How is corn oil made?
In this brief guide, we are going to answer the question “How is corn oil made?” with an in-depth analysis of the complete procedure of making corn oil. Moreover, we are going to discuss the benefits of corn oil and its uses.
How is corn oil made?
Corn oil is extracted from corn. It is worth mentioning that corn is processed in two ways before corn oil is extracted from it. Corn has to go through wet milling and dry milling.
Processing Corn by Wet Milling
Wet milling is a common method for producing corn oil. It is crucial in the extraction of corn oil. Wet milling is mostly used to produce food ingredients. Sweeteners, starch, and other components are used to make corn oil. There is extremely little ethanol used alongside other wet mill ingredients.
Wet milling is the name given to this method because the corn kernels must first be soaked in water. This is effective for softening the kernel and starting to separate it into constituent sections of pre-soaked maize. The material is subsequently passed through a series of mills and centrifuges. Wet milling can also separate germ, carbohydrates, fiber, and gluten proteins. We also separate various food additives and other products throughout this separation step.
- Firstly in this process, we pressed the fiber that is used for animal feed.
- We used starch for baking cornstarch then it was refined into sugar.
- Solvents play a very important role to extract corn oil from the germs
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After processing the wet milling the corn oil comes out. The wet milling process is mainly intended for consumption and is held to those standards. This process of wet milling is also known as CCO. The CCO stands for “crude corn oil”.
Processing Corn by Dry Milling
Dry milling begins with the grinding of whole maize grain into fine flour. The water is then mixed into the flour, and the other ingredients are converted into starches and simple sugars. These are fermented to produce ethanol, which is subsequently purified via distillation and dehydration.
The dry mill processing is insufficient as compared to its counterpart as the only potential products we get from this procedure are principally animal feed and ethanol.
On the other hand, it is also quite efficient. It is also used to pump out enormous amounts of water to meet peak demand.
Benefits of corn oil
Corn oil is very beneficial for our health and some of its benefits are discussed below
Rich in phytosterols
There are bundles of phytosterols in corn oil. It has a similar structure to cholesterol found in animals. These are plant-based components and are known for their anti-inflammatory effects.
May promote heart health
Corn oil is full of heart-healthy components. If we use corn oil there is a very low risk of heart diseases. In corn oil, there are lots of healthy components such as Vitamin E, linoleic acid, and phytosterols. Furthermore, corn oil is also used for controlling cholesterol.
It is worth mentioning that corn oil contains a high concentration of omega-6 fatty acids such as linoleic acid, which can be healthy in moderate doses but can disturb the balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids: the optimal omega 3-omega 6 ratio is around 4:1, whereas corn oil has a ratio of 46:1.
High smoke point
The high smoke point of corn oil (about 450 degrees Fahrenheit) is its main selling advantage, allowing for blazing hot, quick frying. The second advantage is its neutral flavor profile, which will not impart or detract from anything you choose to prepare it with.
Uses of corn oil
Corn oil plays a very important role in human health. It is widely used in homes. Few uses of corn oil are listed below
- It can be used in frying and sauteing. It is a common method for cooking foods.
- Corn oil is also used for decorating and making food look more delicious. For this purpose, we dress salad and marinades with a slight use of cooking oil or corn oil
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- The cooking oil or corn oil is widely used in making cakes, bread, and other bakery items, etc.
You can read more about the benefits of corn oil along with how to cook with corn oil here.
Corn oil nutrition
It is a rich source of fats because corn oil has 100% (percent) fat. Only one tablespoon of cooking oil or corn oil has 15ml fat.
There are lots of calories in corn oil and a tablespoon of corn oil provides about 122 calories. As we know, corn oil is full of fats so around 14 grams of fats are present per tablespoon of corn oil.
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Conclusion
In this brief guide, we answered the question “How is corn oil made?” with an in-depth analysis of the complete procedure of making corn oil. Moreover, we discussed the benefits of corn oil and its uses.
