“Makes My Mouth Water.”

January 2nd, 2009 · No Comments · Real Food

That's the funniest thing Stephan said here. He quotes at some length from a history of vegetable oils, and both are certainly worth a read.

The quote from Stephan, however, relates to the quoted bit about how vegetable oils are manufactured.

Typically, a mixture of refined oil and finely powdered nickel catalyst (comprising 0.05-0.1% of the weight of the oil) is pumped into a cylindrical pressure reactor of 5-20 tons capacity. It is heated by heating coils to 120-188°C (248-370°F) at 1-6 atmospheres pressure. Hydrogen is pumped into the bottom of the reactor and dispersed by a stirrer, continuously, as bubbles into the oil... After hydrogenation is completed to the desired degree, the oil is filtered to remove the catalyst (which may be reused) then pumped to a storage tank; it may later be blended with other harder or softer fats or oils to make margarine or shortening.

Yep. A regular chop licking affair. Virtually every household has this frankenfood-crap in the cupboard and as Stephan alludes, they might not if they had any idea.