Product Description
WHAT DOES IT DO?
Peanut oil is NOT for frying. It is used widely as a commercial frying oil, and it’s sold in volume, at a premium price, around the holidays because the peanut growers managed to plant the fried turkey in peanut oil into the public consciousness, but peanut oil is a MEDIUM TEMP oil. It’s smoke point is 320°F / 160°c. You use it for the peanut flavor. Fry with avocado or rice bran oils instead. Spray or drizzle peanut oil for the flavor.
Bulk high temp “frying” peanut oil is made with hexane to maximize extraction, a neurotoxin from gasoline or 95% ethanol and then hexane. The hexane is “boiled off” for recovery at the end of the process, but there are no government standards on how much hexane residual is “safe.”
La Tourangelle’s natural, first-pressed and hexane-free. It is unrefined, and handcrafted in California strictly following French traditional methods. The result is a spectacularly fragrant amber oil with a headed perfume of roasted peanuts.
Great as a finishing oil in everything from baked goods, where peanut flavor is needed, without the bulk of peanuts, to hundreds of recipes from Asia and Africa, to American BBQ.
EXPERIENCE
A cold-pressed peanut oil is dark, rich and fragrant, like sesame oil. The oil carries a lot of the peanut flavor. They roast the peanuts prior to processing to accelerate the aroma.
TRADITIONALY USED IN
- Peanut butter cookies – Use peanut butter flour and a lot less oil for peanut butter cookies that are flavorful with a fraction of the fat!
- African peanut soup
- Peanut sauce
- In curries and peanut dishes
A FEW RIFFS
- Jazz Chef’s Ragoût Thiam – A Senegalese-Italian fusion of meatballs with savory mint and peanut flour in a traditional okra-tomato ragoût.
- Peanut Butter Ice Cream – All of the flavor without the freezing issues of using peanut butter
- A drizzle over chocolate cake
- Add a drizzle at finish to harissa linguine with roasted chicken and sunchokes for a little OMG magic.
BACKSTORY
Did you know that the peanut is not a nut? It’s a legume!
HEALTH WARNINGS
Do not fry above the smoke point of 320°F / 160°c. with this oil. Use avocado oil, which has a higher natural smoke point, instead. Oils pushed past their smoke point can release free-radicals that are harmful to your body.
If you are allergic to peanuts, or you have a general sensitivity to nuts, probably best to avoid cooking with them, or their oils. Low refined oils like this absolutely have allergens. Highly refined oils are said to be safe, but many people report that they still show symptoms of allergen exposure from them.
Better safe than sorry is the best rule of thumb.
AKA
- Groundnut oil
- Arachis oil
MY TAKE
La Tourangelle makes the best oils, in volume, in as close to the artisan tradition as one will get for a mass-produced oil. When they opened up shop in California, a long distance from their French roots, I would have thought that was the slide into mediocrity. Instead, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that they continue to turn out the highest grade of product now that they produce a whole lot more than they used to. It gives me hope that the trade off between success/fortune and quality isn’t what the manufacturers of the third rate always tell you that it has to be. La Tourangelle daily proves them wrong. 5 diamonds.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.