Lesson #10 Fats and Oils

Fats and Oils>> The items that are included in the fats section include vegetable oil, shortening, peanut butter, butter, mayonnaise, salad dressing, etc.>> According to the new amounts listed in the April Ensign pg 70 each person needs 10 quarts of Cooking Oil per year. You will need to decide what you need in each area for your family.>>>>> Amount Needed>> 3 months @ person-2 ½ quarts>>> Times # in family>>> Total Needed>>> Times 2 for 6 months>>> Times 2 for 12 months
Veg Oil
Shortening
Peanut Butter
Butter Mayo/Salad Dressing

Fats: Storing Butter, Oil and Other Products>> Nutritive Value:>> Certain fatty acids–the right ones are essential to our health and fats and oils are important components of our food and their preparation. .Fat is responsible for much of the texture, appearance, and taste of our baked goods. This discussion is not the forum to discuss the dietary benefits or problems of fats, for broader information you may want to research this subject further, but for food storage purposes it is important to know the following:>> Because of the difficulty in storing fats and oils for any long period of time many books and articles on the subject of food storage make only passing mention of them, if they say anything at all. Fat contains nine calories to the gram compared to the four calories contained by either carbohydrates or protein. This makes fat a valuable source of concentrated calories that could be of real importance if faced with a diet consisting largely of unrefined grains and legumes. For small children, infants, nursing mothers, and the elderly, they may not be able to consume the volume of food that would be necessary in the course of a day to get all of the calories they would need to avoid weight loss and possible malnutrition. Additionally, fats play an important role in our perception of taste and texture and their absence would make many foods more difficult to prepare and consume. Furthermore, a small amount of dietary fat is necessar y for our bodies to properly absorb fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K. It also is part of the sheath that encases nerves.>> Most fats are fragile and don't store well. Oil oxidizes and becomes rancid as it ages-a process that is accelerated by heat, light, and oxygen. So store your oil in a cool, dark location and rotate it often. Maybe more so than any other food group, fatty foods must be carefully and conscientiously rotated to maintain adequate and healthy stocks. As oils and fats age, they oxidize. Oxidation is the process that turns fats rancid. Rancid foods not only taste bad, they are unhealthy. As fats and oils breakdown, they become toxic. So it is important that we store fats properly, use all fatty foods well before they become rancid, and discard those foods that have been stored too long. Use what you store and store what you use.>> Any food with a significant fat content such as nuts, cookies, or whole wheat flour is subject to rancidity>> How Do I Store Fats?>> 1 - Exposure to oxygen, light and heat are the greatest factors to rancidity. If possible, buy your oils in opaque, airtight containers. If you purchase it in plastic, particularly clear plastic, you can transfer it to glass or metal container that can be sealed airtight. You can also, vacuum seal the storage container, which removes oxygen and prolongs the shelf life. Transparent glass and plastic containers should be stored in the dark, such as in a box. Regardless of the storage container, it should be stored at as cool a temperature as possible and rotated as fast as is practical. All other considerations being equal, oils and fats with preservatives will have a greater shelf life than those without, provided they are fresh when purchased.>> 2 - Oil can be kept up to 2 year’s if it is kept in a cool, dry and dark place. Shortening will keep for up to 5 years if stored at 50*. At 70* it will be good for only about 8 months. Crisco brand is said to have an indefinite shelf life. The oldest I have used is 4 years old. The new foil lid products will have a shorter shelf life. Some specialty oils such as sesame and flax seed have shorter usable lives. Try to buy your oil in small containers. This way you won't be exposing a large quantity to the air after you've opened it. If it turns cloudy or solid, the fat is still usable and will return to its normal liquid, clear state after it has warmed to room temperature.>> 3- Although darker colored oils have more flavor than paler colored, the agents that contribute to that flavor and color also contribute to faster rancidity. For maximum shelf life buy paler colored oils.>> I found a recipe for canned butter!!!>> Canning Butter>> 12 cubes (3 lbs.) yields 8- half pint jars.>> 1 - Use any butter.>> 2 - Heat jars in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes in a roasting pan, without rings or seals.>> 3 - While the jars are heating, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil. Using a large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes at least: a good simmer time will lessen the amount of shaking required (see #5 below). Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving the lids in simmering water until needed.>> 4 - Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle or small pot with a handle, pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning jar funnel. Leave 3/4" of head space in the jar, which allows room for the shaking process.>> 5 - Carefully wipe off the top of the jars, then get a hot lid from the simmering water, add the lid and ring and tighten securely. Lids will seal as they cool. Once the lids "ping," shake the jars, they will still be warm, but cool enough to handle. The butter will separate and become foamy on top, yellow in the middle and cream colored on the bottom. In a few minutes, shake again, and repeat about every 5-10 minutes for about 30 minutes.>> 6 - At this point, while still slightly warm, put the jars into a refrigerator. Shake very 5 minutes until they become firm. This final shaking is very important! Leave in the refrigerator for an hour.>> 7 - Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer on a cool, dark shelf. The author says she used some over 5 years old and it was fine. Canned butter does not "melt" again when opened, so it does not need to be refrigerated upon opening, provided it is used within a reasonable length of time.>> A lovely glow seems to emanate from every jar. You will also be glowing with grateful satisfaction while placing this "sunshine in a jar" on your pantry shelves.>> *** Buy butter on sale, and then keep it frozen until you have enough for canning 2 or 3 batches of a dozen jars each.>>>> Challenge for the week: Inventory your “fat” stores and try canning a small batch of butter. Let me know how it went!!>> Here are a couple of interesting web sites to browse through.>> www.preparedpantry.com,>> www.waltonfeed.com,