Produce Stand Off - A food thread for plant-based eaters

410 degrees F is still pretty high. Cooking with any oil at 410 means you’re going for char, not gradually working up to the Maillard reaction. That’s more of a stir fry than pan fry or saute.

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Oh I dunno, I even bake with organic EVOO.
Avocado oil is super expensive for our fam and I have had some feedback from a friend who is a registered dietician and nutrition counselor (and lifelong vegetarian–she’s nearly 80!) about the pluses and minuses of even unrefined organic cold-processed coconut oil. Moderation, she said.

Apart from a few drops of toasted sesame oil for flavor, we are already doing most of what’s in this article. My bigger takeaway is that I should try to use “good” oils from reliable organic sources, where possible.

Heck, even Dr. Andrew Weil (an early MD-fluencer) ain’t a purist–I gave up canola three decades ago but wow:

https://www.drweil.com/diet-nutrition/cooking-cookware/best-oil-for-high-temperature-cooking/https://www.drweil.com/diet-nutrition/cooking-cookware/best-oil-for-high-temperature-cooking/

Have been boycotting palm oils for years; no reliable ethical non-orangutan-hurtin’ producers supply where I shop, so nope:

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The palm oil thing has been surprising since I’ve gone plant based! One of those things where I think I conflate codes of ethics across boundaries. I already knew palm oil was bad, for the orangutan habitat reasons, and I guess I assumed vegans cared about that stuff as part of the ethos.
But then, shopping for a vegan butter substitute, all but one option at our shops has palm oil.
That show, “The Good Place,” really got it right. It’s so effing complicated to try to be a good person these days.

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You must have a fascinating measuring cup collection!! :grin:

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I don’t but I thought the same thing! I copied this recipe from an old college friend, it’s one of those index card recipes. Next time I need to recopy it I’ll probably translate it into more reasonable measures. :wink:

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I got a “404” from that link. What’s the deal with canola? I know that, some years back, there was a very unscientific web page equating canola with poison that was spread far & wide (I think this largely preceded social networks). Presumably there are other/better/actual reasons not to use it; I keep seeing brief mentions of abstention but that’s it. Genuinely wondering what neutral-flavor oil to use for sautéing, stir-fry or the occasional/rare deep-fry and costs less than olive oil (& I don’t splurge on that, either).

Way back when I started shopping for my own groceries, I remember sunflower or safflower oils were supposed to be good to use. Those have seemingly disappeared from regular supermarket shelves. I still see corn & vegetable (soybean) oils alongside the canola.

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I thought the problem with canola was mostly with partially hydrogenated canola. Not because of the canola, but the hydrogenation. Though regular canola is highly processed and hexane is used during processing
I found this, which seems like a reputable source, that says canola oil is fine. Ask the Expert: Concerns about canola oil | The Nutrition Source | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

In our house, we use canola oil only when olive oil isn’t suitable because of the heat. Because of the way it is made, I consider canola oil a highly processed food and we try to avoid that when we can.

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I got some more bad news for you:

I stopped buying avocados many years ago for this reason (above).

A friend in Austin grows limes. I eat what she grows in season, or freeze the lime juice. When they are out of season, I don’t eat limes. Period.


This is one reason why, rather than research the sourcing of everything we eat, I just farm (haha) out the problem to our food co-op store, which only deals with ethical and sustainable sources–it’s in our co-op’s mission statement.

I am privileged. Not everyone has a co-op near them. I get that. I own that. Literally. My family has a membership at Wheatsville.

I just checked how many food co-ops your state has, and it’s more than mine (Texas). In case any of them are near you: ¡si se puede!

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Wow, that’s odd. Me too today. It was there yesterday. Dang!

Canola–aka rapeseed–can and often does have one issue I steer clear of: extra pesticides in my diet.

GMO canola is bred (or engineered or hacked together or whatever) to tolerate a lot of pesticides, applied at higher application rates/dosing during its growth phase than conventional non-GMO canola.

https://cban.ca/gmos/products/on-the-market/canola/

If you’re ok with glyphosates, please don’t give it another thought.
My dad used to work for Monsanto. He was fine with glyphosates (aka “Roundup” etc.).
Me, not so much.

A friend fighting breast cancer was warned during her chemo- and radiation treatments to steer clear of foods (when she even felt like eating at all) that were loaded with pesticides, especially conventionally grown corn, canola, soy, etc. by her own oncologist, who is/was a breast cancer survivor herself.

As far as what canola oil does inside the human body (any pesticides here notwithstanding), I was going to give you the link @Kii just posted.

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I hope everyone had a safe and sane Halloween! :jack_o_lantern: Decoding The Food And Drink On A Day Of The Dead Altar : The Salt : NPR?

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Just made polenta in the oven for the first time. So good! So easy. Takes a little longer, but active time is only about 5 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
1 1/4 C polenta (corn meal)
4 1/4 C water or veggie stock (I used better than bullion veggie concentrate and water)
1/2 t Salt

Stir this in baking dish and bake in oven 30 minutes

Add 1/4 C olive oil (or vegan butter)
1/2 C milk (I used oat milk)

Stir and put back in oven for 30 minutes.

It’s so creamy and delicious. I topped with some sautéed bell peppers and pine nuts and drizzled with spiced oil. No pics, went too fast. Perfect hearty autumn lunch.

Edited to fix typos.

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Some good noodle hacks popping up over on the instant noodle thread.

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I also have a real good vegan channa masala recipe, let me dig it up.

Edit:

I also have some recipes i haven’t committed to writing down but that i’ve made once or twice as tests after having similar dishes in overpriced restaurants, i’ll have to write them down sometime.

-Vegan grilled kimcheese sandwich /w asian pear
-Vegan loaded fries /w spicy gochujang mayo sauce

And my partner found a recipe for chickpea based “tuna” salad that’s pretty good. I’ll have to ask her for it.

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You may need to download image and zoom in to ready my notes. I made this a while back for a coworker that wanted my insight on the recipe i make the channa masala from. The source website i got the recipe from is here. I make this recipe somewhat often and its a crowd pleaser, very easy to make despite all the steps, i also like to top this with chopped peanuts, almonds or cashews, and some vegan sour cream or yogurt. And if you or someone in the household hates cilantro you can sub it for parsley

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I use a lot of olive oil, but I’m never sure that’s what I’m actually using.

Anyone else here pretty sure that you’re using the real thing? Have you found any brands that you definitely trust? If so, how can you be sure it’s not adulterated?

https://archive.md/5EpoX

Most olive-oil frauds are easy to detect using chemical tests. In February, 2005, the N.A.S. Carabinieri broke up a criminal ring operating in several regions of Italy, and confiscated a hundred thousand litres of fake olive oil, with a street value of six million euros (about eight million dollars). The ring, which allegedly sold its products in northern Italy and in Germany, is accused of coloring low-grade soy oil and canola oil with industrial chlorophyll, flavoring it with beta-carotene, and packaging it as extra-virgin olive oil in tins and bottles emblazoned with pictures of Italian flags or Mt. Vesuvius, and with folksy names of imaginary producers—the Farmhouse, the Ancient Millstones.

More sophisticated scams, like Domenico Ribatti’s, typically take place at high-tech refineries, where the oil is doctored with substances like hazelnut oil and deodorized lampante olive oil, which are extremely difficult to detect by chemical analysis. In 1991, the E.U., recognizing that laboratory tests fail to expose many acts of adulteration, instituted strict taste and aroma requirements for each grade of olive oil and established tasting panels, certified by the International Olive Oil Council, an office created by the United Nations, to enforce them. According to the E.U. regulations, extra-virgin oil must have appreciable levels of pepperiness, bitterness, and fruitiness, and must be free of sixteen official taste flaws, which include “musty,” “fusty,” “cucumber,” and “grubby.” “If there’s one defect, it’s not extra-virgin olive oil—basta, end of story,” Flavio Zaramella, the president of the Corporazione Mastri Oleari, in Milan, one of the most respected private olive-oil associations, told me.

(I also wonder what’s been happening since that article was published in 2007.)

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If you are in the US, California olive oils seem to be respectable.

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I am, and I have indeed wondered if the scammery that still seems rife elsewhere is prevented during production of domestic US oil by the FDA and such.

Have you seen any tests or studies or something that support your assumption?

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There are at least two organizations that do random testing and investigate growers before allowing them to use their certification. I don’t know about FDA inspections.

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Trader Joe’s Sicilian EVOO is from family growers and TJs sends employees to go to the farms in person to observe the process.

ETA: Speaking of which, I used some last night roasting some sweet potatoes. I had one yam and one sweet potato, so I sliced them into rounds on a mandolin then stacked them in alternating order. Salt, pepper, sweet onion, EVOO, and Penzey’s Sunny Spain spice blend. 30 minutes in the oven on convection roast at 400.

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Yes, fairly sure.

[smug European asshole mode on]
Bought the current batch at source in Italy. The mill is not far from the distillery where I buy my grappa.
[smug European asshole mode off]

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