if cost is an issue, or olive oil is unavailable where you have the oppurtunity to resupply on the trail, canola can be a decent alternative.

[SGT Rock]

Seems I read somewhere that there were three types of mono-unsaturated fats. Olive oil, canola oil, and some other that I do not remember.

[map man]

I know that both olive oil and canola are high in mono-unsaturated fats. The two bottles I am looking at say olive oil has 10 grams of mono-unsaturated fat in a 14 gram serving, and canola has 8.

[rafe]

While we're at it, and at the risk of revealing my ignorance on the matter, could someone please tell me what "trans fats" are?

[SGT Rock]

Unless someone beats me to it, I'll try to give the short answer.

Trans-fats are fats that are modified by man. The idea was to try and make a healthy substitute for animal fats. The problem with vegtable oils is they don't have the consitancy of butter - real margarin is basically a thick oil and melts easy. To change this they added some hydrogen atoms to some of the oil molecules (partialy hydrogented). The thought was this would give the consistancy of animal fats with the health benifits of vegtable oils. That turned out to be a bad idea.

[Amigi'sLastStand]

While we're at it, and at the risk of revealing my ignorance on the matter, could someone please tell me what "trans fats" are?
Simply put, trans fats are "translated fats". They occur naturally in VERY low amounts, but increase substansially through processing. They are neither needed at all by your body or is your body able to process the amounts intaken. So the crap just sits in you cloggin up your arteries. Simple as I can make it. Hope it helps.

I would never injest the amount of canola oil while hiking that I do of EVOO. Just dont think its as safe.

[Amigi'sLastStand]

Unless someone beats me to it, I'll try to give the short answer.

Trans-fats are fats that are modified by man. The idea was to try and make a healthy substitute for animal fats. The problem with vegtable oils is they don't have the consitancy of butter - real margarin is basically a thick oil and melts easy. To change this they added some hydrogen atoms to some of the oil molecules (partialy hydrogented). The thought was this would give the consistancy of animal fats with the health benifits of vegtable oils. That turned out to be a bad idea.
Nope, you beat me!

[SGT Rock]

Found this:

Natural sources of monounsaturated fat

Avocados (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocados)
Canola oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canola_oil)
Olive oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil)
Peanut oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_oil) and other nuts
Safflower oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safflower_oil)
Sesame oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_oil)
Sunflower oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_oil)

[rafe]

Found this:

Natural sources of monounsaturated fat
Avocados (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocados)
Canola oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canola_oil)
Olive oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil)
Peanut oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_oil) and other nuts
Safflower oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safflower_oil)
Sesame oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_oil)
Sunflower oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_oil)

So, are these the "good" oils? Which ones are "bad?" Sorry, I'm not up on this stuff... We do most of our cooking at home with olive oil, but I actually prefer margarine to butter for stuff like pancakes, french toast, etc. I've not carried any kind of oil/butter/fat on my hikes for ages. Kinda blah trail diet.

[Amigi'sLastStand]

Stick to EVOO. No worries.

[SGT Rock]

Well the "bad" ones would be any animal fats or any trans-fat/hydrogenated fats. There wouldn't be a "source" like there is for sunflower oil because someone has to work usually to make that fat into a trans-fat. That said, it is more likely to be straight up "vegtable oil" or corn oils that have this.

[weary]

So, are these the "good" oils? Which ones are "bad?" Sorry, I'm not up on this stuff... We do most of our cooking at home with olive oil, but I actually prefer margarine to butter for stuff like pancakes, french toast, etc. I've not carried any kind of oil/butter/fat on my hikes for ages. Kinda blah trail diet.
Yes, Sgt. Rock's list are the good oils. I switched from margarine back to butter because of the harm trans fats in margarine can do to arteries.

On the trail and at home these days I use either canola oil or olive oil, except when I want the spreadability or flavor of butter.

Weary

[Frosty]

Yes, Sgt. Rock's list are the good oils. I switched from margarine back to butter because of the harm trans fats in margarine can do to arteries.

On the trail and at home these days I use either canola oil or olive oil, except when I want the spreadability or flavor of butter.

WearyThere is a half-way compromise between butter and margerine. land of Lakes makes a butter with canola oil. Less animal fat. More spreadable because the canola oil makes it softer. Only downside is that if you leave it out for an hour, it pretty much melts because of the canola oil (which is not translated). But it hardens again when in the fridge.

[rafe]

There is a half-way compromise between butter and margerine. land of Lakes makes a butter with canola oil. Less animal fat. More spreadable because the canola oil makes it softer. Only downside is that if you leave it out for an hour, it pretty much melts because of the canola oil (which is not translated). But it hardens again when in the fridge.


Ah, relief. Just went all through our kitchen, checking all the various types of cooking oil and margarine that we use... All were labeled as having zero trans-fats. :) Whoopee, I'm gonna live forever.

[SGT Rock]

As for margarin, I cannot say this with 100% certainty, but as I understand it there are some margarins that are low in trans fatty acids.

[rafe]

As for margarin, I cannot say this with 100% certainty, but as I understand it there are some margarins that are low in trans fatty acids.

The stuff I found in our fridge is "Fleischman's Original," in tubs. "Made from Corn Oil." Zero trans-fats, or so it says.

[SGT Rock]

As I remember it, the liqidy squeeze parkay style stuff is low in trans-fat because they want it runny. But that could be wrong.

[Grandma Dixie]

you should see the other thread about olive oil!