Olive oil prices - what oils do you cook with…

We have been using these for a few years now. Costco avocado, evoo, and a finishing Spanish Graza, finishing toasted sesame.

For vinegars...Costco apple cider and this red wine with the mother is a new try. Very good and zesty.

I tend to have a variety of fats in the house. EVOO in regular and some flavored forms- we have an oil seller locally. I don't cook with those usually, EVOO is for finishing/cold use for me. Regular olive oil I use in cooking. I also tend to have a cooking oil- sometimes a veg, sometimes canola or corn. Peanut and sesame oils are always on the shelf, walnut or other nut oils on occasion. Usually a chili oil- one on the shelf right now is EVOO based. Coconut oil. Butter, lard, saved bacon grease, schmaltz, and "gold"- rendered ham fat. Sometimes ghee. Dehydrated butter- usually for in baking, seasoning, and some sauce finishing. I also keep rolled pancetta, jowl bacon, and salt pork in the freezer for when I need those kinds of fats. Occasionally I'll pick up other oils if I find them for a good price or if I need a particular flavor profile I don't have on the shelf- avocado, grape seed, sunflower, ect.

I also have a collection of vinegars :) Different ones for different applications and dishes.

Second the Berio brand. All I've used for decades.

This is what I've been using for several years now - best price from Walmart...

California Olive Ranch:

-- 100% California EVOO

-- Reserve Arbequina

https://www.californiaoliveranch.com/collections/california-olive-ranch-olive-oil?refinementList%5Brefinements.extra-virgin-olive-oil%5D%5B0%5D=100-california

And avocado oil from Trader Joe's or from anyone who sells 100% avocado oil.

I keep a bottle of TJ's toasted sesame oil in the fridge for various uses.

I have these in the pantry right now. I’ve been a fan of ”O” olive oils and vinegars for a long time.

Forgot to mention the only other oil I keep on hand is organic canola - Target and Walmart have similar pricing on that.

I got really into oils and their properties many years ago and while I learned lots, it didn't change what I use much—or I should say, I've tried others and gone back—e.g. I don't like peanut oil. The big difference is that I don't have ”olive oil”, partly because of availability. I almost never cook with EVOO because it breaks down so easily. When it breaks down in shipping or storage, it turns into ordinary olive oil, but it's been since before my current kitchen (15 years) since I've gotten my plain ol' olive oil that way. I buy EVOO in small bottles, but keep three kinds: Italian for lots of recipes that want a certain flavor, California for the bit of cooking I would do with it, and Spanish, which has a totally different, lighter, delicate, floral flavor. But for a sauté, a drop of oil in the pan, general purpose cooking, nowadays I use Light oilive oil. It has none of the solids of regular olive oil, so can take heat, but it has some of the flavor without being too olivy, as well as just right viscosity.

For frying (a rare thing for me), I prefer safflower oil. It's thin and light and is not reuseable—but I fry so little the oil would go rancid anyway. It has a high smoke point but will break down if polluted from that which is being fried. It's worth it, however, for the lightness and texture. If I can't find safflower, I use sunflower. It's heavier and more viscous, but much nocer than the usual suspects.

The best and worst cooking oils for your health, and tips for choosing the best oils for your needs and preferences.

https://www.health.com/best-and-worst-cooking-oils-8405160

Interesting article, Judi. I like how brief and straight forward it is. I'm terrible at brevity, but admire it. It also reminded me, I use sesame oil in a number of traditional recipes, and have tried avocado oil, which I like for high viscosity.

ETA—the takeaway is, eat a salad (my preference) with 1.5 tsp EVOO (article says magic number from research for heart health) daily.

FWIW, I often sub part of the butter in baked goods with olive oil...

I only use olive oil for seasoning summer tomatoes and salads. For cooking, I use rapeseed oil as it is grown locally. For deep-frying I rarely do it, I use a sunflower oil. For salad dressings I use a mix of oils for their different health benefits. It comes ready-mixed. Olive oil is only going to get more expensive because of climate change. Spain harvested 40% less last year because of the drought. I don't see this year being any better. Italy and Spain are likely to be keeping it for home consumption.

I have always found the olive oils that I buy in Paso Robles, CA to be expensive, but I use them sparingly on salads and never cook with them. Sometimes I buy EVOO at farmers' markets.

I use sesame oil for certain Japanese dishes, especially soups, but never fry with it and only add it at the end, whether to stir fried vegetables or soups.

I generally keep either avocado oil or grapeseed oil for cooking, but I also sometimes use regular olive oil.

*Note: Here, European rapeseed oil is called canola, and I have a bottle of oil that is 50% avocado and 50% canola that I bought by accident at the Lebanese/Syrian market that I go to. I should have read the label more closely, but I stopped with I read "avocado" on the label. I generally do not buy canola or rapeseed oil, as I like avocado oil better.

I have a couple of bottles of California Ranch Reserve Collection: one is Arbequina and the other is Arbosana, and I like them equally, but they are significantly different in flavor.

I use primarily olive oil and butter for cooking, Crisco vegetable oil for baking recipes that call for vegetable oil. I'm not fussy about brand; truthfully, I can't tell the difference between $$$$ olive oil and $$ olive oil. Same with butter -- store brand is fine with me, whatever's on sale I'll buy.

If I’m not using butter, I usually use vegetable oil for dishes that require a neutral flavoured oil, or if not, extra virgin olive oil. I’m fortunate to have a good friend who has an olive grove.

Every year she starts the picking season by inviting a bunch of friends over for a massive picking session on a weekend. We start earlyish and pick until morning tea, then go back out and pick until a late lunch time. Those who want to can go and watch the olives we have picked (usually about 3/4 of a tonne to a tonne depending on how well they grew that year) being crushed into oil at the commercial olive oil farm next door. Afterwards we have a late lunch feast which often morphs into dinner. It’s a lot of fun. Everyone who participates goes home with a two litre bottle of that day’s olive oil.

I get extra bottles of olive oil as I make about a dozen different kinds of cake, cookies, scones etc for the morning tea.

I use evoo for salads ( Australian which has that Spanish peppery taste ) peanut oil for stir fries and frying fish etc I always use as little as possible. Also sesame oil to finish some rice or noodle dishes. I never deep fry anything but if I did I guess I would use peanut oil.

So I am officially jealous of neighbors with olive groves. That sounds like a fabulous day!

I guess I look at what is available locally at a reasonable price. I want to add another oil to my pantry.

That does sound like a fabulous day! :0)

It’s a lot of fun :-) We’ve been doing it for about 15 years :-)

Lucky you!

And I'm also envious of Canadians with their own maple trees to tap. I watch one cooking channel on YouTube by someone who who does that, along with his other family and friends, and he'll bring out a gallon jug of syrup to use in his recipes.

Sorry this is OT, but wondering, is maple syrup popular - or available - in Australia?

@carolb W FL - Not just Canadians. It’s an early maple tapping season right now in Maine.

So timely! Hubs and I were just discussing this today! As far as my oils, light olive oil for almost everything. With North American inspired cooking, sunflower, also to show solidarity with Ukraine. Canola is heavily sprayed so only organic for that, and it's expensive so I rarely buy or use it. Organic coconut for Indian, peanut oil for Asian and stir fry/deep fry (highest smoking temp.). Sesame oil and EVOO for flavoring.

Maple syrup is slightly popular in Australia, becoming more so as a sweetner as some people turn against sugar.. We have the imported Canadian pure maple syrup in our supermarkets as well as imitation maple syrup which is cheaper and of course not as good as the real thing. I keep the pure Canadian in the pantry to use mainly on pancakes.

I'm very happy that I have a neighbor that taps his maples and makes syrup, he gives me the good dark stuff for baking. If he doesn't have any extra, or sells out, I have to go to other local "sugar bush" operations.

Fat/grease/oil? Oh mercy. I have a vintage metal grease container, has that black Bakelite lid that says "grease", and it has bacon grease in it pretty much all of the time. I use that mostly for baking cornbread, it goes in the pan and into the oven to heat. I have olive oil, avocado oil, toasted sesame oil, chili oil, Criso that I use in ONE cookie recipe but that one has to have it, duck fat and chicken fat in the freezer which I skimmed when cooling broth, peanut oil for frying, lard that I render myself when we get pigs for the freezer and some suet that I keep for the birds. Oh, and butter, of course!

I use more butter than any other kind of fat, it's in bread, biscuits and on my morning toaste. Olive oil is second because I use that when I roast vegetables, which is frequently and the butter dish and the olive oil spray dispenser are both sitting on the counter next to the cooktop.

Annie

I use pretty much all the oils. I use the large bottle of Costco’s Kirkland olive oil. I use olive oil and clean bacon grease (no sugar, nitrates, chemicals) mostly. I am trying to use less butter for digestive reasons.

Carol, if I wanted to start substituting some oil for butter in baked goods, what is a good swap out to start with? I really want to use less butter when possible but I have a big sweet tooth.

I went to a local farmers market in Hobe Sound last weekend and found a lady selling local Florida olive oil. She has successfully grown and pressed olives in Alachua FL. I had to buy a bottle just out of curiosity. I will probably try it tomorrow with a nice loaf of fresh bread since corned beef and cabbage is not my jam.

After I posted to this thread I went and looked at their website. It seems the Alachua olives have an Italian history. It smells yummy!

I had some great duck fat in the fridge but finally after two years had to throw it out. I only used it for frying potatoes and didn't do that often enough. I don't know why, probably because I'm mostly vegetarian and can't be bothered with dipping stuff, but I don't fry all that much, and when I do deep fry, it's either olive oil or peanut oil.

I love me some lard pie crust but I don't do pies often enough either . . .

I have only used olive oil for the past few years but I'm ready to give avocado oil a try. It has a higher smoke point than olive oil with all the health benefits of olive. I also want to make my own spreadable butter blend to cut down on saturated fat. It will mostly be for toast so I want a neutral flavor so the butter shines through, and avocado is more neutral than olive.

Chosen Foods is a recommended brand of avocado oil but they also make a 50/50 avocado/olive blend. They say it has a little more of a buttery flavor than their 100% pure avocado oil. WalMart sells the 25 oz. bottle for $13, which is what I've been paying for Bertolli Extra Light that we use for sauteing and frying.

Vegetable oil sometimes.

Butter sometimes.

Olive oil most times.

Or a combo of butter and olive oil.

I do have a small tub of duck fat in my freezer that I use occasionally.

And whenever I make chicken broth, I skim the fat and save it for cooking.

I have some of those crisco sticks in my back fridge for the rare occasion when I make chocolate chip cookies. I have what I consider to be "the perfect recipe" -- in other words, they come out exactly how *I* like them. And it calls for crisco and butter.

Oh! And coconut oil for popcorn. :)

I forgot to say!

When I went to France in 2022, I brought home a bottle of the most delicious olive oil from Aix-en-Provence. The woman at the store told me I could cook with it in the oven but never on the cooktop. But I never used it for cooking. The entire bottle got consumed as a bread dip with assorted herbs added depending on what I had on hand. It was heavenly!

Sorry if this was already mentioned - I didn’t look - but Kirkland’s big jug organic olive oil was $14.99 last April. Yesterdsy, the same bottle was $24,99. Yikes!