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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Raleigh, North Carolina » Market Quality and Handling Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #121505
Title: INDIVIDUAL OILS: PEANUT OIL

Author
item Sanders, Timothy

Submitted to: American Oil Chemists' Society Meeting
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2001
Publication Date: 11/15/2001
Citation: SANDERS, T.H. INDIVIDUAL OILS: PEANUT OIL. WILSON, R.F., EDITOR. AMERICAN OIL CHEMISTS' SOCIETY PRESS, CHAMPAIGN, IL. PROCEEDINGS OF WORLD CONFERENCE ON OILSEED PROCESSING AND UTILIZATION. 2001. p. 141-144.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Peanut production on a worldwide basis is almost 30 million tons per year and more than 50% of this production is crushed for oil use. In some countries, more than 85% of the peanuts produced are crushed. Extraction efficiency and oil quality varies with use of equipment from simple hand presses to hydraulics and heated solvent extractors. State-of-the-art extraction is generally accomplished with screw presses followed by solven extraction. Extracted peanut oil is saponified, washed, bleached and deodorized into an excellent cooking oil with a smoke point of 229.4 C. Peanut oil is used mainly for edible purposes in the preparation of shortenings, margarines, and mayonnaise, as a cooking and frying oil, and as a salad oil. A new commercial invention incorporating a supercritical, low-pressure, liquified gas extraction process using food-grade butane as the extraction gas is currently being used to extract chocolate liquor and peanuts and the oil and residue solids are both edible products. New peanu lines incorporating high oleic acid traits produce oil with greatly increased shelf-life qualities. Use of high oleic oils in frying peanuts resulted in some increase in the shelf-life of the various peanut varieties used and the increases were highly correlated with the O/L ratio of individual varieties. The benefits of peanuts, peanut butter and peanut oil alone in reduction of decreased cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol risk factors for cardiovascular disease have recently been explored. Peanut oil resulted in significant reduction of cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol while producing no decrease in HDL-cholesterol and no increase in triglycerides.