Courses
Lezions of the module
Vegetable oils
Lesson I – Raw materials
Oils and fats are generally included in our diet in the form of condiments. In particular, olive oil is one of the symbols of the Mediterranean diet. Fats help to define the organoleptic (sensory) qualities and palatability of foods.
Oils are mainly formed of triglycerides, but they also contain a number of liposoluble (fat soluble) substances, tocopherols and antioxidants.
Although olive oil is one of the symbols of the Mediterranean diet and plays an important part in human nutrition, many hackneyed popular beliefs give it a lower profile than other vegetable oils available on the market. Contrary to what we are led to believe, there is no difference between the calorie contribution of olive oil or seed oil, in fact 100 g of both contain around 900 kilocalories.
In recent decades, seed oils (soya, peanut, corn, sunflower) and tropical fats have become widely used in the food industry, catering and at home.
Oils and vegetable fats derive from a number of raw materials including cereal seeds (such as corn and rice), legumes (e.g. soya, peanuts) and tropical fruits such as palm and coconut.
The production chains used to obtain olive oil and other vegetable oils differ considerably, influencing the organoleptic and nutritional qualities.
Extra-virgin oil has a chemical composition all of its own, and a higher nutritional quality than other vegetable oils. Let’s take a closer look at these factors and study the main raw materials used to extract oils and vegetable fats.
Figure 1. The raw ingredients used to obtain oils and vegetable fats. Do you recognise them all?
