Smoke point

The smoke point is the lowest temperature at which a clearly visible smoke starts to a heated oil or fat.

Contrary to the statement for the defined pre-heat the pan or the fat in many recipes, fats and oils should not be heated as much for health reasons, that they begin to smoke because it acrolein can be released. An exception is the popular in India mustard oil, which is the lesser evil when it is short and quickly heated to the smoking point, so harmful glycerides of erucic acid and isothiocyanates are destroyed.

The smoke point of a fat is mainly from the free fatty acid dependent. The higher this percentage, the lower the smoke point. A fat or oil that has been repeatedly heated (eg, frying ), has a higher free fatty acid content "fresh" as a. Native oils generally have a higher content of free fatty acids as refined products, but can, especially if they are fresh, have also refined products with similar, very low levels of free fatty acids.

The values ​​in the table below are only a rough estimate - no two sources agree, where the exact smoke point of an oil is certain, natural variations added. It is also often no distinction between refined and unrefined oil.