Coconut Oil- Try it and You'll Never Go Back!

Have you ever heard of coconut oil?  I hadn't either, until I read about it in Tosca Reno's "Eat Clean" books. She says she eats 3 Tablespoons of it a day.  Now, Tosca doesn't eat any foods that are not clean, so I'm sure that 360 calories of a good source of fat don't hurt her. But for the rest of us it might not be the best idea to consume this quantity if we are trying to lose weight.  However, it's a great food to substitute for some other fats in your diet for a myriad of reasons.   Here's an article that goes into detail, because I am too lazy to type it all out:  www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html

At any rate, I have discovered how versatile this oil is and how wonderful it makes food taste!  I have tried substituting it in a myriad of recipes, from stir-fries to baked goods, and every time, without exception, it improves the recipe tremendously.  The  texture makes even recipes where whole-wheat flour is subbed in for regular white (which usually results in a tougher product) melt-in-your-mouth.

Case in point:  I'm GREAT at making pie crust, but have always had to use refined white flour for it to be flaky enough to grant my approval.  Last night I made my traditional pie crust (my own recipe and technique), but substituted 1/4 of the white flour for whole-wheat and all of the shortening with coconut oil.  It was wonderful!  Next time I am going to try it with all whole-wheat flour.  I'll bet it turns out terrific.

Coconut oil can be substituted strait over for any kind of fat a recipe calls for, but is especially good in recipes that call for butter or shortening, the latter of which is particularly bad for your heart and arteries.

An unusual property of coconut oil is that it holds solid at temperatures 76 degrees Fahrenheit and below.  Above that and it starts to melt.  I was keeping it in the same cabinet I always had, but mysteriously it was beginning to liquify.  It finally occurred to me that it was being stored next to an exterior wall:  With the Texas summer heat on the other side of the wall the coconut oil was getting a little too warm to hold it's solid state.  I moved it to my pantry, which is on an inside wall, and it went back to solid.

If you want to use it in a recipe that calls for liquid oil, just melt it first.  In a recipe that calls for a solid fat (butter, margarine, or shortening), use it strait out of the jar.

Unlike olive oil (which is also heart healthy), coconut oil is heat stable.  So you can use it for types of cooking that call for prolonged exposure to heat and it won't destroy the flavor of your food.

And it's not just good for cooking- I like to stir a teaspoon of it into my oats or whole-grain cream of what in the mornings.  It adds a nice flavor and texture to it, and the added fat slows digestion and helps to keep me full longer.

Most stores carry coconut oil on the shelves with other types of cooking oils.

One caveat of coconut oil is that it is more expensive than most other commonly-used fat sources.   But I think that once you've tried it you'll be sold and never go back to shortening, at least, again.   It's worth the investment to get that artery-clogging stuff out of the diets of you and your family.