In order for cooked food to be not only tasty, but also healthy, the products used must be of high quality and fresh. And sunflower oil, an ingredient in many dishes, can not only give the dish a pleasant taste, but also increase the nutritional value. Let's figure out how to store sunflower oil properly to save all its beneficial properties.
Storage Methods
From the seeds of ordinary sunflower, an unusually nutritious product is obtained - sunflower oil. It is rich in a variety of vitamins, minerals and trace elements, so necessary for our body.
But how to store this important component of many dishes so that it does not lose all its nutritional properties? It turns out that this is quite a capricious product, the storage of which implies the fulfillment of certain rules.
Rule # 1
Observe the temperature conditions. The best conditions for the content of sunflower oil is the temperature from 5 to 20 ° C.At lower or higher values, nutrients begin to break down. Improper storage conditions can lead to the formation of harmful substances in it and make the product simply unsuitable for cooking.
However, after opening the bottle, the storage temperature changes and should be kept at 18-25 ° C.
Rule number 2
Protect from the sun. Direct sunlight causes the destruction of beneficial vitamin A and some other substances. Therefore, it is best to store the bottle in the kitchen cabinet.
Rule number 3
Keep track of shelf life. An expired product may contain harmful substances, as its components have oxidized for too long. Any type of oil, regardless of the method of preparation, can be stored in clear form for not more than a month.
Rule number 4
Store in a glass bottle. This refers to an unrefined specimen due to its greater susceptibility to external exposure. Before you start using it, it is recommended to pour it into a glass bottle made of dark glass. Such measures will help to preserve beneficial vitamins and trace elements from destruction.
Tips for extending the shelf life of
By following these tips, you can use butter without fear for its quality. Sometimes we use the product for more than a month, but to prolong the life you can use one folk trick. It is necessary to throw into the bottle a few dry beans or a teaspoon of salt per 1 liter. This will extend the time of use for a few more weeks. And if, in addition, you want to give a spicy flavor to the food you prepare, you can add a bay leaf to the bottle, which will increase the shelf life and add its own flavor to the taste.
It is also possible to increase the storage time of the refined variety by freezing. Pour it into small bottles, put it in the freezer. In such circumstances, the product can lie for a year. But it is not recommended to re-freeze it. It will not lose its properties, and the structure will not be broken, since at low temperatures it does not freeze, but only becomes thicker in consistency.
Oil storage depending on its type.
However, not all oils are equally useful. Among the sunflower oils there are several varieties. Each has its own nutritional value and its shelf life. On the shelves of stores there are only two representatives of this product: refined and unrefined, as other species either have too little shelf life or are less suitable for cooking.
Unrefined sunflower oil has a fairly long shelf life. If it is cold-pressed when it is received, storage can last up to 4 months, and if the hot-pressing method was used, the product life is extended to 10 months. True, the useful substances in the unrefined sample are somewhat less than in the sample at the previous manufacturing stage. This change is due to the addition to the stage of direct extraction of additional processing procedures in the form of mechanical cleaning and filtering. What should be used for salad dressing, but not for frying and stewing.
Refined - is the most popular type of sunflower oil, obtained as a result of processing of its unrefined counterpart with alkali. This procedure deprives the product of most of the nutrients, taste, smell and brightens it. But all this increases the shelf life and makes it suitable for frying and stewing.
