Rancid (slightly) oil -- still usable?

[slacker]

I have a large bottle of canola oil that just turned rancid. I'm wondering if it's actually bad for your health to consume rancid oil, or is it only a bad smell without ill health effects? Just thought maybe I could deep fry something with all that oil instead of just pitching it all.

[law_doc89]

It's rancid! What is wrong with you, it has to taste like crap. Throw it out.

Are you someone who craves buffalo wings? (((Shudder)))

[Kris in Beijing]

+1 for the relevant portion of your comment.

Please, don't pepper your replies with hostility towards Chow or Hounds.

[Brandon Nelson]

It was rancid 7 years ago.

[Querencia]

Reminds me of college chemistry class where somebody spilled a bottle of butyric acid and the lab stank of rotten butter the whole rest of the semester. Toss it.

[MimiP]

I just put and ate grapeseed oil in my salad and now i am not sure if it was rancid. & i looked up what it can do, Botchellism, cancer, DNA damage etc and now i am freakin out. Would one time cause these things?

[Samalicious]

If it did not taste bad it wasn't rancid. Even if it was I doubt if one salad is going to damage your DNA.
Try to enjoy life more.

[greygarious]

Who knows what amount is dangerous? For sure, though, in the modern world we are exposed to toxins and mutagens on a regular basis, through many things that we consume, inhale, and touch. Use common sense but it's useless to obsess about it. Stress might be more dangerous than actual toxins.

[NVJims]

Another use is to use it to flush out the bar oil system on your chain saw before using it with good vegetable oil to split and cut up moose, elk or the family beef cow. It takes a couple of loads of eatable oil through the system to get rid of the regular bar oil.

[chocolatetartguy]

Toss it. Many years ago I had a bottle of reallty good olive oil that I continued to use when it 1st started to go. I was told by an oil purveyor that you can actually get food poisoning from rancid oil. Toss it.

[shallots]

Use for rancid oil:

Midwinter herbicide for spraying fruit trees, etc. to kill overwintering pest eggs.

Strain, use a detergent like Dawn to make it spray better.

[cturner22]

Chuck it and don't bother buying canola oil again. It's rancid from the start... they have to make it that way to make it "shelf stable" and then they process it to remove the smell/taste so you can't tell the difference.

Rancid oil is toxic.

If you're looking to fry something, try coconut oil. It's healthier for you and the best one to withstand higher cooking temperatures.

[Moresugar4me]

Not really. Coconut oil is healthy, but it doesn't withstand higher cooking temperatures. It's smoke point is 350 F (177 C). I'd use extra-light olive oil - smoke point is 468 F (242 C) and it is the lowest in polyunsaturated fats, which are highly prone to oxidation (become rancid). It's mainly monounsaturated fats that are more difficult and they take longer to oxidize during storing and termic preparation.

[bryanilee]

Well the Internet contains lots of "information". Not that I don't believe people here, but can someone provide some concrete evidence that Canola Oil is bad in general? Here is something I found on snoped: http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/...

Some people still think MSG is toxic - it isn't.

[madmaya]

Better peanut oil for deep frying. Be warned that stuff fried in coconut oil and kept for too long, like snack stuff, will go rancid. At least in a hot climate like I have,

[sandylc]

Rancid oil is just bad for you. I've heard that canola is not good in general?!?!

[nblisa]

We've been buying canola for years from Costco, but the past two jugs we purchased smell bad. They are not old, we just bought them, and the expiration date is 10 months in the future. Before these the canola just had a neutral type oil smell. This is a new problem for us, but other people say their canola oil has always smelled bad.

[c oliver]

I think canola oil smells fishy and I've stopped using it.

[livealoud]

Here's a good way to use up rancid oil. Check out "Homemade Vegetable Oil Lamp":

http://www.judyofthewoods.net/lamp.html

[ipsedixit]

Use it for shoe polish, nothing else.

[amyzan]

I'm using a bottle of olive oil that has turned rancid as a household lubricant on items like my Champion juicer. Be sure to write on the bottle, so someone doesn't mistake it for cooking oil. I keep mine under the sink. (This olive oil was an experiment, a brand I never bought before, and won't ever again, as what I usually buy doesn't go bad so quickly.)

[greygarious]

Rancid fats are among the culprits in liver damage and increased LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. Whatever it is, if it smells rancid, don't consume it.

[wholeheartedbaking]

Here is a website that has a list of things to do to make rancid oil sweet. I found it to be quite interesting. I haven't tried any of it and have thrown out my share of oils from the yearly Thanksgiving turkey fry!

http://books.google.com/books?id=LQRX...

I have NO IDEA when this book was written.

[ldkelley]

1857. I'd be suspicious.

Even though I have a LOVELY quart of duck fat that is just starting to smell a teeny bit off. I threw it in the freezer, but am thinking I should just pitch it. What a waste. I'd love to find a way to redeem it.

[JGrey]

Rancid oil has bad stuff in it. And even before it goes rancid, canola oil is pretty highly processed.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/qu...

[EclecticEater]

THROW IT OUT.
GET FRESH OIL, WHATEVER KIND.

[Alice Patis]

Hmm, this post made me realize I think my jug of canola oil from Costco might have turned a wee bit rancid (though it's only a few months old). I started tasting the "rancid" taste on the outside of my quesadilla last week but hubby said that's what canola oil tastes like. Yeah honey but I didn't taste it before. Could it be rancid, or did I just never realize canola oil tastes bad? I don't taste that taste in the hi fiber choc chip cookies hubby makes every week.

[Pei]

The flavor probably comes out more in a lightly fried item with few ingredients (quesadilla) than in something with tons of sugar and other flavors (cookies). Toss it!

[Nyleve]

I suspect that your hubby may be partly right. I personally don't like canola oil because, despite what everyone else says about it, I don't find it flavourless at all. It always has a bit of a heavy off-taste to me. I prefer sunflower for everyday use, when I'm not using olive. But when it goes rancid it's really ucky.

[Atahualpa]

There was a good post about a week ago in the General topics board about Canola tasting funny to some people. I agree, I think it usually tastes rancid and smells funny. I have switched to Grapeseed, safflower, soya, and peanut for uses that olive isn't right for.

[Ruthie789]

Based on what I am reading in this thread, is it possible that Canola Oil turns faster than other oils? I am not a fan of it, wary of it, believe its origins are from genetically altered plants. Am I wrong?
I prefer corn oil, sunflower oil to canola oil. As well who promotes it and what incentives are there for this vast promotion that we see on TV?

[Robert Lauriston]

Unless you know someone who makes biodiesel.

[Dommy]

Or goes straight VO! ;)

--Dommy!

[slacker]

Lol! Was not trying to be cheap--really! And everyone is saying what I knew i should do, so I'm pitching it!
Thanks all.

[Davwud]

Ya, at the price you pay for canola oil, it's a no brainer.

DT

[Dommy]

I agree.. Especially when you can get a nice new bottle for $3 at Trader Joes...

--Dommy!

[DanaB]

Cooking food in rancid oil is like throwing good money after bad. While I'm sure it won't hurt you, anything you cook in it will taste off and you will end up throwing it away. Better to save your good food and throw the bad oil away!

[Nyleve]

Pitch it. Just pitch it. There's nothing like something cooked in or with rancid oil - even just a teensy bit rancid - to put you off your kibble forever. Seriously. I don't think it's dangerous, just horrible.

[MMRuth]

I agree - just pitch - I think the deep fried food would taste like rancid oil - I once used oil that I only smelled after the dish tasted funny, and rancid canola oil was the culprit.

[Lydia11]

Do NOT eat that oil, in any shape or form. It is extremely bad for you, causing tumor-suppressing genes to turn off and increasing your chances and potential liver damage. Vegetable oils are unstable to begin with, processed using hexane and high heat, and should be avoided for high-heat cooking. The healthiest fats to use are high in saturated fats, like butter, ghee, coconut oil, and lard.

[Nanzi]

OMG WHY would you even want to? or even consider it? Out it goes.