Enova oil: has anyone used it?

[Nina]

Hi everyone...

In my Sunday paper today, the circulars for coupons had a $1.00 off for Enova brand cooking and baking oil.

The ad says that:
* less of it is stored in the body as fat
* zero grams of trans fat
* lower saturated fat than traditional cooking and salad oils
* excellent source of vitamin E
* the number #1 cooking and salad oil in Japan

They also feature a recipe for carrot and zucchini bread complete with Enova oil as an ingredient.

I was just wondering if any of you out there have tried it and used it in your cooking and baking. I'm an extra virgin olive oil girl myself but I'm willing to give it a shot. Any thoughts and comments?

[Heidi]

Here is my personal take on fats and oils.

Over the past year or two I have really tried to shift to all-natural, organic, unrefined (or very minimally refined) cooking oils and fats. If you go down this path, your palette of cooking fats/oils gets limited pretty quickly (and I don't think in a bad way).

Oils are produced by pressing foods that are oil-rich until they release their fluids. What happens after this is really a crapshoot, and depends on who is producing the product. Many of the oils available on the market (particularly the ones advertising high smoking points) are highly refined and processed - damaging many of the healthful properties inherant to naturally produced oils. Some are processed at high temperatures (damaging fragile fatty acids), or are processed with chemical solvents (no thanks). If I can't explain to a child how someone made my oil, or if I as an adult, I can't understand the process - I'm not buying it.

I buy organic because pesticides and toxins often collect in higher concentration in the fatty parts of a crop (seeds, nuts, etc) - that translates into your oils.

Once you start buying unrefined oils, you need to be careful that you don't damage the healthful components in them when you are cooking - by using temperatures that are too high.

I never heat or cook with oils rich in omega-3 fatty acids (flax seed oil, etc)
Oils rich in omega-6 fatty acids (sunflower, peanut) can handle more heat, but I try to keep them below 212F.
Oils rich in omega-9 (avocado, macadamia nut oil, olive oil) can handle more - 325F.

For higher temp cooking and baking I use organic clarified butter, butter, or unrefined organic coconut oil (esp. if there are vegans in the crowd). All natural. The saturated fats can handle the higher temperatures without becoming unstable.

So, I encourage people to really seek out high quality oils/fats to cook with. Your oil should smell like the seed or nut it came from. I don't know much (anything) about Enova, but I would look closely at their production process (if possible), I'd also be intereted to know if they are using GMO crops (soy). It looks like it is a canola blend. I stay clear of canola as well.

-h

[Nina]

Thanks, Heidi, for your very informative response. I think that I will stick to using predominately olive oil (peanut, rice, and sesame for when I'm cooking Thai or Indian) and leave it at that.

I've never tried using coconut oil but you have peaked my interest!

I was sleuthing to answer your comment about the process and went to the Enova web-site and to their FAQ's. Here's what I found out...

They are a bit sketchy on the "process" !

How does Enova™ oil work?
Enova™ oil is produced through a patented process that increases concentrations of diacylglycerols (i.e. DAG), a naturally occurring component found in vegetable oils, which contain two fatty acids per fat molecule. This is unlike conventional vegetable oils. Most cooking and salad oils mainly consist of fat molecules called triacylglycerols (i.e. TAG), which contain three fatty acids in the fat molecule. DAG is digested and absorbed by the body the same way as TAG, but DAG molecules are later metabolized in a slightly different way. Enova™ oil is DAG–rich oil. Less of the DAG in Enova™ oil is stored in the body as fat, compared to other vegetable oils.

How is it different from soy and canola oil? Could I make Enova™ oil myself from soy and canola?
Enova™ oil comes from soy and canola, but its main component, DAG oil, is initially present only in small quantities. Through a patented process, ADM Kao LLC – the joint venture between Archer Daniels Midland Company and Kao Corporation of Japan that brought Enova™ oil to the United States – converts the triacylglycerol (TAG) oil from natural soy and canola oils into a mixture that is at least 80 percent DAG oil. And, no, it’s not something you could do at home

[djcollins1122]

I have used this oil for months. It is great for cooking and baking; I feel I can eat fried foods and baked sweets again (using Splenda, of course) without feeling guilty.

[ljpfrog]

I am always trying to find ways to reduce or avoid using oils. My husband really like enchiladas and this was the first dish I tried it on. They turned out wonderfully. They were less greasy then using regular oil and I prefer it when I am have to cook or prepare foods with oil. I was suprised there was no after taste or some strange body reaction. I highly recomend it.
Laura

[kathleen]

I haven't used Enova, but I recently read an article about it:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52629-2005Jan31.html

[ChocolateChipKt]

I stay away from canola oil too. I use organic butter, extra virgin olive oil, and organic coconut oil when cooking/baking.

[qika]

I'm new to all this, but have started to eat a lot more healthy lately and am trying to catch up on all the good and bad things out there. Why is canola a "bad" oil? I'm not a fan of any oil, so am trying to research as much as possible. Usually, I will use butter when needed, I don't fry or eat many fried foods.

[Heidi]

HI qika,

Here's what I posted about canola a while back when someone else was asking about it:

--------------------------

The healthy oil debate can be really confusing - even for me, and I've been thinking a lot about it. I took me a long time to really sort through things. I've actually made quite a lot of changes to my pantry over the past two years on this front.

Let me start by saying, I think it is up to each individual to really research the pros + cons of the different oils/fats that are available - I'm working on a much longer explanation of where I ended up on this topic and why, but it won't be ready for a while.

As I said on the discussion boards, I've come to the conclusion that I want all the fats/oils I use to be both organic AND unrefined. When choosing an oil/fat I also think about intended cooking temperature, and how that will impact the oil - but maybe we can get into that later.

In this case we are talking about canola oil - which shows up in stores refined the vast majority of the time. If you are interested in healthy oils - you have to limit yourself to unrefined products. Many of the beneficial qualities inherent to an oil are damaged (or stripped from the oil) in the refining process. Check out this flow chart if you are interested in seeing how some edible oils are processed: http://www.westonaprice.org/images/edib ... wchart.gif Chemicals, solvents, bleaching - no thanks.

Saturated fats: I would much rather use a natural, organic, fresh, unrefined oil rich in saturated fat than one that might be lower in saturated but has been processed via the method we saw above. While I avoid refined saturated fats, if you go back and look at traditional diets that are rich in natural sat. fats - for example, Pacific Islander's pre-1970 or so, you will notice that diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and thyroid problems were nearly non-existent. This is all prior to the invasion of processed Western foods.

Bottom line...If I can't explain to you in simple terms how an oil is produced, then I probably don't want to make it a cornerstone of my cooking.

It is a big topic. If you are interested in delving deeper, here are a few places to start:

Mary G. Enig, PhD: start here. Dr. Enig cuts through the crap and tells it like only a lipid biochemist can.
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html
The Great Con-ola: http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/conola.html

Rebecca Wood is a knowledgeable resource, author of The Splendid Grain and the New Whole Foods Encyclopedia. http://www.rwoods.com

There are also quite a lot of books out recently talking about beneficial fats like coconut oil - so look for those as well.

[psychokiwi]

Hi - the link is actually
http://www.rwood.com/
Thanks for all the info on oil - keep it coming!
Cheers,
Judi

Rebecca Wood is a knowledgeable resource, author of The Splendid Grain and the New Whole Foods Encyclopedia. http://www.rwoods.com