cooking with coconut oil

Olive, grape seed, and coconut are my three recommended cooking oils for a well-stocked natural foods pantry. Olive is great for salad dressings and mediterranean flavor, grape seed is perfect for high heat cooking, and coconut oil lends a buttery taste and imparts a high-dose of health benefits.

Coconut oil is rich in medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) that our body readily converts to energy, rather than storing it as fat. It is also rich in lauric acid, which has antimicrobial, antibacterial and antifungal properties.

Coconut oil is ideal for sauteing vegetables, making sauces, or baking. It liquifies at 76 degrees. So if your pantry is cooler than this, the texture will be solid (like the picture above). You can use a spoon to add it to a warm pan for immediate cooking, or liquify it by adding the jar to a pan with warm water.

Tropical Traditions recently provided me with a quart of coconut oil, and I loved the high-quality, delicate flavor, and super-smooth texture. They have a lot of great ideas for using coconut oil . I am so happy that Tropical Traditions wanted to share a jar of their great product with my readers.

Want to win? Here’s how:

1- Head over to subscribe to their newsletter

2- Then, leave a comment on this blog about your favorite uses for coconut oil, or your interest in experimenting with it.

If you are eager to get cooking with coconut oil, check out this granola recipe.

Giveaway winner will be randomly chosen on Friday, March 16.

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.