Category
Fats & oils
Cooking oils, shortenings and animal fats that show up on labels, from canola and palm to butter, lard and tallow.
Show:
Beef tallowBeef tallow is cattle fat. It is not vegan. It is gluten-free and used for high-heat frying. Halal and kosher versions exist only when the animal and the plant are certified.Use in moderationButterButter is a dairy fat. It is not vegan. It is gluten-free, and a normal pat is low enough in lactose that many low-FODMAP plans allow it. Peanut butter and cocoa butter are not this food.Use in moderationCanola oilCanola oil is a neutral cooking oil from low-erucic rapeseed. Canola oil is vegan and gluten-free. The old worry about erucic acid applies to industrial rapeseed, not to the canola sold as food.Generally safeCocoa butterCocoa butter is the vegan fat of the cocoa bean. It is what makes chocolate snap and then melt. It is gluten-free and keto-friendly, and it is not a dairy butter.Generally safeCoconut oilCoconut oil is a vegan plant fat that stays solid in a cool kitchen. It is popular on keto labels. Feeding trials show it raises LDL cholesterol more than unsaturated oils do.Use in moderationCottonseed oilCottonseed oil is a vegan seed oil that shows up in some snack foods and fryers. It is less common in home kitchens than canola or sunflower. The refining step is what makes it a food oil.Use in moderationFully hydrogenated oilFully hydrogenated oil is a hard plant fat used in small amounts to stiffen peanut butter and frosting. It is vegan if the oil under it is a vegetable oil. It is not the trans-fat ingredient regulators banned.Use in moderationGheeGhee is butter with the milk solids cooked out. It is not vegan. It tolerates a hotter pan than butter because the solids that scorch are gone. The saturated fat of butter is still there.Use in moderationInteresterified fatInteresterified fat is a rearranged plant fat that keeps margarine and cookies solid without partial hydrogenation. It is vegan when the starting oils are plants. The health record is thinner than the record for olive oil or butter.Use in moderationLardLard is pork fat. It is not vegan, not halal and not kosher. Bakers kept it because it makes a tender crust. Modern grocery lard is usually just rendered and filtered, not hydrogenated.Use in moderationPalm kernel oilPalm kernel oil is a hard plant fat from the palm seed. It is vegan. Candy coatings and coffee creamers use it because it melts cleanly and stays solid on the shelf.Use in moderationPalm oilPalm oil is a plant fat from the oil palm, about half saturated. It is vegan. It is solid at room temperature, which is why cookies and instant noodles use it in place of partially hydrogenated oil.Use in moderationSafflower oilSafflower oil is a vegan, gluten-free seed oil with a light taste. Standard safflower is one of the richest linoleic oils in the grocery store. High-oleic safflower is the one sold for high-heat cooking.Generally safeSoybean oilSoybean oil is the everyday vegetable oil in a lot of American packaged food. It is vegan. Highly refined soybean oil is usually tolerated by people with a soy allergy, which is why the label sometimes never says soy.Generally safeSunflower oilSunflower oil is a vegan seed oil. The useful detail on the bottle is whether it says high-oleic. That version is mostly the same fatty acid as olive oil. The standard version is mostly linoleic acid.Generally safeVegetable oilVegetable oil means a plant fat whose seed is not named. It is vegan. It is not one recipe. A cracker and a fryer can both say vegetable oil and be using different crops.Use in moderationVegetable shorteningVegetable shortening is a vegan baking fat sold to replace lard and butter in crusts. It is gluten-free. The ingredient line matters, because one tub is palm and another is hydrogenated soybean.Use in moderation