Sesame Oil for Cooking - Yay or Nay? Let's Find Out in This Detailed Guide on Sesame Oil and Its Benefits!

Selecting the right cooking oil could be confusing, as there are so many varieties out there available in the market. Choosing the right option from seed oil, nut oils or animal derived oil could be a tough choice. If you go by what people and shelf representatives must tell, you will end up buying loads of different type of oils.

A common question that the home makers and health conscious folks have is that, Is Sesame Oil Good For Cooking? Sesame oil is easily one of the most recommended oils for cooking for its heating point and nutrition factors.

We will be discussing later about the different types of tests needed to identify unadulterated sesame oil, for now let us dive into the health benefits of the oil.

In Ayurveda, sesame is regarded as a great way of healing skin and a natural stress buster. Sesame oil is tyrosine rich, which is a type of amino acid and impacts the serotonin activity. For the uninitiated, serotonin is a neurotransmitter playing an important role in our mood fluctuations. Sesame seed oil help in maintaining this balance and therefore safeguarding you from the extreme mental health issues such as depression and stress.

Sesame oil has good amount of unsaturated fatty acids which has been proven to be good for heart. There have be several research stating that sesame oil keeps the heart healthy and helps in minimising the cholesterol level. In fact there have been studies showing that sesame oil could be more effective than olive oil in reducing the risk of heart disease. Including weekly sesame oil recipes in your diet will help you a great deal in taking care of your heart.

Many of us use olive oil for cooking, but at times end up heating it too much. As a result fat starts breaking down releasing free radicals and odd odours. Too much heated oil can turn into burnt oil, which is not good for health. Since the smoke point of sesame oil can go up to 400 degrees, it does not release the harmful substances in the air. You can therefore use sesame oil to cook a wide variety of food without consuming anything harmful.

Sesame oil is known for regulating the blood sugar and could be beneficial for people who have diabetes. There have been lot of studies and research done on this topic, stating that sesame oil could help in regulating blood sugar. Although we recommend the diabetes patients to get the suggestion once from their doctors, do ask them if you should replace your vegetable cooking oil with this very beneficial sesame oil.

Sesame oil is an extraordinarily rich source of vitamin B and vitamin E, both good for skin and hair. Moreover, sesame oil is a rich source of iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and other such minerals. All these minerals are good for blood circulation or metabolism in one way or the other. The content of zinc in the oil also helps in collagen production and enhances the immunity. Further, the sesame oil is also a rich source of antioxidants that help in combating and reducing the risk of inflammation, aging, cancer and various other diseases such as Parkinson’s.

Now that we have answered the question of Sesame seed oil being good for cooking or not, let us discuss a few ways of adding this beneficial oil in our diet. There are various ways to include sesame oil in your diet, using it as uncooked sesame oil or for frying. If you have just included sesame oil in your diet then let us help you out with a few quick and delicious recipes using sesame oil.

The very Asian flavour of the sesame oil works well with honey, rice vinegar, soy sauce etc for salad dressing. Raw and unadulterated sesame oil is particularly good source of antioxidants and leaves your hair and skin healthy and shiny. Further, you can also use raw sesame oil for making dips such as hummus, pasta, rice etc to obtain its various benefits.

You can add sesame oil instead of olive oil for frying, grilling and toasting vegetables, meat, making omelettes and eggs. Sesame oil leaves a great taste in pastas, fried rice and stir-fried vegetables as well.

There are few tests which would help you in choosing the right sesame oil that is without any adulteration.

With the help of chopsticks, dip sesame oil drop in the clear water and see if the oil is completely transparent floating above the water. Just a few seconds after, the drop will split into small droplets. Now, if the oil droplet is thick and small and moreover does not split easily then it is an adulterated sesame oil.

Unadulterated sesame oil does not take much time to dissolve after getting frozen in the refrigerator. On the other hand, the adulterated sesame oil would take a lot of time in dissolving and the middle portion would be frozen for very long time.

The properties of sesame oil make it precipitate on the hot pan very quickly. However, if the sesame oil turns white thereafter, then chances are that it is adulterated and mixed with lard. If the oil turns anything other than precipitating quickly then know for sure that it is adulterated.

Sesame oil has great health benefits and should be included as the part of our diet. From vitamins to minerals and antioxidant properties, you get everything wrapped up in one oil. Use it raw or for frying and tossing in the vegetables and cooking meat, etc.

However, it is also important to ensure that you are not allergic to sesame seeds or oils, one of the most common types of food allergies found globally. For those who have certain prescriptions from the doctors should also consult before adding sesame or any other type of oil in their diet. Take your healthy habits a step ahead with sesame oil, that are the rich source of nutrients and minerals.