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List of vegetable oils

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List of vegetable oils
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Vegetable oils are triglycerides extracted from plants. Some of these oils have been part of human culture for millennia.[1] Edible vegetable oils are used in food, both in cooking and as supplements. Many oils, edible and otherwise, are burned as fuel, such as in oil lamps and as a substitute for petroleum-based fuels. Some of the many other uses include wood finishing, oil painting, and skin care.

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Definition

The term "vegetable oil" can be narrowly defined as referring only to substances that are liquid at room temperature,[2] or broadly defined without regard to a substance's state (liquid or solid) at a given temperature.[3] While a large majority of the entries in this list fit the narrower of these definitions, some do not qualify as vegetable oils according to all understandings of the term.

Classification

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Vegetable oils can be classified in several ways. For instance, by their use or by the method used to extract them. In this article, vegetable oils are grouped in common classes of use.

Extraction method

There are several types of plant oils, distinguished by the method used to extract the oil from the plant. The relevant part of the plant may be placed under pressure to extract the oil, giving an expressed (or pressed) oil. The oils included in this list are of this type. Oils may also be extracted from plants by dissolving parts of plants in water or another solvent. The solution may be separated from the plant material and concentrated, giving an extracted or leached oil. The mixture may also be separated by distilling the oil away from the plant material. Oils extracted by this latter method are called essential oils. Essential oils often have different properties and uses than pressed or leached vegetable oils. Finally, macerated oils are made by infusing parts of plants in a base oil, a process called liquid–liquid extraction.

Sources and Uses

Most, but not all vegetable oils are extracted from the fruits or seeds of plants. For instance, palm oil is extracted from palm fruits, while soybean oil is extracted from soybean seeds. Vegetable oils may also be classified by grouping oils extracted from similar plants, such as "nut oils".

Although most plants contain some oil, only the oil from certain major oil crops[4] complemented by a few dozen minor oil crops[5] is widely used and traded.

Use

Oils from plants are used for several different purposes. Edible vegetable oils may be used for cooking, or as food additives. Many vegetable oils, edible and otherwise, are burned as fuel, for instance as a substitute for petroleum-based fuels. Some may be also used for cosmetics, medical purposes, wood finishing, oil painting and other industrial purposes.

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Edible oils

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Major oils

These oils make up a significant fraction of worldwide edible oil production. All are also used as fuel oils.

Nut oils

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Hazelnuts from the Common Hazel, used to make Hazelnut oil

Nut oils are generally used in cooking, for their flavor. Most are quite costly, because of the difficulty of extracting the oil.

Citrus oils

A number of citrus plants yield pressed oils. Some, such as lemon and orange oil, are used as essential oils, which is uncommon for pressed oils.[note 1][35] The seeds of many if not most members of the citrus family yield usable oils.[35][36][37][38]

  • Grapefruit seed oil, extracted from the seeds of grapefruit (Citrus × paradisi). Grapefruit seed oil was extracted experimentally in 1930 and was shown to be suitable for making soap.[39]
  • Lemon oil, similar in fragrance to the fruit. One of a small number of cold pressed essential oils.[40] Used as a flavoring agent[41] and in aromatherapy.[42]
  • Orange oil, like lemon oil, cold pressed rather than distilled.[43] Consists of 90% d-Limonene. Used as a fragrance, in cleaning products and in flavoring foods.[44]
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    The fruit of the sea-buckthorn

Oils from melon and gourd seeds

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Watermelon seed oil, extracted from the seeds of Citrullus vulgaris, is used in cooking in West Africa.

Members of the Cucurbitaceae include gourds, melons, pumpkins, and squashes. Seeds from these plants are noted for their oil content, but little information is available on methods of extracting the oil. In most cases, the plants are grown as food, with dietary use of the oils as a byproduct of using the seeds as food.[45]

Food supplements

A number of oils are used as food supplements (or "nutraceuticals"), for their nutrient content or purported medicinal effect. Borage seed oil, blackcurrant seed oil, and evening primrose oil all have a significant amount of gamma-Linolenic acid (GLA) (about 23%, 15–20% and 7–10%, respectively), and it is this that has drawn the interest of researchers.

Other edible oils

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Carob seed pods, used to make carob pod oil
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Coriander seeds are the source of an edible pressed oil, Coriander seed oil.
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Poppy seeds, used to make poppyseed oil
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Virgin pracaxi oil
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Shea nuts, from which shea butter is pressed
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Oils used for biofuel

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A flask of biodiesel
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Sunflower kernels
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Jojoba fruit

A number of oils are used for biofuel (biodiesel and Straight Vegetable Oil) in addition to having other uses. Other oils are used only as biofuel.[note 4][147]

Although diesel engines were invented, in part, with vegetable oil in mind,[148] diesel fuel is almost exclusively petroleum-based. Vegetable oils are evaluated for use as a biofuel based on:

  1. Suitability as a fuel, based on flash point, energy content, viscosity, combustion products and other factors
  2. Cost, based in part on yield, effort required to grow and harvest, and post-harvest processing cost

Multipurpose oils also used as biofuel

The oils listed immediately below are all (primarily) used for other purposes  all but tung oil are edible  but have been considered for use as biofuel.

Inedible oils used only or primarily as biofuel

These oils are extracted from plants that are cultivated solely for producing oil-based biofuel.[note 5] These, plus the major oils described above, have received much more attention as fuel oils than other plant oils.

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Drying oils

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Drying oils are vegetable oils that dry to a hard finish at normal room temperature. Such oils are used as the basis of oil paints, and in other paint and wood finishing applications. In addition to the oils listed here, walnut, sunflower and safflower oil are also considered to be drying oils.[176]

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Other oils

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A number of pressed vegetable oils are either not edible, or not used as an edible oil.

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The fruit of the amur cork tree
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Castor beans are the source of castor oil.
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Astrocaryum vulgare (Tucumã) oil
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See also

Notes

  1. Lime oil, for example, is distilled, not pressed. See Jackson, p. 131
  2. "Egusi" is the common name of several species of melons, including Citrullus vulgaris cultivars and Lagenaria sicerari.
  3. The Targanine Archived 2011-10-28 at the Wayback Machine cooperative was founded by Zoubida Charrouf in the 1990s to help local poor, widowed and divorced women derive an income from producing and exporting high-quality argan oil. See Rainer Höfer, ed. (2009). Sustainable Solutions for Modern Economies. Royal Society of Chemistry (Great Britain). p. 401. ISBN 978-1847559050.
  4. Ethanol and, to a lesser degree, methanol and butanol are the other major types of biofuel.
  5. There are some plants that yield a commercial vegetable oil, that are also used to make other sorts of biofuel. Eucalyptus, for example, has been explored as a means of biomass for producing ethanol. These plants are not listed here.
  6. Carrot seeds are also used to obtain an essential oil with quite different properties than carrot seed pressed oil.
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References

Further reading

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