Cottonseed Oil Vs. Peanut Oil

Cooking oil is an indispensable part of our kitchen ingredients. There are so many options for cooking oil that you will be spoilt for choice. The choice of cooking oil largely depends upon the geographic location and the nature of the recipe. However, these days another factor is greatly considered while selecting cooking oil and that is 'fat content'.

However, one must understand that the notion, 'oil is fat, and fat is bad' may not be true always. In fact, fat is a nutrient required by the body to absorb certain vitamins and minerals. More than fat, it is the particular type of fat that decides the nutritional value of cooking oil. You may be aware about the nutritional facts of popular oils such as olive oil, canola oil, but cottonseed oil and peanut oil rarely top the list of popular healthy cooking oils.

As mentioned above olive oil, canola oil, corn oil remain the popular choices for cooking oil in the US. Peanut cooking oil is only used for deep frying purposes, whereas cottonseed oil happens to be the major ingredient in Crisco. However, peanut oil is widely popular in Asian countries and forms the basis of many recipes.

In western countries, it is used for making French fries, frying chicken, etc. Its use for frying Turkey by traditional method is highly appreciated. Cottonseed oil is a late entrant in the market of cooking oils.

However, today it is considered as one of the most healthy cooking oils available around. Ironically, it is used in the most unhealthy foodstuffs like potato chips and other processed foods.

Peanut oil has a strong distinct flavor while cottonseed oil has a neutral flavor. This helps to retain the original flavor of the recipe. The peanut oil used in Asian countries is less refined and has a stronger flavor, whereas the one sold in US is much refined which leaves little protein in it.

Both cottonseed and peanut oil have a very high smoke point (about 425° F). This allows the oils to be cooked at very high temperatures without the risk of burning them. Also, both these oils have a good re-usability. Cottonseed oil particularly does not carry the flavor of the previously cooked recipe to the next one.

Oils contain two types of fats, saturated and unsaturated fats. Saturated fats are considered undesirable for health. Cottonseed oil contains more saturated fats than monounsaturated fats, which are considered good for health. Even peanut oil is not very rich in monounsaturated fats.

This is the reason why these two oils are rarely considered as healthy cooking oils. Other oils such as olive oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, corn oil score much higher than these two oils when it comes to monounsaturated fat content.

People having peanut allergy should consume peanut oil with caution. Actually, peanut allergy is mostly due to the proteins in peanut. During the refinement of oil, the content of proteins is drastically reduced. Thus, peanut oil has little potential to induce allergies. The problem with cottonseed oil is that cotton is rarely cultivated as food crop. Hence, farmers liberally use pesticides which seep into the oil even after refinement.

This is all about the comparison between cottonseed oil and peanut oil. Although, the nutrient value of these oils is debatable, they can certainly provide a tasty variation from your usual cooking oil.