Cooking With Coconut Oil

Coconut Oil is a great oil to keep in your pantry. Not only is it one of the healthiest oils to cook and bake with, it has a  high saturated fat content, meaning you can use it to cook at high temperatures and even leave it at room temperature for months without it going off.  It is an extremely stable oil and the medium-chain fatty acids found in coconut oil can assist in maintaining weight and assisting weight loss.

Tips for Cooking with Coconut Oil

• When replacing other butters/oils in recipes with coconut oil, use a 1 cup to 1 cup ratio.
• Coconut oil can be used as a liquid replacement for oils in baking, sautéing and cooking and can be used as a replacement for butter/copha/shortening in solid form
• Coconut oil can be melted and added to smoothies as a nutritional supplement
• Have all your ingredients at room temperature if using coconut oil in liquid form. This will stop the oil from hardening
• Always melt coconut oil from it’s solid form down to liquid BEFORE measuring out your ingredients
• Don’t stress too much if you get little chunks of oil whilst preparing. A bit like small bits of butter that are missed by the beater, these don’t cause any problems with the end product when it’s cooked.

Coconut Oil and Digestion

Renowned for it’s benefits in digestive health, coconut oil contains anti-bacterial properties  that help control parasites and fungi that can cause indigestion and other digestion issues. When used in cooking, coconut oil is ingested internally and can be beneficial for a range of digestion issues, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, bloating and microbial related tummy bugs. The fat content in coconut oil also aids in the following:

• absorption of nutrients, minerals and amino acids
• reduces abdominal obesity
• conversion of fats in the liver into energy
• managing type 2 diabetes
• supporting immunity
• stops sugar cravings and boosts metabolism

Have you, or do you, use Coconut Oil in your cooking? Got any more tips to share?