Palm Oil - The Reality

Palm Oil - The Reality

On January 6, 2020 I attend Palm Oil: Gourmet Delight, an interactive session with  a food hunt arranged at Chandigarh by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council. There, Ms. Bhavna Shah told us about some facts related to Palm Oil which seems to be a little controversial in people’s mind.

And the reason for that is lesser knowledge and lesser known facts about palm oil.

The location for the event was Sip n Dine Banquet, Sector 7, Chandigarh.

IT’S SOURCE

Palm oil is extracted from the flesh of the Elaeis guineensis, an oil palm tree. 

Via her presentation, Ms. Bhavna not only depicted the cycle of palm oil origination but also explained how we consume palm oil almost every day, either directly or indirectly. I was really surprised to know the large number of health benefits that palm oil offers us with no side effects.

Ms. Bhavna Shah is the Country Representative of India and Sri Lanka in Malaysian Palm Oil Council.

By the information she shared, I could get to know about the following things:-

NUTRITIONAL VALUE

It is a natural source of carotenoids & vitamin E and provides fatty acids as well as other essential fat-soluble micro nutrients.

It also provides an abundance of calories that give us much-needed energy for our daily lives Because of the high carotene content, the oil in its pure form is bright orange-red.

USES

Palm oil is in almost all – it's in almost 50% of the packaged products that we buy in stores, from cookies, doughnuts and candy to deodorant, perfume, toothpaste and lipstick.

Palm oil is used for cooking, and is used in many ready-to-eat foods.

To curries and other spicy foods, it is particularly well suited.

Palm oil is sometimes used as a stabilizer to peanut butter and other nut butters so that the fat does not detach and settle at the top of the container.

Palm oil can be found in various foods, including:

• Cereals

• Baked goods like bread, cookies and muffins

• Protein bars

• Chocolate

• Coffee creamers

• Butter

Palm oil (and its products) has excellent oxidation and heat resistance at excessive high temperatures, rendering palm oil a suitable ingredient in frying oil. For both efficiency and economic reasons, producers and end-users worldwide introduce high percentages of palm oil into their frying oil blends. In fact, palm oil has been used in many instances as a 100 percent substitute for traditional hydrogenated seed oils such as soybean oil and canola oil. Items fried in palm oil include potato chips, fried chicken, doughnuts, ramen noodles and nuts.

Myths regarding to Palm Oil Causing Deforestation

Palm oil is an incredibly efficient crop which produces more oil per land area than any other vegetable oil equivalent crop. Globally, palm oil occupies only 10 percent of the land with 35 percent of the world's vegetable oil market.

We would need somewhere between 4 and 10 times more ground to get the same amount of alternate oils like soybean or coconut oil, which would just move the issue to other parts of the world and threaten other ecosystems and animals.

Seeing the devastation caused, your first reaction may be to completely cut out the palm oil. But in reality the hunt for an answer could make things worse. Palm oil is so effective that it would require up to 10 times as much land to grow using an alternative oil.

SOME FACTS ABOUT PALM OIL

1. Palm oil trees with an average life of 25 years can grow up to 20 meters tall.
2. After three years the tree begins to grow fresh bunches of fruit.
3. Every single piece of fruit on a bunch of fruit contains 50 percent oil.
4. At the middle of each piece of fruit, the seed, known as a kernel, is where palm kernel oil is extracted.
5. Palm oil is harvestable twelve months a year.
6. Each tree can yield 10 tons of bunches of fresh fruit per hectare.
7. One can harvest a total of 3.9 tons of crude palm oil and 0.5 tons of palm kernel oil per hectare.
8. Leftover fibre from the palm kernel mill process provides a product called palm kernel expeller.
9. This is used in animal feed, but also in items such as paper or fertilizer.
10. Palm oil needs ten times less land than other crops which produce oil.
11. It is entirely Genetically modified free

Palm oil is also used in many items other than food, like toothpaste, soap and cosmetics.

For more information regarding palm oil, check www.mpoc.org.in

After sharing this much needed and much valuable information regarding palm oil there were many Fun Packed Activities lined for us.

For that we were divided into small teams.

Every team was given clue card for the places we have to head for our activities.

For the first activity we have to reach the place as we found from the clue card, which was Crazy Town, Sector 7.

At Crazy Town we were given a Quiz related to Palm Oil.

There were questions which our team has to answer regarding palm oil.

The questions were regarding the nutritional value, the growth, the plantation, the uses, all about palm oil.

And after solving the quiz we were given the clue card for our second location.

The second location was very nearby to the 1^st location and the location was THE SAFEHOUSE, Sector 7.

At THE SAFEHOUSE, we were seated with our teams and were blindfolded.

We have to guess the ingredients in the food items placed in front of us. Our team have to collectively take part in the activity and guess the ingredients in our plate.

Firstly we were all tied blindfolds by the staff and we waited for the food.

In the plate in front of us there were Potato Wedges, Tossed Bell Peppers, Stir Fried Broccoli and a small portion of a Paneer Piece all prepared in Palm Oil.

The taste of the food was excellent. Palm oil gave a great effect in the food by enhancing the spices and texture of the food really well.

Just after telling about the ingredients of the food prepared in palm oil we removed our blindfolds we were given our clue card for our next location for our next activity.

The next location was THE FINCH, Sector 26

At THE FINCH we had our next activity ready.

The next activity at the 3^rd place was Salad Making. We were given 7 Ingredients and we have to prepare a salad with any 5 ingredients. We have to prepare a salad having good Taste, presentation and nutritional value.

Our salad will be judged by The Executive chef of The Finch and Ms. Bhavna.

The salad was also prepared with palm oil as a compulsory ingredient. Our team was the 2^nd one to finish the task and we presented our salad in front of the judges.

We named our salad TIRANGA BOWL.

We tried to combine all the aspects such as Nutritional Value, Taste and Presentation with the help of all the ingredients and palm oil to make a good salad bowl.

After this we were all headed to our original venue where we have some food items and we have to mix them and eat them as fast as possible.

The food items were, Hide and Seek Cookies, Nutella Spread, Vanilla Ice Cream, Cereal and Chocolates.

The activity was all about to enlighten us about all the food items that are prepared in palm oil. All the items of the bowl were made in palm oil and it showed us how palm oil is used in most of our daily food items and we had no clue of that.

After this we had a stage set up and we all have to perform a Bollywood Dialogue.

I was not much confident about that but still tried to deliver one.

The judges gave the titles of King and Queen to the best performers. The winning team was praised for their enthusiastic engagement, and the day ended with a delicious lunch with all the bloggers.

It was a very fun event packed with lot of exciting activities and a great end.

The main payoff of the event was all the myths about Palm Oil were cleared and gave us a clear viewpoint regarding the benefits and nutritional value of Palm Oil and how we can use it in our daily life without any hesitation and how we are currently consuming palm oil indirectly even without knowing.

I fell very enlightened about Palm Oil and its uses after this great event by Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC).

Would let people know about the real facts about Palm Oil so that people also get some clear image about Palm Oil and its benefits and uses.

For more information about palm oil you can always visit mpoc.org.in

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