Reusing olive oil for cooking is one of the great advantages of this great product. Many consumers, especially those who prefer olive oil formats in 5L jugs , wonder the best way to properly reuse the oil after using it for cooking.
Unlike other vegetable oils, olive oil has qualities that make it possible to reuse it more often than other oils such as sunflower oil .
Even so, some things must be taken into account when reusing olive oil, since there are many aspects that can make cooking again with an already used oil harmful to our health, or negatively affect the flavor of the olive oil. the food.
-Extra virgin olive oil is the one that lasts best.
As already mentioned in another recent post, which I leave you at this link: Tips for frying with olive oil , Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the one that degrades the least until it reaches its smoke point (between 160º and 180º). .
You will be able to verify that, when you reuse a good extra virgin oil, one that is rich in polyphenols and natural antioxidants, it lasts much better than other oils and is in better condition in terms of smell and color to be reused again for cooking. All this as long as it has not been used to cook foods that, due to their characteristics, heavily contaminate the oil (battered products) or that the smoke point has been exceeded.
-Do not reuse olive oil if it has already reached its smoke point.
I do not advise you to reuse olive oil of any kind (neither extra virgin, nor virgin, nor any other) if it has already reached its smoking point. Having reached that temperature, it has already begun to degrade too much, and not only has it lost a large part of its qualities, but it can affect the flavor of the food, and also produce substances that are harmful to our body.
From 180º, any type of oil that we use will degenerate so much after this first use, that its conditions will have changed to the point of no longer being the healthy product with which we were cooking.
Cooking with oil in poor condition can be harmful to our health, since chemical reactions can occur that give rise to toxic substances, such as acrylamide, which is very harmful to our health, and which we will talk about soon in another article.
-How many times can olive oil be reused?
A good quality olive oil can last a maximum of 4 or 5 frying cycles while maintaining most of its cooking qualities.
It will also depend on what we have cooked, foods coated, whether with flour, egg, breadcrumbs, etc., leave much more residue in the oil, so I do not recommend using them more than once.
How to reuse olive oil?
Once it has been used for frying, it is best to filter the olive oil to remove most of the impurities, and if we see that it is still in good condition, we can preserve it to use it again for cooking.
It is important to remember that, when reusing olive oil, its smoke point will become lower and lower, since it degrades with each use. Which means that it will break down more quickly each time we use it.
-How do you know if olive oil can be used again?
To know if an olive oil that has already been used can be used again, you must observe if it has a bad smell, is too dark in color, or if foam appears when used.
If it gives off an unpleasant odor or shows a very dark color, it will mean that it has already been contaminated enough (either by use or by being mixed with other substances) to not be used again.
It may happen that, when using the same oil several times, it begins to form a white foam, which means that it has already been used too much and is beginning to produce impurities.
Even though the oil we are going to use does not have any of these three characteristics, no oil should be used more than 5 times.
-Do not mix different frying oils.
One of the worst things we can do if we want to cook good frying is to mix two oils that have been used for different frying. And even worse if they have been used to cook different foods since, once used, the oil will acquire the smell of the food that we have previously cooked in it.
For this reason, if you fry fish and want to preserve that oil for another occasion, store it in a different container than the one you used to make fried eggs or French fries.
- How to preserve olive oil that has already been used?
To properly preserve the oil, you must store it in a container that can be closed so that as little air as possible enters it. In addition, you should keep it in a dry, dark place away from direct light and where it will not be affected by other heat sources. So no more storing it in a glass or leaving it next to the vitro or gas stove.
Once you've used it, let it cool and sit for a couple of hours, then filter it and store it in a tightly sealed jar. Despite being well stored, I do not usually reuse used oil that is more than two weeks old.
-Never throw it down the sink.
Used cooking oil is a highly polluting substance, so it should never be thrown down the sink, since in addition to being harmful to the environment, it can also seriously damage the pipes in your home.
Once you are going to throw it away, keep it in a jar or container that you are going to throw away and take it to a clean point or area where they collect these oils and take care of them to recycle them. Used oils are recycled to be used again in the manufacture of waxes and soaps, in the chemical industry or in the manufacture of biodiesel.
I hope this article about reusing olive oil has been useful to you. If you need more information, do not hesitate to contact us at: info@virgenextraencasa.com
