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The single most important oil in a lowfat kitchen is no-stick vegetable oil spray. Instead of coating a pan with 2 tablespoons of oil, you can use a spray to keep foods from sticking without adding all that fat.
But sometimes you just have to use pourable oil. For these times, keep oils such as canola and safflower on hand because they are lowest in saturated fats. Olive oil contains nearly twice as much saturated fat as canola or safflower oil, but it's still lowfat and has a flavor that many people like. The trick is to use oils sparingly.
The following are descriptions of some oils that are good for using in lowfat cooking:
- No-stick vegetable oil spray: Whether in an aerosol can or your own pump bottle, no-stick spray is great because you use far less oil than you can carefully pour out of a bottle. Use spray oil for sautéing, stir-frying, roasting vegetables, making your own pita chips, and greasing baking sheets and cake pans. A vegetable oil spray stays fresh in the pantry for about six months.
- Canola and safflower oil: Use for salads, sautéing, and whenever you use oil. Some people mix these two oils with a strong olive oil for less saturated fat than pure olive oil but an olive oil flavor. These products can be kept in the pantry, but they become rancid after several months. You can also refrigerate them.
- Olive oil: The important feature to look for in olive oil is its grade, usually printed on the front of the bottle: extra-virgin, superfine, fine, or pure (virgin). Olive oils are graded according to the degree of acidity they contain, with the finest oils containing the least acidity. Extra-virgin olive oil is the result of the first pressing (the crushing process that releases the oil from the olives), and consequently has the richest aroma, the strongest flavor, and the least acidity.
 | Olive oil can be stored in a cool, dark place for up to one month after opening. Its shelf life is even longer in the refrigerator (one year or more), although the oil becomes cloudy and too thick to pour. Running it under hot water or letting it sit at room temperature liquifies it again. |
- Flavored oils (chili, garlic, basil, and lemon oils): A little bit of one of these oils goes a long way. Instead of sautéing or cooking with them, you can use a drop or so to enhance a dish — and add much less fat. Flavored oils are only fair in taste.
- Nut oils (such as walnut and hazelnut): Light, sweet, and delicate, these oils are great on salads, sprinkled over freshly cooked vegetables, and in cookies and cakes.
- Peanut oil: A clear oil pressed from peanuts. This oil is listed separately from nut oils because of its mild flavor and high smoke point, meaning that it's great for deep-fat frying (which is unheard of in a lowfat kitchen). Peanut oil is high in saturated fat, although far below palm kernel and coconut oils, which top the list.
Choosing a no-stick spray oil
| When using small amounts of spray oil, you can't discern a difference in taste between corn, canola, olive, and butter-flavored oil. You may want to pick up a can of olive oil spray for coating lettuce for salads. If you spray the lettuce leaves, you consume less fat than if you use a bottled olive-oil-based dressing. |
Consider two or three spritzes of an aerosol can or pump bottle oil to be one serving; too many spritzes equal too much fat. One spritz means that you depress the nozzle for about 1 second. Eight spritzes equal about 1/2 teaspoon of oil.
Storing oils
Some oils, like sesame oil, stay fresh indefinitely in the pantry, even after you open them. But nut oils quickly lose their flavor and become rancid, so buy them in small amounts and store them in your refrigerator.
In general, you should store oils in the refrigerator after opening them, because they turn rancid quickly. What's a good way to tell whether your oil's gone bad? Have yourself a smell!
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