Olive oil v extra virgin olive oil

[Merlin5]

Is extra virgin much better than standard? For £3.60 I can buy either 1 litre of standard olive oil or 1 life of extra virgin oil at the normal supermarkets, or I can buy a litre of standard olive oil at Aldi for £2 89 and they sell extra virgin for a tad more. I just finished a 250ml bottle of standard olive oil. I haven't used it to drizzle on salads, just occasionally in the frying pan or when making bread.

 

[D.P.]

They have different uses. Light olive for drying with a high smoking point and light flavor, virgin olive oil for salads and flavoring but you can only briefly fry at lower temperatures such as sauteing onions until golden.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

extra virgin is flavoured to use on breads / salads.

for frying use coconut oil or ground nut oil.

 

[Merlin5]

Thanks. Yeah, Psycho Sonny, I bought a tub of coconut oil a few weeks back (just a cheap brand in Tesco) after reading what you said about higher smoking point and using it when making curries. I've used it a couple of times. Mind you, I never really fry anything on particularly high heat. But I read somewhere where a woman kept getting burnt pancakes by frying with butter, until she started using coconut oil when she then said she had no more burnt pancakes. So that's the main reason I bought it!

Clearly different olive oils all have a fairly specific purpose. Light olive oil, standard and extra virgin. Often I've seen people on youtube saying to use olive oil in a given recipe, but they never say what type of olive oil. So I'm assuming it's just standard olive oil. Would it be fair to say that I can just standard olive oil for 'general use'? Such as for medium temperature frying, and for adding to water when making bread and also greasing a bowl for the dough to prove in, which is what I did yesterday when making bread.

 

[jpaul]

you've seen the earlier https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/so-it-turns-out-ive-been-using-the-wrong-kind-of-coconut-oil.18734434/
thread, mentioned in several subsequnt frying discussions.

 

[D.P.]

extra virgin is flavoured to use on breads / salads.

for frying use coconut oil or ground nut oil.

or light olive oil

 

[D.P.]

Thanks. Yeah, Psycho Sonny, I bought a tub of coconut oil a few weeks back (just a cheap brand in Tesco) after reading what you said about higher smoking point and using it when making curries. I've used it a couple of times. Mind you, I never really fry anything on particularly high heat. But I read somewhere where a woman kept getting burnt pancakes by frying with butter, until she started using coconut oil when she then said she had no more burnt pancakes. So that's the main reason I bought it!

Clearly different olive oils all have a fairly specific purpose. Light olive oil, standard and extra virgin. Often I've seen people on youtube saying to use olive oil in a given recipe, but they never say what type of olive oil. So I'm assuming it's just standard olive oil. Would it be fair to say that I can just standard olive oil for 'general use'? Such as for medium temperature frying, and for adding to water when making bread and also greasing a bowl for the dough to prove in, which is what I did yesterday when making bread.

yes, just use standard olive oil for frying. For bread, it depends if you want a stronger olive taste. Making pizza base then use extra virgin.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Thanks. Yeah, Psycho Sonny, I bought a tub of coconut oil a few weeks back (just a cheap brand in Tesco) after reading what you said about higher smoking point and using it when making curries. I've used it a couple of times. Mind you, I never really fry anything on particularly high heat. But I read somewhere where a woman kept getting burnt pancakes by frying with butter, until she started using coconut oil when she then said she had no more burnt pancakes. So that's the main reason I bought it!

Clearly different olive oils all have a fairly specific purpose. Light olive oil, standard and extra virgin. Often I've seen people on youtube saying to use olive oil in a given recipe, but they never say what type of olive oil. So I'm assuming it's just standard olive oil. Would it be fair to say that I can just standard olive oil for 'general use'? Such as for medium temperature frying, and for adding to water when making bread and also greasing a bowl for the dough to prove in, which is what I did yesterday when making bread.

For some reason coconut oil stops things burning as quickly.

It's why I use it for making curries as well as the health benefits. It's hard to burn onions, garlic and spices, etc. You would have to be really trying to burn something to burn it.

I noticed that straight away when I started using it. Its properties are unique in that way I've never seen that with any other oil.

 

[Merlin5]

Yeah it's good stuff. This is what I use. I don't know how good it is though compared to other brands.

you've seen the earlier https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/so-it-turns-out-ive-been-using-the-wrong-kind-of-coconut-oil.18734434/
thread, mentioned in several subsequnt frying discussions.

Thanks for the link, I'll have a read through that thread.

 

[robj20]

I generally either use beef dripping or ghee for frying if i want flavour. Or vegetable oil (rapeseed) if i don't.
Rare i use olive oil for anything.

 

[jpaul]

re-reading earlier thread .. there is the question of premium you pay for coconut oil looks like £3/500ml vs £2 rapeseed,
you also don't know how refined it is, which is needed to push the smoke point up, and extend its shelf-life, processing will remove the taste you might want in the Thai stir fry scenario too.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/10/how-to-bake-with-coconut-oil.html they use cold-pressesd for scones and chocy biscuits(not jaffas), as an alternative to butter,
interesting.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

re-reading earlier thread .. there is the question of premium you pay for coconut oil looks like £3/500ml vs £2 rapeseed,
you also don't know how refined it is, which is needed to push the smoke point up, and extend its shelf-life, processing will remove the taste you might want in the Thai stir fry scenario too.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/10/how-to-bake-with-coconut-oil.html they use cold-pressesd for scones and chocy biscuits(not jaffas), as an alternative to butter,
interesting.

the cheaper it is the more refined it is. you can get some in B&M for cheap as well as KTC stuff.

the better ones for other usage are much more expensive and i usually buy what's on on offer on amazon or a supplements company like bulk powders, etc. i usually buy it on black friday and they are usually massive jars which last a year or so. as i use the cheaper stuff and ground nut oil too. so i'm not exclusively using 1 oil.

 

[XeNoN89]

extra virgin is flavoured to use on breads / salads.

for frying use coconut oil or ground nut oil.

Avocado oil is good for frying too

 

[ninezerofive]

I just know that it has to be in a dark tinted bottle

 

[rexehuk]

I didn't know that. Thanks for enlightening!

Also use extra virgin for making anything Italian that you're not frying at high temperatures like sofritto and sauces etc. Makes a big taste difference when you verge into more expensive olive oils.

Which just done an article on olive oils, one from Waitrose came out top (chianti classici).