You can make your own ghee by heating your butter (preferably from grass-fed cows) over low heat until it has completely melted.  Turn the heat to the lowest setting and allow about 20-30 minutes for the milk solids to float up to the top.  (You’ll see white foam forming.)  Skim off the foam and discard, then store the ghee in a glass screw-top container.  You might also be able to find grass-fed organic ghee at your local health-food store or farmer’s market.

Happy spatter-free cooking!

Oils and fats form the basis of our food preparation:  we use them for cooking, baking, and roasting.  We dress our salads with them, season our stir-frys with them, and dip our breads in them.  Even if the oil/fat you use is only a small percentage of the final dish, the frequency of them adds up.  They are a major component of our diet…and our health problems, most of which are aided and abetted by inappropriate use of low-quality oils.  The inappropriate usage is usually unintentional, but the low-quality oils are a deliberate result of modern-day cost-cutting manufacturing processes.

There are three main things to consider when choosing and using your oils:  refined vs. unrefined, whether or not they’re suited for heating (most are not), and what ratio of omega fatty acids they contain (most have too many omega-6s and not enough 3s and 9s).

Refined oils have been cleaned, crushed, steamed, pressed with high friction heat, extracted with solvent, distilled, bleached, deodorized, and steamed again.  This results in a rancid, damaged oil that has been stripped of its nutritional value–it should only be used for industrial applications, not in the human digestive tract.

Unrefined oils have been cleaned and cold-pressed.  The best ones are pressed in an oxygen-free and light-free environment, the two elements that cause rancidity.  The best unrefined oils are then sold in opaque glass bottles to spare them from oxidation caused by light.  The designation “extra-virgin olive oil” is reserved for olive oil that has been prepared without industrial refinement.  Any other label on olive oil–”pure,” “light,” etc.–means that it has been heavily refined.

Many of the seed oils available today are heavily refined, particularly those oils that are difficult (if not impossible) to extract using cold-press methods.  These generally-to-be-avoided oils include avocado, grapeseed, rice bran and wheat germ.  Other heavily-refined (and vastly overused!) oils include corn, soybean and cottonseed.  Unfortunately, this terrible trinity is what is used in virtually all commerically-made food products because production of these crops is subsidized–this means that these crops and their oils are very inexpensive for food manufacturers to purchase in bulk.

Because of their fatty acid structure (the ratio of polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and saturated fats), some oils/fats are better suited than others to handle high heat without breaking down and oxidizing (turning rancid).  Saturated fat is more stable than unsaturated fats, so the best oils/fats to use when cooking with high heat are ghee (the oil that separates from the milk solids when you clarify butter; this is often done in French and Indian cooking), animal fats, and tropical oils such as coconut and palm.  For light sauteéing, you can safely use olive oil, butter, sesame, or hazelnut.  (Of course, all oils/fats suitable for high heat are also suitable for lower heat.)  The most-delicate oils should NEVER be heated and should be used only to dress salads and other cold dishes. These include flaxseed, hazelnut, and olive.  Pumpkin seed oil, pistachio, and walnut are other nice options.

Omega-3 fatty acids are very susceptible to breaking down; so are omega-6s, though to a slightly-lesser degree.  Omega-9s are a bit hardier than their cousins.  Because of this, the oils containing high amounts of omega-3s are also the oils that have a very short shelf life and should never be heated.  The main omega-3-containing oil is flaxseed; olive oil and hazelnut oil also have relatively-high proportions of omega-3s.  Olive oil and hazelnut are also rich in omega-9s, which is why they can handle light sauteéing and flaxseed cannot–it contains very low amounts of omega-9s.  Main sources of omega-6s include safflower and sunflower, both of which should not be heated much past 300 degrees F.  (Depending on at what temperature a dish must be baked, safflower and sunflower oils are sometimes useful for baking.)

The main issue with the omega ratios is that our modern Westernized diets include far too many omega-6s and not enough omega-3s.  (9s are also at a premium.)  For that reason, I focus on trying to include the omega-3-rich oils in my dishes when they are well-suited for the task (i.e., the required temperature conforms with the oil’s fatty structure).  I also only purchase oils that are unrefined and cold-pressed/-expelled; if organic oils are available, I generally choose those.  While they are a bit more expensive, it’s more than worth the trade-off in future dollars that I won’t have to spend on health-related problems.

The subject of oils and fats is a complicated one–far too complicated to explain in detail here–but remember, choose unrefined oils whenever possible and make sure to use them appropriately.  Avoid low-quality, highly-processed oils and products containing those oils.  Choose oils that are farther back on the shelf and away from the light (unfortunately, most oils are still packaged in clear glass containers).  And when you get home, immediately store your oils in a cool, dark place, away from light and heat.  You may even wish to store flaxseed oil in the refrigerator to prolong its life.

Here’s to healthy oiling!

Most of us (including me!) can’t afford to go 100% organic. So what’s worth the extra buck?

Dairy products. Bear in mind that the higher up on the food chain the animal is, the more toxins it has eaten. This means that the pesticide-sprayed corn has had a chance to linger for a while in the industrial dairy cow’s body. Her milk will be affected by her diet. Since whole milk contains more fat (i.e., cream) than skim does, there will be a greater level of residual by-product in the whole milk than in the skim. Whipping cream will have higher levels than whole milk. Butter–which is pure cream–has even more. Most industrial dairy cows are also treated with a hormone to increase milk production. The FDA says that this practice does not affect humans who drink the milk, but I would rather skip the possible chemical side dish. With all this in mind, I choose organic milk, goat milk, or a non-dairy milk made of rice, nut, or grain. I’m also willing to shell out more change for organic butter.

Beef. Cattle are supposed to eat grass, not corn. Feeding them corn, however, fattens them up more quickly. It also causes them to have stomach ulcers and other sicknesses that stem from eating a food they’re not biologically equipped to eat. To keep them sufficiently healthy for the day when they become T-bones and porterhouses, they’re treated with heavy doses of antibiotics. The nutritional content of their meat is also affected–rather than containing high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids (which they would have if they were eating grass), they contain omega-6s. Current medical studies show that humans need to have a balance of omega 3 and omega 6 to maintain optimal health. (These acids are called “essential” fatty acids because our bodies cannot manufacture them; we need to consume them.) With the current glut of omega-6-heavy industrialized corn-fed beef and the high omega-6 content of modern oils such as soybean and corn, most people consume far too much omega 6s. This can lead to a host of health issues, from obesity to high cholesterol. Due to the current deplorable state of industrial cattle feedlots (I wouldn’t call them “farms”), I avoid cheap beef and choose lamb instead, which is not only generally pastured (grass-fed) but also has higher levels of omega 3s. I’m more than willing to splurge and buy the occasional (read: expensive) cut of grass-fed beef. Even grass-finished beef is worth the extra money–studies have shown that allowing cattle to graze for the last three months of their lives makes a tremendous improvement in the quality of their meat.

Eggs. Modern hen-houses are a sad state of affairs. Rather than pecking at insects (i.e., protein) outside in the dirt, hens are cooped up and are only allowed to eat, poop, and lay eggs. These eggs are not nearly as nutritious as the eggs from free-range hens with protein-rich diets and clean living conditions. (Again, the free-range eggs contain much higher levels of omega 3s.) The free-range organic eggs, however, are much more expensive. Which eggs I choose depends on what I want to do with them–if I want to use them raw (in Caesar salad dressing or chocolate mousse) or if I want to make a dish prominently featuring eggs (such as a frittata or omelette), I opt for the tastier and healthier free-range organic eggs. If they’re playing second fiddle as part of a muffin or cake, I go for the cage-free variety, which are a step up from the industrial hen-house eggs.

Fish. The same higher-up-more-toxins rule applies to fish: the flesh of the predator fish contains more mercury than their lower-level counterparts. Because of this, organizations like seafoodwatch.org advise avoiding predator species such as king mackerel, swordfish, and shark. Their website lists which fish to avoid based on toxins and on sustainable farming/wild-fishing techniques (or lack thereof).

Produce. The basic rule of thumb here is that you’re better off buying organic fruits and vegetables whose skin you consume rather than the ones that you don’t. So buy standard bananas, mangoes, and oranges in favor of spending the extra change on peaches, strawberries, and apples.

Oils. As with everything else, the less processing, the better. Refined oils have been heated to strip them of much of their flavor (consumers generally prefer bland oils rather than ones whose taste will affect the final dish) and to standardize the resulting appearance and texture. Unfortunately, the heating process oxidizes some of the nutrients present in the oils and makes the fats (poly- and monounsaturated in particular) go from being beneficial to being harmful. (For a really thorough breakdown of this subject, read Nina Planck’s Real Food: What to Eat and Why.) Unrefined oils are therefore preferable to refined ones. A few words of warning, though: unrefined oils are difficult to find…and they do have a much stronger scent and flavor than refined ones. They can also be much more expensive. The good news is that cold-pressed, extra-virgin olive oil is good for you and not too pricey. (“Pressed” means that the oil has been extracted by pressing the nut/seed/fruit/vegetable rather than extracting it with the use of chemical solvents.)

I hope you’ll feel a little bit less lost in the grocery store after reading this. No matter what you choose, the important thing is to know what you’re choosing.

Happy exploring!