coconut oil comparison taste test — Healthy Simple Living

favorite coconut oil comparison taste test

I don’t know about you, but I use coconut oil ALOT. It’s great for desserts (hello coconut + cacao!) cooking, smoothies, soups, as a moisturizer, to remove make-up and who knows what else. Since I’ve started cooking more following Nourishing Traditions and the Paleo way, I just love using it to stir fry with ginger and garlic – easy and Thai-licious! It can be used in high-temperature cooking without creating mutant (eek!) fatty acids like other oils. I also LOVE to slather it all over my body. In winter, I blend it with shea butter for a thick, decadent body buttah. Here is a clip of my coconut oil shea butter moisturizer recipe that I whipped up with my smart-alecky “assistant.”

Coconut oil (or butter as it’s often referred to when solid below 78F degrees) is a saturated fat but unlike long-chain animal fats that come from animal products, coconut oil is medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) – a fat with smaller molecules that require less energy and fewer enzymes to break them down for digestion. Some of the benefits of coconut oil:

Does not oxidize
High in antioxidants
Very beneficial for the skin

The Coconut Showdown!

If you think coconut oil is coconut oil is coconut oil, you are sadly mistaken my friend. Over the course of the years, I’ve noticed a DEFINITE difference in the characteristics of different oil brands. Some are creamy, some are grainy. Some smell very coconutty and some have a slight aroma. Some I love to lick off the spoon and some are just too waxy. So when Tropical Traditions sent me a sample of their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil, I decided take into the test kitchen and conduct an “official” taste comparison.

The line-up of usual suspects are all organic brands that I’ve tried listed in alphabetical order. (Do most people have 3 jars in their home or is that just me? LOL. Would have been four, but I just finished my Nutiva jar last week.) I’ve included the method of extraction, packaging, aroma and price in the comparision below.