Potato chips are sold in many flavors.
The potato chip is America's favorite snack food, bringing in over $6 billion a year in sales. According to Ideafinder.com, this salty snack was accidentally discovered in 1853 by George Crum, a chef in Saratoga Springs, New York. Ongoing debates have left us wondering if this favorite snack is healthy or unhealthy, and consumers want to know why oil makes such a difference in the healthiness of the chip.
Vegetable Oil
For many years, vegetable oil has been the most commonly used oil for frying . It is actually a combination of corn, soybean, palm and sunflower oil. Vegetable oil is also considered to be the least expensive oil which may explain its popularity, but healthier oils are quickly becoming more popular as we learn about their benefits over vegetable oil.
Canola Oil
Many different oils are used for frying.
Canola oil is one of the unsaturated fats used today for frying potato chips. The American Heart Association recommends using unsaturated fats when possible for frying potato chips due to their cholesterol lowering abilities. Canola oil is often used for fat free potato chip recipes.
Corn Oil
Corn oil is low in saturated fat and is also listed as a beneficial oil by the American Heart Association. It is used for frying and baking, and is also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, a heart healthy fat that you can only get from food or supplements.
Sunflower Oil
Sunflower oil is just one of the many organic oils used today.
Sunflower oil is gaining in popularity for frying potato chips, due to its high level of Vitamin E. Some potato chip makers have claimed it as the preferred frying oil because of the added benefit of such a popular antioxidant. Vitamin E can be destroyed by the high temperatures used for frying, so its health benefits are questionable.
Olive Oil
Olive oil is one of the most popular oils today, and organic chip companies are using olive oil to kettle cook chips for a different kind of crunch. Chow.com reports kettle cooking as frying in small batches, giving potato chips a thicker, crispier texture. Olive oil aids in the fight against heart disease. It is a monounsaturated fat and the number one oil used in Mediterranean cooking, where heart disease is rated as much lower than in countries where other oils are used.
Peanut Oil
Peanut oil is a monounsaturated fat and is recommended by the Harvard School of Public Health as a healthy unsaturated oil. Some chip makers claim that during the frying process, peanut oil is absorbed into the potato, giving the chips an extra peanut flavor. This gives chips fried in peanut oil a unique taste compared to other oils. If you are allergic to peanuts, you should not consume chips fried in peanut oil.
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