This oil is extra virgin, but it’s not olive.
It’s sunflower oil.
How did this new world plant become the symbol of Ukraine and why should you try unrefined
sunflower oil?
Those are the questions we’ll answer in this video.
I live in New England and the oil you’ll see me pull out the most is olive oil.
This is the case for most of my viewers as well.
Whether you live in England or Denmark or Canada, these days it seems like everyone
is cooking with olive oil.
But have you ever wondered what northern Europe cooked with before the days of modern transportation?
I promise it was not olive oil.
Back then food was local whether you liked it or not.
It was worth transporting spices from the Orient because they were relatively light,
but transporting oil from the Mediterranean -- no way!
Most of Northern Europe cooked with lard or other animal fats, like chicken fat, or beef
fat, or duck fat, or butter.
And it was good and all until lent.
The problem was that if you were an Orthodox Christian none of those fats were allowed
during lent.
Not only that, but plant based fats weren’t allowed either.
If you were truly devout, you could have olives, but not olive oil during lent.
One of the reasons for this abstinence might be that long ago, olive oil was stored in
sheep skins and then the tradition stuck.
But I am in no way an expert on Orthodox Christianity, so don’t quote me on that.
That’s just what the internet said.
Sometimes in the 18th century, the sunflower made it to Eastern Europe and people quickly
figured out that they could press it to make oil.
It was such an exotic ingredient that it wasn’t on the list of the forbidden ingredients during
lent.
As you can imagine, cooking with no fat was no picnic, so when a fat approved by the church
for use during lent entered the market, it went viral.
Once the Eastern Orthodox cooks tried this oil, they loved it so much that they started
using it year round, not only during lent.
I grew up with sunflower oil the way Mediterranean people grow up with olive oil.
It never occurred to me that this culinary trend only started in the 18th century.
We’ll skip a few hundred years to the first half of the 20th century when the Soviet scientists
found a way to breed a sunflower with an insanely high oil production.
This made the sunflower oil much more affordable and that’s how Russia and Ukraine became
the leading exporters of sunflower oil all over the world.
Most of the oil that’s exported is refined.
It’s completely tasteless, just like canola, and works well for high heat applications.
You can go into most supermarkets in America and find this type of sunflower oil.
It’s nothing to write home about.
But unrefined sunflower oil is a whole different story.
It’s the equivalent of extra virgin olive oil.
It has a rich amber color and absolutely intoxicating aroma.
It smells toasty and nutty, like the platonic ideal of the sunflower.
In many Eastern European countries, sunflower oil is the default oil for salads.
As a kid I was not a huge fan of it.
I preferred my salads with sour cream, and it only took me 30 years to figure out why.
Sour cream has acidity.
For some reason, I’ve never seen Russian cooks make a vinaigrette for their salads.
They just used straight oil.
Even the famous beet salad called the vinaigrette was dressed with straight oil and not with
a vinaigrette.
That might have been just something my family did.
But since I never ate in restaurants when I was little, I don’t know how common this
was.
I only fell in love with sunflower oil about a year ago when I made a vinaigrette with
it.
When I say “vinaigrette,” I mean the French style salad dressing, not the Russian “vinaigrette,”
which is a beet salad.
And let me tell you -- it tastes incredible when combined with lemon juice, Dijon mustard,
and salt.
Since I learned to cook in the US, olive oil has been my default oil.
For cooking, I use generic brand olive oil from Whole Foods.
Stuff like this.
It works great for roasting veggies, caramelizing onions, and is perfectly fine for salad dressings.
Not outstanding, but serviceable.
For many years, I’ve been trying to find an olive oil that was worth the splurge for
salads.
Every time I find one, it seems to disappear from our stores.
The “special” olive oils I have tried cost me $15 to $20 per liter and are rarely
better than Whole Foods Generic Brand.
It seems that the more I pay for an olive oil, the more peppery it gets.
Personally, I don’t like that throat burning sensation.
I like my olive oil fruity and buttery.
At some point, I got tired of paying $20 per liter for olive oil that didn’t make me
any happier than the generic brand from Whole Foods and I bought some unrefined sunflower
oil from my local Eastern European store that cost me $10/liter.
What a revelation!
So aromatic and delicious.
And what surprised me was its ability to emulsify.
It produces a really fantastic vinaigrette that goes well with any salad.
I am sure I already got some comments saying what’s the point of talking about this oil
if you can’t buy it in a normal supermarket, and how dare I promote stealing the precious
food resources from the people of Ukraine.
Is this really the right time to encourage people to buy a Ukrainian ingredient given
the war?
In terms of raising awareness, it’s exactly the right time.
2 years ago, most Americans couldn’t find Ukraine on the map.
Now that there is an interest in Ukrainian culture, why not use it to promote Ukrainian
ingredients?
As far as taking the food away from the Ukrainian people.
The oil you are buying in the US or elsewhere in the world was intended for export.
The money you are paying for it helps Ukrainian businesses.
If buying oil from Ukraine makes you uncomfortable, you can buy it from a different country, like
Georgia.
I just tried this brand produced in Georgia and it’s excellent.
Now let’s address the question of where to buy unrefined sunflower oil.
Most metropolitan areas in the United States have Eastern European stores, but they go
under generic names like Internations Gourmet Foods or something like that.
If you know someone from Eastern Europe, ask them.
If you don’t, ask around on social media, or google for “Russian store city name”
or “Ukrainian store city name”.
Don’t worry, you are not supporting the war by shopping in a “Russian” store.
Russians who live abroad are people like me whose families ran away from the horrors of
the totalitarian regime.
Of course we don’t support the war.
Yes, there are some ultra rich Russian oligarchs living abroad, but I haven’t seen too many
of them selling buckwheat and herring in mom and pop shops.
Unrefined sunflower seed oil could easily become available in regular supermarkets if
there was demand for it.
I doubt you could find extra virgin olive oil in American stores 80 years ago and look
at us now.
My Whole Foods has at least 20 varieties.
And where was Kefir 20 years ago?
Definitely not in American supermarkets and now it’s everywhere.
Once the food media starts using some ingredient, stores start carrying it.
I doubt I have enough media power to start a trend, but why not try?
Keep in mind that oils go rancid.
Keep your oil in the cabinet so that it’s not exposed to light and place it in the coolest
part of your kitchen.
If you don’t think you’ll use the whole bottle in 2 months after opening, separate
some oil for later use and keep it in the fridge in an airtight bottle.
It will last a lot longer in the fridge.
I can’t give you exact timing since I go through oil very quickly, but I am guessing
that 6 months would be no problem.
If your oil solidifies in the fridge, don’t worry, that’s normal.
Just bring it to room temperature and it will liquify.
If you are from Eastern Europe and have ideas for how to use unrefined sunflower oil besides
salads, I’d love to hear from you.
Here are more thought provoking culinary videos for you to check out and if you are ever in
the Boston area, maybe I’ll see you in one of my classes.