from Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
If you enjoy fried foods but wonder about the best way of pan frying or deep frying, an article in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry might give you direction. Researchers note that different oils have various physical, chemical and nutritional properties than can change or degrade when heated. Some of these changes result in potentially toxic compounds, or lower the nutritional value of the food being fried. They deep and pan-fried raw potato pieces in olive oil, corn oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil and reused the oil ten times. Olive oil was the most stable for deep frying at three hundred twenty and three hundred seventy-four degrees. Sunflower oil degraded the fastest when pan-fried at three hundred fifty-six degrees. The researchers conclude olive oil maintains quality and nutrition better than seed oils during the frying process.