The timing and best ways to store sunflower oil at home

Sunflower oil is the most popular product used for frying, salad dressing, canning, preparing salad dressings and sauces. For this reason, it is often necessary to buy it, but those who wish to store it for the future should know how to store sunflower oil correctly at home. The taste of the product and the amount of beneficial properties it contains will depend on this.

Key Storage Features

Vegetable oils contain valuable vitamins, minerals that are not synthesized on their own in the human body, but are necessary for it to activate many vital processes. The product is therefore useful for humans.

Vegetable oil has a shelf life and requires optimal conditions. If you do not follow all the recommendations, the freshly squeezed product will be unusable after a month. To prevent this from happening, you must:

1. Do not store it near the stove, as the shelf life will be reduced and there is a high risk of fire in the room.
2. Large stocks can be placed in a cool pantry or cellar so that light does not fall on them, and heaters are located as far away as possible.
3. When buying, you should pay attention to the integrity of the packaging, otherwise the storage period will be short.

Important! It should be noted that the shelf life of vegetable oil on the package is correct if you store the product in room conditions. At lower temperatures it will last much longer.

How to choose the right one

When buying, in addition to the price, you need to consider the appearance of the oil, the integrity of the packaging, the shelf life, the composition, and only after making sure of its quality, buy.

A few rules for a successful purchase:

• buy only in dark places, countertops should be as far as possible from direct sunlight;
• a product that has been in the store for a long time and whose expiry date is nearing the end, may taste bitter and be harmful to health;
• the color of the product must also be taken into account, the presence of cloudiness indicates that the product has deteriorated.

Look at Also

How and how much can you store peeled potatoes at home

Before making the choice, it is recommended to determine the target purpose of the product. Also, when choosing, it is worth studying the information on the label, since many manufacturers use a publicity stunt to attract customers and increase sales. For example, the inscription "does not contain cholesterol" is one of them, because it is not found in vegetable fats. And the content of vitamin E, as the inscription on the package sometimes says, is also nonsense, since it is present in all types of vegetable oils.

Unrefined

Suitable for making salads and cold snacks, as it contains a large number of useful ingredients due to the lack of further processing after cleaning. It has a pleasant taste and aroma. Over time, it does not precipitate and does not acquire bitterness.

Refined

It is used exclusively for frying, it is undesirable to use it raw. Due to complete purification, it may contain various impurities, which form a sediment and negatively affect the taste. It is not characterized by a pronounced smell, but it has a pleasant taste and a bright shade.

Raw

Crude sunflower oil is only purified from large mechanical impurities. It does not keep for a long time and cannot boast of an attractive appearance, but it is endowed with a mass of healing properties. It is used for the preparation of sauces, salads and its taste is clearly reminiscent of sunflower seeds.

Hydrate

Differs in a pronounced taste and aroma. Produced by pre-cleansing and moisturizing. It is heated, passed through hot water in a pulverized state and left for some time. Proteins and other viscous components precipitate and the finished hydrated oil is collected on the surface.

Frozen

This product has been freeze-dried to recover the natural wax that gives the oil cloudiness. Such a product loses almost all of its beneficial properties and is a mixture of triglycerides, but retains its original transparency. Does not foam or smoke when heated. It has no taste or smell, but it has a long shelf life and looks good. It is recommended for people on a diet.

Optimal storage conditions

In order for prepared dishes to be healthy and tasty, it is necessary to observe all the conditions for storing sunflower oil and apply it correctly.

Temperature

Many housewives believe that it is necessary to store sunflower oil in the refrigerator, while others argue that in this way it loses most of its beneficial qualities. In fact, the optimum temperature, which does not lead to the destruction of important components in the composition, is 8-20 degrees. On the door of the refrigerator, the temperature is maintained at about 10 degrees, and on the kitchen cabinets it can significantly exceed the optimal indicator. It is therefore obvious that the storage period of oil in room conditions, as well as near the stove and heaters, is reduced.

Look at Also

TOP 15 ways to properly store garlic at home

Important! Sunflower oil does not tolerate sudden temperature changes.

Humidity

The optimum air humidity should be lowered and vary from 60 to 75%.

Lighting

A bottle with plant matter should not be placed on a window sill, where there is a high probability of constant exposure to radiation.

For long-term storage, it is better to choose a dark place.

Container

In ancient times, sunflower oil was poured into dark glass carafes, since they were tightly closed and did not let the sun's rays through. In addition, the thick glass walls kept the temperature constant over time. When stored in a transparent bottle, it is recommended to wrap the container with foil, protecting it from light. Metal containers are absolutely not suitable for saving sunflower oil.

If you choose the right storage location, the product will be perfectly preserved in the plastic factory packaging.Pouring oil into another container can cause bacteria to grow and significantly reduce shelf life.

The oil is able to absorb foreign odors; therefore, it cannot be stored next to products with a specific flavor, for example, spices, spices.

Shelf life of the product at home

Many people consider the shelf life of sunflower oil to be unlimited, but this opinion is wrong. If the refined product is tightly sealed in a plastic container and is in optimum condition, its shelf life is 2 years. After opening the bottle, the shelf life at home does not exceed 2 weeks.

Closed oil, prepared by cold pressing technology, can be stored at home, subject to all rules, for about six months, after opening it can be used for one month. Cold-pressed unrefined oil can retain its beneficial properties and taste for up to a month.

If hot pressing was used in manufacturing, the shelf life is extended to 10 months.

Important! When storing the product beyond the prescribed period, oxidation processes will begin, during which harmful substances will be released.

Look at Also

How well, how much and where you can store herbs for tea at home

How to store in the freezer

You can store it in the refrigerator at temperatures of 0 to 11 degrees for about a month. But to significantly increase the shelf life, you can freeze it in the freezer. Before sending sunflower oil for freezing, you should consider some recommendations:

• pour the product from a large bottle into several small containers;
• screw the lid firmly onto the packaging;
• freezing conditions are suitable exclusively for refined oil;
• do not refreeze the product.

Thus, you can extend the shelf life of the oil for up to a year, while preserving all its useful properties.

How to extend the shelf life

There are several ways to extend the shelf life of sunflower oil.

Beans

In order to use the product as long as possible, you need to open the package and throw 3-4 pieces of beans inside. This will help keep the sunflower oil fresh for a few more months.

Salt

You can increase the shelf life by using regular table salt. To do this, add 2 teaspoons for a liter bottle. table salt, do not stir. In the future, the product is stored in a dark place at low temperatures.

Bay leaf

2 bay leaves will help the oil stay fresh for a few more months. The main thing is not to stir the liquid after adding.

Additional tips and tricks

In addition to the rules for choosing and storing sunflower oil, you should also know the valuable tips of experienced housewives:

1. Do not be afraid to buy oil in large quantities during sales, if it is possible to properly organize its storage. Even if it deteriorates, you can use it for household purposes.
2. In addition to cooking, vegetable fat can be used as a medicine and as a beauty aid. A huge number of recipes for healing and rejuvenating the body have been preserved since ancient times.
3. If you cannot refuse storage in the working area near the stove, then you need to buy a small glass bottle and pour a weekly dose into it.
4. It is undesirable to reuse fried oil, it can negatively affect the quality of prepared products and the general well-being of a person after eating them.

The oil will be stored for a long time without loss of taste and useful properties, if you arrange it correctly and take into account all the recommendations for selection and use.