Palm oil is one of the saturated fats. Saturated fats have been seen in a bad light over the centuries. The Dutch nutrition center says that these are not good for us. But native people ate a lot of these saturated fats. Full-fat dairy, such as raw milk, raw-milk yogurt and palm oil for baking. These fats are good for the brain and eyes according certain people. Of course there are studies that contradict this and the Dutch nutrition center also says that you should eat little fat, but modern nutrition is far from what it used to be. And there is nothing wrong with eating fat, because you also need fat!

Where does palm oil come from?

In West and South West Africa you have many palm trees. The fruits of this can be picked (and sometimes they fall off) and then they can be boiled in water. Then you can pound the fruit with a mortar, and after this, the oil is released. The pulp then goes back into the pan and you cook it again. You will see that the red palm oil will float on top of the water. You can scoop these out of the pan, put them in pots and sell them!

What can you use palm oil for except baking?

Red palm oil in particular is very healthy. And you can use it for baking. The white palm oil is used in the production of chips, spice mixes, biscuits, sauces and margarine. Of course, those products are not very healthy. But if you use the red variant from a pot for baking, this is very good according to many. If you bake in saturated fats, you will feel full for longer and you will feel less hungry. You can also smear red palm oil on the sandwich, or put it on your skin if it feels a bit dry. Finally, palm oil is used in cosmetics and cleaning products.

White palm oil has been processed

The red palm oil is therefore by far the healthiest, because white palm oil is a processed product. This means that the white palm oil has been processed. Carotene, sterols and vitamin E have been removed. So you’d better eat the red one; it is also called ‘extra virgin red palm oil’. It is best to buy pure, organic red palm oil. You can for instance buy it at a webshop or at a good organic store. For a 325 ml jar you pay about 10 euros. Now you know a little more about what is palm oil and its health benefits.