The many benefits of Coconut Oil

For decades, health care officials and the media have been telling us that saturated fats are bad for our health and that they lead to a host of negative consequences, including high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease and Alzheimer’s. Amazingly, during this same time, the levels of serum cholesterol, obesity, heart disease and Alzheimer’s have increased. Coincidence? Not likely.

Maybe it’s the type of saturated fat that needs to be looked at, and not just all saturated fats, because studies done on Pacific Island populations have shown that although their diets contain a 30-60% caloric intake from saturated fat, they have virtually non-existent rates of cardiovascular disease. The thing is, it seems, that not all saturated fats are created equal. The difference, it seems, lies in the fact that some are “created”, or artificially made, while others are natural. There is nothing natural about hydrogenated fats, which appear in just about everything processed these days, but what are they exactly?

Hydrogenation means that we’ve manipulated vegetable and seed oils by adding hydrogen atoms while heating the oil, producing a thickened substance that increases shelf life, but does nothing for our health. These hydrogenated fats are also called trans fats and although they have been banned in the United States, food manufacturers can get away with labeling their products trans-fat fee as long as a serving contains “less than 0.5g of total fat” according to the FDA (ever wonder why servings seem so small? It’s not because you’re a pig and like to eat a lot. It’s how these food manufacturers get away with adding trans fats into their food but stay under the radar). I often wondered about this: how could there be a listing of 0 trans fats on the nutrition label but yet on the ingredient list, there were still hydrogenated fats listed?

The good news is that for most of us with heart and/or weight problems, fat is not the enemy. Many leading nutrition experts tell us that fat is very much needed, to nourish not only our immune system, nervous system, hormonal system and skin, but to also control the inflammatory process in the body and be burned for energy. Our health is suffering as a result from not eating enough of the right kinds of fat! The body does a lot better burning fat for fuel than burning carbohydrates. It’s much more efficient. The thing is to give it “good fats” while avoiding “bad fats”. Good fats include avocados, raw nuts  like almonds, walnuts, pecans, and macadamias, and seeds like sunflower, pepita and flax seeds, olives and olive oil, organic butter and ghee, and fish, cod liver and flax oils.

But one other fat to add to the “good” list is coconut oil. Although it often gets a bad rap for its high saturated fat content, we know that coconut oil offers many health benefits. For example, it has been found to help normalize blood lipids and protect against damage to the liver by alcohol and other toxins, can play a role in preventing kidney and gall bladder diseases, and is associated with improved blood sugar and insulin control and therefore the prevention and management of diabetes. In addition, coconut oil has antiviral, antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. It is also thought to help strengthen mineral absorption, which is important for healthy teeth and bones, and can also help improve the condition and appearance of the scalp, hair and skin when ingested or applied topically.

If Nature hadn't wanted us to eat coconuts, then why do they exist?

If you’re still not convinced, then read on: coconut oil is nature’s richest source of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs). By contrast, most common vegetable or seed oils are comprised of long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs).  LCFAs are large molecules, so they are difficult for the body to break down and are predominantly stored as fat. But MCFAs, being smaller, are easily digested and immediately burned by your liver for energy – like carbohydrates but without the insulin spike. MCFAs actually boost your metabolism and help the body use fat for energy, as opposed to storing it, so it can help us become leaner.

So how do we get more coconut in our diet? You can start by using coconut oil. It's less sensitive to heat than other oils so it’s great for stir-frys and sautéing. Apparently, it’s better to use coconut oil than olive oil when heating. Some health professionals recommend not heating olive oil because of how it oxidizes when heated. They say it’s best to use it cold, drizzling it on food or using it in salad dressings. This is new to me. All these years of cooking and always using olive oil. Perhaps I'll do less of it now.

So what’s wrong with using regular oils like corn, canola, safflower, or sunflower? These polyunsaturated fats are omega-6 oils and they produce a variety of toxic chemicals as well as trans fats, especially when heated. Plus, most of these vegetable oils are genetically-modified, including more than 90% of soy, corn and canola oils on the market. But even if you buy these organic or from reputable sources, the use of vegetable oils contributes to the overabundance of damaging omega-6 fats in our diet. This heavy emphasis on omega-6’s throws off our omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, and as we’ve heard, insufficient omega-3’s contribute to numerous chronic degenerative diseases. Another reason to give up those oils or drastically reduce using them.

Coconut oil can be substituted for other fats when baking and in recipes that call for butter, lard, shortening or any other saturated fat. I haven’t tried that yet, but I will. The oil is hard in its jar, so it’s fairly similar in consistency to butter. You could probably spread it on toast. I also recently tried it in my smoothie. I used a dark chocolate organic whey protein powder, added some unsweetened shredded coconut and a small teaspoon of coconut oil (totally delicious). Some people use coconut oil as a creamer substitute for coffee or tea. I don’t think I’d go that far, but if you like it, why not?

When looking for the product in your store, make sure to select organic virgin coconut oil. Anything labeled extra virgin is just marketing hype and offers nothing “extra”. Coconut oil is now readily available everywhere. Even Trader Joe’s has it.

I bought a jar of it recently and had only used it so far for sautéing tilapia. I used a spoon to scoop it out and what initially looked like Crisco quickly melted into a glossy clear oil in the pan. I didn’t really notice a coconut-y flavor to the fish, although it smelled wonderfully coconut-y when I opened the jar.

Last night, I used it for a recipe my sister emailed me. Delicious over jasmine rice, or in my case, I had some cooked quinoa to use up. It was the perfect dish to add a slight coconut flavor to because it went well with the green curry and Thai flavors. I wanted some protein in the dish so I decided to dice up some firm tofu which I added during the last 5 minutes just to heat it through. Really good and super healthy.

Green Curry Vegetables with Sweet Potato and Eggplant

1 Tbsp. coconut oil

1 onion, chopped

1 Tbsp. green curry paste

1 sweet potato, diced
1 cup coconut milk

1 jalapeno chili, diced (optional. Use only if your curry is mild and you like a little bit of heat)

1 eggplant, diced
Lemon or lime juice
Cilantro or green onion for garnish

Cooked jasmine rice, brown rice, or quinoa

In a medium sized sauté pan, heat coconut oil until melted. Add onion and fry until slightly browned. Add green curry paste. Cook for another minute.
Add coconut milk, sweet potato and jalapeno, cook 10 minutes.

Add eggplant, cook 15 minutes (might take 20 minutes if your chunks aren’t that small). Remove from heat.

Sprinkle with lemon or lime juice, then either chopped cilantro or green onion and serve over your grain of choice.

Optional: add diced tofu or cooked chunks of chicken breast for the last 5 minutes of cooking to just heat through.

Next, I’m tempted to slather some coconut oil on my dry skin. Should make me smell very tropical and summery. 

Bacon-wrapped Asparagus

Who would have ever thought that Disneyland could be the inspiration for a dish we’ve been making ever since we discovered it?

It was during a trip to the Magic Kingdom about 10-15 years ago that my husband and I discovered bacon-wrapped asparagus. We were in Adventureland and wanted to board the Jungle Cruise. (Side note: ever since I was little, we always started the park on the left and went around it in clock-wise fashion. The first “land” is Adventureland and it’s always been my favorite. It's tradition to go to the Tiki Room first and listen to the birds sing (my husband rolls his eyes every time. Well, I'm sorry - this is just the way it has to be!). Anyway, I digress. 

The line for the Jungle Cruise was (surprise, surprise) a mile long. But before entering the queue, since we were a bit hungry, we decided to eat first, then get in line. We turned around and there it was: the Bengal Barbeque - a casual counter type of eating place.

On the menu (and according to this link it’s still there): bacon-wrapped asparagus. Intrigued, we ordered it. It was incredible, and you can’t say that about much of the food at Disneyland (another side note: this reminds me of another visit to the Park when we contracted food poisoning and threw up all night long – good times).  This was an interesting combination of vegetable and bacon. It made such an impact on my husband, that he offers to make it for nearly every occasion when friends come over. It’s super easy, and though it does take a little time to prepare, it’s well worth the effort. We just made it again over Memorial Day.

All you need are: wooden skewers, bacon, and asparagus. That’s it. Not even seasoning. It can’t get any simpler. Here’s how to make them at home.

Bacon-wrapped Asparagus

Serves 2.

Wooden skewers

Bacon (1/2 package is enough for 2 people), I like the applewood smoked variety, but any kind will do

½ bunch of thick-stalked asparagus

Break the skewers in half, and soak them in water if you wish. Some people claim this prevents them from burning on the grill, but we don’t bother. Take your long bacon strips and cut them into 3” long pieces. Wash your asparagus, trim off the very ends (about ½” from the bottom), and peel the lower third. The asparagus should be the thicker variety – none of those skinny asparagus. You need these to hold up on the grill, so the thicker, the better.  

Cut your asparagus stalks into thirds. Take a piece of bacon and wrap it around an asparagus stalk. Once you have 4 of them wrapped, skewer them as indicated in the photo. Make sure to slide them close together; you don’t want any gaps between stalks. Continue until all your asparagus is wrapped.

Grill for about 7-8 minutes per side on medium-low. It’s important to keep an eye on them while they grill because it’s easy to get a flare up when the bacon fat starts dripping into the flames. You don’t want to end up burning your bacon to smithereens. Move them around on the grill as needed to avoid the flames. Asparagus should still have a little crunch while bacon should be thoroughly cooked.

These make an excellent appetizer or first course. I’d bet your dad would love them on Father’s Day.

Holy Smoke!

Memorial Day weekend is considered the official beginning of summer and for many of us, that means barbeques will be ablazin’. Time to take off the cover of your grill and clean it up to get it ready for the weekend’s cooking and entertaining.

If you’re like us, and especially if you live in milder climates like Southern California, you’ve probably already started grilling. It can be almost a year-round activity where we live, and we like it that way. Grilling is great for many reasons: it’s quick, clean up is easy, and you don’t have that cooking smell in the house, which is especially unwelcome when you’re making fish.  It’s also a nice alternative to baking or roasting, sautéing or pan-frying.

I’ve done some reading about smoking recently and thought it was appropriate for my post on grilling. I’ve not done much smoking myself, but found myself buying wood chips on sale somewhere not too long ago with the intent to learn how, so I am going to use them this weekend. My grill has a “fancy slot” on one side where you can slide out a narrow tray and lay in some wood chips. It is the perfect sized tray for laying down rosemary twigs. I’ve done that when grilling chicken. It’s also nice for beef. The smoke from the burning rosemary gave the chicken great flavor. Smoking food imparts a wonderful depth of flavor to foods. You can still marinade the food first, but then when grilling, the smoke adds another dimension resulting in layers of flavor that can be very interesting.

Smoker

We have a gas grill and I like it a lot better than the carcinogenic charcoal variety. I just don’t like the taste of lighter fluid, thank you very much. Whichever kind of grill you have, you can smoke. (Of course, you can just go out and buy a smoker)! But you don’t need one, a regular grill will work just fine. Depending on the type of grill you have, the prep work is a little different. Here’s how to do it.

Charcoal Grills

Arrange coals on one side of the charcoal grate and leave the other side empty to create two heat zones. The empty side is for cooking foods that require indirect heat; you can also move food there when you get flare-ups. To smoke, once coals are lit, scatter soaked and well-drained wood chips evenly over the charcoal. Wait for smoke to appear before you begin cooking.

Smoker box containing wood chips

Gas Grills

Gas grills are a little different because they require preheating to generate smoke, and wood chips need to be contained.  You can either purchase a metal smoker box or make your own placing chips in a small foil pan. Cover the top with aluminum foil, then poke holes in the foil to let the smoke out. You can even just use a piece of aluminum foil and fold it into a packet, again poking holes on top. Before you light the grill, remove cooking grates and place the aluminum pan directly on bars, preferably in a back corner. Replace cooking grates, light grill with all burners on high, and close the lid. If you are using a box, place it on top of the grate, directly over a lit burner. When smoke appears, turn one burner off completely, adjust remaining burners according to your recipe, and begin cooking.

Smoking Success

1. Start raw. Meats should be raw. The smoke won’t permeate cooked meat as well.
2. Don’t overdo it. Don’t add too much wood else the end result might be bitter. Better to start out with a small amount and add more next time.
3. White smoke is good, black is bad. White smoke layers food with the intoxicating scents of smoldering wood. If your grill however lacks proper ventilation, or your food is directly over the fire and its juices are burning, a black smoke will taint your food and give it a burned taste.
4. Don’t peek. Every time you open the grill, you lose heat and smoke – two of the most important elements to a great meal. Open the lid only when you have to tend to the fire or flip the food.
5. Keep the air moving. Open the vents on your charcoal grill and position the coals on the side opposite the lid vent. The open vents will draw smoke from the charcoal and wood below so that it swirls over the food and out the top properly, giving you the cleanest smoke.

Wood chips

The type of wood chips you buy will determine the final flavor. Here’s a guide to wood flavors:

Mild

Alder – Delicate smoke flavor. Good with fish (salmon and sturgeon), chicken and pork.

Apple – Slightly sweet but also dense. Good with beef, poultry, pork - especially ham.

Cherry – Slightly sweet and fruity. Good with poultry, game birds, pork.

Moderate

Maple – Nicely smoky, somewhat sweet flavor. Good with poultry, vegetables, ham.

Oak – Assertive, but pleasing. Good with beef (particularly brisket), poultry, pork.

Hickory – Pungent, smoky, baconlike flavor. Good with pork, chicken, beef, wild game, cheeses.

Pecan – Rich and more subtle than hickory but similar in taste; burns cool, so ideal for very low-heat smoking. Good with pork, chicken, lamb, fish, and cheeses.

Strong

Mesquite – In a class by itself - a big bold smoke with a little bitterness. Good with beef and lamb.

I’ve included a simple grill / smoke recipe using the herb rosemary for you to try.

Grilled Lemon Rosemary Chicken

Rosemary, cut into 1-2” pieces, can also be used as a smoking medium. The thicker, woodier stems located near the base of the plant are especially well suited for this. Use the top of these stems for the more delicate “leaves” that end up getting chopped.

Ingredients:

Chicken pieces: breast, thighs, drumsticks, whatever you like.

A pinch each of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Freshly pressed lemon juice

Olive oil

1 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

Rosemary stems, cut into 1-2” pieces, placed in your smoking contraption

Mix together the salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice and chopped rosemary. Marinade chicken in this for as long as possible, ideally 12-24 hours. I like to place my marinade and meat in a large Ziplok bag and put it in the fridge the evening before I plan to cook it. The next morning, I’ll give the bag a turn, so that the other side of the chicken now rests in the marinade. When ready to grill, remove chicken from bag and discard both marinade and bag.

Follow directions above for placing your wood chips on your type of grill and grill away! Chicken takes about 8-10 minutes per side, over medium heat, depending on thickness. Better to cook it more slowly, on a lower flame for longer, than too quickly.

Delicious with roasted potatoes and other roasted veggies, or a big salad, and of course, a nice white wine, like a California Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio.

Wishing you a glorious summer of happy grilling.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, May 2012