12/03/2009 (The Jakarta Globe) - O il is one of the most important ingredients in a lot of food, but buying a bottle can be confusing.

Palm oil is the most commonly used and most widely produced oil in Indonesia. Palm oil is one of the least expensive vegetable oils and is also a major component of some margarines. It is naturally reddish in color, but when it is heated to high temperatures during the production process, the red pigments in the oil break down, and the oil becomes clear and colorless.

Palm oil is a relatively bland oil with no distinct taste or aroma, which makes it ideal for cooking because it does not alter the flavor of food, however it does have a major drawback: it is high in saturated fats, which are very unhealthy for your body, especially for your cardiovascular system.

Saturated fats are considered stable, meaning they do not spoil easily, which is good in a way because this means that oils and margarines that contain saturated fats have a long shelf life. However, saturated fats are semisolid at room temperature. You may have noticed this at the supermarket — some bottles of palm oil occasionally look thick, white and cloudy.

When you heat saturated fats, they melt and become liquid. But when you consume these fats, they will return to room temperature within your body, which also means that they will return to becoming semisolid again and may play a part in clogging your arteries. This is one of the reasons why saturated fats are bad for our health, and we should limit our intake of saturated fats as much as possible.

Once oil starts to smoke, it is not only risky to your safety, but becomes unhealthy and unusable

A healthier alternative to palm oil is canola oil, which is produced from a variety of rapeseed. Canola oil is similar to palm oil, it is clear, bland and will not change the color or taste of food. However canola oil has a significant advantage over palm oil: it contains very low levels of saturated fat, high levels of monounsaturated fat and healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Monounsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature — you should never see a bottle of canola oil that is thick and cloudy — and most research results indicate that they are not harmful to your health. The drawback is that monounsaturated fats are less stable than unsaturated fats, so are prone to go rancid faster. So if you do buy oils that contain monounsaturated fats, try to use them up as quickly as possible and do not buy a large bottle if you will not be able to finish it quickly enough.

Olive oil is another type of oil that contains high levels of monounsaturated fats, so like canola oil, you should never see a bottle of cloudy olive oil. However unlike canola oil and palm oil, olive oil is not bland, but has a very strong and distinct aroma and flavor. These characteristics make olive oil unsuitable for some types of cooking, because the flavor of the oil will definitely affect the final flavor and aroma of the dish, this is especially the case for extra-virgin olive oil. However, the additional flavor provided by olive oil is desirable in some dishes, such as Italian and Mediterranean cuisine.

Another reason why olive oil is unsuitable for cooking, especially for frying and deep frying at high temperatures, is that it has a low smoking point. When you heat oil, all types will start to produce smoke and eventually burn and catch fire, however different types of oil have different smoking and burning temperatures. Palm oil and canola oil have high smoking points of about 230 degrees Celsius and 225 degrees Celsius respectively but extra virgin olive oil has a low smoking point at about 160 degrees Celsius. Light olive oil and virgin olive oil have higher smoking points than extra virgin olive oil.

When heating oil, it is better to use a low-to-medium heat rather than a high heat, because once oil starts to smoke, it is not only risky to your safety but becomes unhealthy and unusable — burned oil has a strong flavor that is easily detected and very unpleasant. It may also be better to buy olive oil in small quantities to ensure it does not go rancid. Another tip is to store oil in a dark, dry place as spoils faster in the light.

Rosa Kusbiantoro is a regular culinary columnist for City Beat. She is a trained chef and discusses cuisine, particularly her passion for chocolate, on her blog Chocolateschool.livejournal.com