What determines an oil's smoke point?

science
(May-Britt Scheffer) #1

Hi!

I have been researching oils and which are best to eat and cook with.

I was researching smoke point, and at first I thought the higher sfa it is the higher the smoke point, but that doesn’t neccesarily seem to be the case… I think I found Ghee has less sfa but a higher smoke point than coconut oil for example. Does anyone know the answer to this? What determines a smoke point? Or is this just totally random?
And, is there a good chart somewhere with fats and their composition of mufa, pufa and sfa? And smoke points?
Thanks a lot!

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #2

IT is not random but it complex chemistry. It is probably the molecule size and the types of chemical bonds.

This site has a table, I don’t know how accurate it is https://jonbarron.org/diet-and-nutrition/healthiest-cooking-oil-chart-smoke-points

BTW - I just googled this.

(Carpe salata!) #3

Try here https://www.aboutoliveoil.org/understanding-cooking-oil-smoke-points

Good question but totally complicated answer because these oils are actually mixtures not pure substances. Read page 80 (79) of the book linked at that URL, it goes into more detail. The smoke point will often vary from batch to batch of the same oil.

Short answer, they just do.

(May-Britt Scheffer) #4

Ah yes I had found those websites as well. :slight_smile: But it didn’t really do for me as far as the lists go. although @daddyoh i did find that list as well. I was just looking for a more keto based one I guess. But this one’s pretty ok. But what do you mean page 80? @Peter of which url? The link to that website you sent? Was afraid the answer wouldn’t really be there. So it still is kind of random because it doesn’t really follow a rule. I know the fats are mixed… but ofcourse i meant which one is more prevalent…

(Robert C) #5

I am not sure “keto” is a good way to think about which oil to use. I think “keto” would just worry about fat grams for macro calculations. There was a chart already given (https://jonbarron.org/diet-and-nutrition/healthiest-cooking-oil-chart-smoke-points) but did you notice the final recommendations section at the bottom? Pretty nice and concise.

(May-Britt Scheffer) #6

Oh geah that indeed is a nice summary. Tnx for pointing that out :slight_smile:

(Carpe salata!) #7

This was the link @May1985 . It’s toward the end of that previous article.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=8Lyrh2JXWuoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=What+Einstein+Told+His+Cook%3B+Kitchen+Science+Explained&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=smoke%20point&f=false