Malaysian Palm Oil Council (or MPOC) recently launched a campaign to familiarize consumers with Palmolein or Palm Oil with its benefits and usage. Malaysia along with Indonesia exports the largest amount of Palm Oil in the world. India being one of the biggest importers of this oil. Palm oil is derived from the flesh of the Palm fruit, in its raw form, the oil is bright reddish-orange due to the high content of carotene.
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Palm Oil
There are two types of oils produced from the Palm fruit, crude palm oil from the mesocarp or fruit pulp and crude palm kernel oil from the kernels. Although both oils originate from the same fruit, the composition of palm oil is chemically and nutritionally different from palm kernel oil. It is one of the only two oils available commercially derived from mesocarp along with olive oil. Palm oil, being a vegetable oils, is also cholesterol-free. Having a naturally semi solid characteristic at room temperature, Palmolein is a rich source of carotenoids and vitamin E which gives natural stability against oxidation of the oil.
Source: MPOC
Unrefined or crude Palmolein is the richest source of carotenoids available naturally as compared to the other vegetable oils – 15 times more than carrots and 30 times more than tomatoes. The carotene is an effective antioxidant that helps in strengthening the immune system and reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer and cataract from our body. Lack of Vitamin A in our body can lead to blindness and a variety of serious medical conditions.
Crude Palmolein is also the richest natural source of Vitamin E (tocotrienols & tocopherols). In fact, no other vegetable oil has as much Vitamin E compared to Palm Oil. Vitamin E is a excellent antioxidant, capable of reducing the harmful oxygen molecules or free radicals from our body. This means it may help in protecting us from certain chronic diseases such as body aging. Palmolein is very rich in calories.
On the other hand, Palmolein has a balanced ratio of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids. This composition makes it an excellent edible oil that is suitable for use in a variety of food applications. Fatty acids are raw materials for building the membranes of every cell in our body, including that of bones, nerves and even brain! We would be malnourished and become sick or prone to infections if we do not have fats and oils in our diet.
Usage of Palm Oil
Manufacturers and end-users around the world use high percentages of palm oil as their frying oil for both performance and economic reasons. In fact, palm oil is being used as 100 percent replacement for traditional hydrogenated seed oils such as canola or soybean oil. Products fried in palm oil include potato chips, French fries, doughnuts, noodles and nuts among others. Palmolein semi-solid properties make it a favorite ingredient among the food processors industry. The oil can be incorporated into a wide variety of food products which include cooking oils, bakery products, vegetable ghee, chocolates, noodles, hot beverages, ice cream and many more.
Source: MPOC
Palmolein is semi-solid at room temperature like ghee and has a good resistance to heat at high temperatures, making it ideal ingredient as frying oil. Cooking using palm oil however will not produce excessive smoking, spattering, foaming, and forms less gummy residues in the pans after cooking.
Switch to Palmolein today due to the huge benefits as an edible oil compared to others like Sunflower or Olive Oil. The cost of Palm Oil is also comparatively low among other oils. Some of the companies producing Palmolein in India are Ruchi Gold along with other local companies.
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