What is the difference between unrefined sunflower oil and other vegetable fats

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Vegetable fats are an important food product that supplies the human body with vitamin E, phosphatides and other beneficial substances important for metabolism, responsible for the proper functioning of the immune system, hormonal synthesis, elasticity of blood vessels and resistance to harmful radiation. Its value depends on how complete the content of microelements in the consumed oil is.

The word "refining" means the removal of impurities. The question arises as to whether it is necessary to remove its components from a natural product, and if so, which ones. In other words, how does unrefined sunflower oil differ from a very similar product sold in the same PET bottles, but called refined? The type of container and the color of the product do not say anything. In order to understand the difference, it is necessary to at least briefly understand the technology used at fat plants - enterprises that produce and bottle sunflower oil. Its production is carried out by methods developed alreadya long time ago.

The simplest, most environmentally friendly and oldest method of obtaining oil is by direct extraction. Sunflower seeds are loaded into the press, the screw piston is set in motion, the raw material is compressed, and here is the result - the product dripped. A very valuable product remains as a waste, containing the pulp of the nucleoli, the husk and, again, the oil, which we usually call lean. Previously, during the war and after it, they ate makukha, now they catch fish on it.

The direct spin method is very good, but has a number of disadvantages. Firstly, it is uneconomical, the yield is about 30% of the mass of the loaded raw material, and even then in the best case. The indicator of the content of vegetable fats in a seed is called oil content and depends both on the variety and on the weather conditions under which the sunflower ripened. Secondly, not only raw seeds are pressed, but also fried, that is, heat-treated at a temperature of about 110 degrees, and this leads to the fact that such unrefined sunflower oil also contains not very useful trace elements, from which it still needs to be cleaned. Thirdly, the shelf life of a product that is either hot or more useful cold pressed is extremely limited, which trade does not like. It is possible to get rid of unrefined sunflower oil from undesirable components by fairly simple mechanical means - settling, centrifugation and filtration. This is also refining, but during its implementation, the content of nutrients and vitamins does not decrease.

The next cleaning step is done with hot water. Protein components that cause premature spoilage settle, the product becomes light and transparent. This is also unrefined sunflower oil. The benefits of its use are somewhat reduced compared to the raw product. Hydration eliminates not only harmful, but also some useful trace elements, but in general, such cleaning gives the optimal ratio of presentation, shelf life, cost and nutritional value.

Modern intensive production methods do not allow the loss of valuable products contained in the waste. With the help of organic solvents, mainly ultra-refined gasoline, fats are extracted, after which only meal remains. The output of the finished product reaches 99%. If unrefined sunflower oil has its own smell and even, one might say, aroma, then vegetable fat, purified from all impurities, is very transparent and beautiful, almost completely devoid of taste and deodorized.

So, sunflower oil is sold in three types:

- unrefined;

- refined deodorized;

- refined non-deodorized.

Each of them is used for its intended purpose. The first is for salads, the second is for frying, the third is universal.