Archive for October 22, 2011

Cooking with Pure Coconut Oil

If you have been searching for a way to incorporate pure coconut oil into your diet, you may want to consider trying it out for cooking some of your favourite recipes. People in Asian cultures have used coconut oil in their meals for years because it provided a great source of fat while remaining to be a healthy food staple. It is more commonly used in Southern India and along the coast, but now you can bring the healthy exotic flavour of coconut oil into almost any of your favourite meals or treats.

There are many ways that you can incorporate pure coconut oil into your cooking. There are some options, such as natural coconut concentrates, which are able to provide a portion of the value of coconut oil. It is important to understand that these concentrates are not coconut oil itself, but more like an ingredient that you can add to create various types of food.  Some people use the concentrate in their coffee as a replacement for creamer, which is a good way to get a daily dose of coconut oil if you are a coffee addict. You can also mix these types of concentrate with beverages to add some additional flavour.  If you want to incorporate it into desserts, it is another great option.

Some people love to use pure coconut oil for cooking seafood, because it adds a unique flavour that gives the meal more of an exotic spin. If you love sauted shrimp, then consider cooking them in coconut oil and pairing it with basmati rice and pineapple for a healthy lunch or dinner that you won’t soon forget. It’s great for frying foods or sauting some of your favourite vegetables in a wok. You can also incorporate the oil into traditional recipes such as chocolate rice krispies treats or carrot cake. The more creative you are with your use of the oil in your recipes, the easier it will be for you to enjoy the benefits of it within your diet.

Of course it’s important to treat coconut oil with moderation. Many still have fears about the myths that associate the oil with fat and cholesterol. However, there have been many studies since the initial 1970s report which prove that coconut oil is safe for moderate consumption and can benefit your health by producing healthy HDL cholesterol which is necessary for a strong heart.

Moreover, coconut oil is actually more affordable than some of the olive oils that most people typically cook with. Its dense texture means that less is more when you are cooking, giving you less of a risk of saturating your food in oil and getting too much fat content. It also has a general shelf life of nearly two years. This means that you have to buy coconut oil less often than other options, such as canola or olive oil. In turn, you save money and you also help yourself by eating healthier.  If you haven’t yet introduced coconut oil into your diet, you may want to discover how easy it can truly be by trying it out in some of your favourite recipes.