What can old vegetable oil do to you?

Vegetable oil in plastic bottles or jugs will go rancid in a year or so, even in a dark, cool place. We had gallon jugs of it go rancid in our cold root cellar. We kept it, though, to use for other things, such as lamp oil in a pinch, and soap-making.

Nowdays if I buy oil for a good price in a plastic bottle I transfer it to glass jars and vacuum seal it. Other than that, I try to buy it in glass jars or metal cans. Then I keep it in the root cellar where it's dark and cold.

Rancid oil has high levels of harmful "free radicals", which can cause cancer. I've also heard things floating around (can't name a source) that it can cause liver damage, but I'd want to do a search on that. Meanwhile, I recommend you not ingest rancid oil.

I've heard that coconut oil doesn't go rancid and can be stored at room temperature. I bought a one-gallon bucket of it over a year ago and it's still as fresh as the day I bought it. I occasionally buy quart-size jars of it, too. The health benefits of coconut oil are supposed to be great.

 

I've only been resealing them in glass for a little over a year, but the one I opened after about 14 months was fresh in smell and taste. We'll see as more time passes.

Last year I found a gallon of olive oil in a metal can in my Mother's basement that was outdated by 8 years, and it was still good. Smelled and tasted good, anyway.

 

I just opened a Mason Jar of Veg Oil that we vacuum sealed in March of 2008, It had hardly any smell at all, also had a couple others smell it. It was stored in the semi dark place, but in not such a real cool place, it is always above 60 in our basement.

we're using olive oil from the original metal cans from 05-06.

 

I didn't know it went bad.

How can you tell if it's rancid? Color, smell, taste?

 

bczoon, it's the smell first. You'll know as soon as you open a jar and sniff it. The rancid taste might come through in whatever you used it in, but the smell of rancid cooking oil is quite pronounced.

It's not a "spoiled" or "moldy" smell. Hard to describe, but you'll know. For something to compare it too, sniff a fresh bottle and you'll get the idea for future comparison.

The color generally stays the same as fresh oil.

 

I had to reread the title of this thread... I at first thought it said: "what can old vegetable oil do for you?" (like the UPS commercials)

my first thought was: "idk :scratch ... arteriosclerosis?" :lolsmash:

 

I misread that, too! My first thought was, make bio diesel? :beercheer: