What oil is the best oil?

I like to mix butter with olive oil for cooking, increases the burn temp for butter while adding a ton of flavor.

This is perhaps the best flavored fat combo for general cooking. I love it.

I think if you asked most doctors and dieticians this question, the overwhelming response would be extra virgin olive oil.

flaxseed for salads....Not for cooking though.
Olive oil or canola oil for cooking....Maybe 2 tsp a day....not too much, it still has calories..

The flavour of the virgin oil most definately depends on which country the olive trees are grown from.



what a shame to use good olive oil to cook with when it has so many benefits raw.
I use vegtable oil, but use it sparingly, I always top my cooked food with a drizzle of good ol extra virgin olive oil, cos adds a different flavour. when you cook with it, the flavour changes, and not so beneficial as raw.

you can definately use to moisturise your body and hair.

Your logic is flawed. Taking olive oil past the smoke point does compromise some of the health benefits, but not all of them, but in order to do that you would need to be cooking at extreme temps and most people don't do that, you would be burning your food for the most part as well.
Don't know why people think if you heat olive oil it's no longer good for you while they use other refined veg oils that not only have no nutritional value whatsoever but can be detrimental to health.

I don't use any olive oil that is not extra virgin. I cook with it almost every day for lower temp cooking. For frying or cooking where the temperatures are going to get above the smoke point of extra virgin olive oil I use grapeseed or peanut oil. Extra virgin olive oil still tastes great and adds a wonderful flavor to foods as long as you keep the temps under its smoke point.

There is a major difference between extra virgin olive oil, and pure olive oil. Extra virgin has a very low smoke point and delicate flavors that get ruined by heat. Pure olive oil is more refined, doesn't have the delicate flavors, has a high smoke point, (410 degrees, just as high, and sometimes higher than all the vegetable oils.)

So again, use extra virgin for cold applications, toppings and dressings, and regular pure olive oil for cooking.

Health benefits are the same with both oils.

Refined olive oil doesn't have the same health benefits as evoo's. You have to remember that refined olive oil is still refined and go through the same processes and therefore are bleached and deodorized from the actual refining process, still better than most vegetable oils, but not in the same league as an evoo. Also like most things, evoo's have different processes, and if the evoo isn't filtered, there's actual olive material left behind and in generally very cloudy to look at....these are the best imo and the ones I use for cold applications. Other evoo's depending on how much their filtered (some double/triple) will be able to withstand higher heats. the range for smoke points can range from the low 200's for non filtered up to almost 400 degree's for others. Personally I would never use a refined olive oil.....plus lots of fraud happening in regards to quality and the use of non olive products (filler oils) considering there are no controls over refined olive oils, only extra virgin. Some pretty big law suits lately from some of the biggest names brands over this.

I'm not talking about refined olive oil. I'm talking about regular virgin olive oil. The only difference from a processing standpoint between virgin and extra virgin, is extra virgin is the first cold press, and virgin is the second cold press. Because the volatile compounds go out with the first pressing, virgin olive oil ends up with a much higher smoke point, but is no more processed than extra virgin. Usually you can buy regular virgin olive oil in a edition to extra virgin, it's a bit cheaper, because it's a bit more plain in flavor. Pure olive oil is usually what's available in most regular grocery stores, and that's virgin olive oil, sometimes it's mixed with refined oil, sometimes it isn't. That's where label reading comes into play.

gotcha. You said pure olive oil, which is refined but I agree virgin second pressing is a good choice. Virgin's got to show up on the label otherwise who knows what were actually consuming.