time for an oil change?

[Doug Z]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/dining/17curious.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=homepage&src=me

[Charlie Dawg]

That is what I've been saying all alone, when I talk to my friends. Pick the taste and smell you like.
One comment, as far as I am concern the canola oil when used for frying smells (read: stinks) like fish oil of my childhood that I was forced to take and I hate it with passion.

[Daniel Rogov]

Doug, Hi...

I would take issue with the article on several counts, the most serious being that the tasters were given samples of oil that were heated on their own with no food. In the simplest vernacular - that ain't the way to use any oil whatsoever! I would suggest that this has something akin to serving fine wine in beer mugs.

It is also rather clear that the author has somewhat of a bias against olive oil. Processed olive oil, the most popular olive oil in the United States, is comparable to wine that has been pasteurized - that is to say it is deprived of much of its flavor and certainly deprived of nearly all of the beneficial aspects of unprocessed olive oil.

Third objection is that the author seems to have forgotten that different oils, whether in their natural state (i.e. not used in cooking) or after cooking, impart different sets of flavors and aromas to the foods that are sprinkled over or cooked with them. Some oils have nutty aromas and flavors, others are spicy, yet others are sweet, much depending on the variety of olive used.

Many people in the Mediterranean basin keep five, six or more different olive oils at hand, using those in ways that best complement the food with which they are being used.

Perhaps a good article for people who "like" processed oil. If that article had been submitted to any newspaper in Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria or Israel it would have been rejected by the editor.

Best
Rogo