Who invented sunflower oil? "The history of sunflower oil." Sunflower oil - vegetable oil from sunflower seeds in salads, frying meat and fish in oil and don’t even think about the benefits of this valuable product...

Update: October 2018

Sunflower oil is a popular product that is present in the diet every day, used for cooking, is a universal skin care product and even helps in the treatment of certain diseases. Basically, people give preference to it - it is both budget-friendly and already familiar to many.

Few people think about the quality of the product, choosing solely based on external characteristics and the label. Is it really good to have perfectly transparent oil in an original bottle and what is hidden behind “100% naturalness”, we will tell you in this article.

Chemical composition and nutritional value of sunflower oil

The natural, raw product has the following composition (average values):

Nutrient/indicator	Quantity per 100 g. product
Calorie content of oil	899 kcal
Water	0.1 g
Fats	99.9 g
Vitamin E	44 mg
Phosphorus	2 mg
Sterols (beta sitosterol)	200 mg
Saturated fatty acids, of which:	11.3 g
Palmitic	6.2 g
Stearic	4.1 g
Begenovaya	0.7 g
Arachinova	0.3 g
Monounsaturated fatty acids (oleic)	23.8 g
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic)	59.8 g
Oil density, p	930 kg/m 3

The composition also contains vitamins D, K, carotenes, vegetable carbohydrates, protein substances, mucus, waxes, tannins, and inulin in small quantities.

The composition of sunflower oil varies depending on the area and sunflower growing conditions, and not always for the better. Plants can be treated with insecticides and pesticides, which also get into the seeds. The composition of the oil, including the residual content of chemically aggressive substances, is regulated by GOST.

Useful properties of the product

The beneficial properties of sunflower oil are well known today. This is a product with a high degree of digestibility, up to 95-98%. The positive effect on the body is due to the composition:

• phospholipids improve the functioning of cells of the nervous tissue and brain, protect against the development of atherosclerosis, participate in the construction of cell membranes;
• tocopherol (vit. E) is a powerful antioxidant, normalizes metabolism, helps preserve youth, has an antitumor effect and improves immunity. Sunflower oil is richer in tocopherol content;
• vitamin D responsible for the good condition of bones and skin;
• vitamin K participates in the normalization of blood viscosity, prevents internal bleeding;
• unsaturated fatty acids (Omega-6 and Omega-9) are directly involved in the proper functioning of the liver, blood vessels, and nervous system, normalize the lipoprotein spectrum of the blood and prevent the development of atherosclerosis. They increase immunity, have anti-carcinogenic and antioxidant effects. Participate in the normalization of hormonal levels.
• beta carotene has a positive effect on growth processes, the state of immunity and improves vision.

To summarize, it should be said that, subject to consumption standards, a real, high-quality product helps fight atherosclerosis and its complications (heart attack, stroke), improves central nervous system function and increases concentration, slows down the process of premature aging, improves the condition of hair and skin, and has a beneficial effect on work endocrine and genitourinary systems, has antiarrhythmic and cardioprotective effects, has a positive effect on the condition of the gastrointestinal mucosa and is used for constipation (1 tablespoon of oil on an empty stomach).

Types of sunflower oil

This product is obtained from sunflower seeds using different technologies. Each of them is based on a similar process:

• cleaning oilseed sunflower seeds from husks mechanically;
• processing of kernels in dryers: crushing into pulp;
• pressing sunflower oil: passing the pulp through a press and obtaining the first pressed product;
• processing of the remaining mass, which can contain up to 30% of the product, in the extraction shop.

Subsequently, the oil is subjected to processing (purification and refining): centrifugation, settling, hydration, filtration, bleaching, deodorization and freezing. And each of these processes affects the quality of the final product. The production of sunflower oil is regulated by law: there is GOST 1129-2013, which clearly defines the standard amount of chemicals, organoleptic indicators, physical and chemical properties and others, by which the quality of the product is standardized.

There are 5 types of oil. They are indicated on the label. By studying a product in a store, you can already draw a conclusion about its quality, composition and effect on the body.

Raw unrefined

This is a first-press product that is only filtered. It is considered the most useful: a minimum of production steps allows you to preserve a maximum of useful substances.

• pros: has a pleasant natural taste, intense yellow color. In unrefined oil, you can count on the presence of phospholipids, vitamins, carotene, and fatty acids.
• Minuses: However, it quickly turns bitter and tarnished, so it has a short shelf life.

There are 3 types: highest, first and second grade. Crude oil is obtained in three ways - hot and cold pressing and extraction:

• Cold pressed allows you to get the highest quality, but expensive product (up to 20-30% of oil remains in the cake).
• Hot pressing involves the use of high temperature: the process speeds up and more oil comes out.
• Extraction. During extraction, vegetable raw materials with “under-extracted” oil (cake) are mixed with a solvent, and the oil is completely transferred into an organic solvent, which is gasoline or hexane. The mixture is then separated, a process called distillation, during which the oil is separated from the solvent. This is already a proven technology, and we hasten to reassure readers - there are no gasoline residues in the oil! You can read more about the technology in food production manuals.

All subsequent purification and processing processes are nothing more than bringing the product to the required presentation and shelf life.

Hydrated

A product that, in addition to mechanical cleaning, undergoes a hydration process: hot water in the form of a fine dispersion (70°C) is passed through oil heated to 60°C. During this process, protein and mucus fractions precipitate. After processing, the oil has a less pronounced smell and taste, becomes lighter, without cloudiness or sediment.

They also distinguish between the highest, first and second grades of the product, similar to unrefined.

Neutralized and refined

The product undergoes complete purification from impurities, as well as free fatty acids, phospholipids using alkalis and acids. The oil acquires optimal external consumer properties, but loses its typical aroma and taste, as well as beneficial components. It is used for frying, stewing and deep-frying, as well as for the production of cooking fats and margarines.

Refined deodorized

It is obtained by refining and subsequent exposure to water vapor under vacuum. During processing, the product is deprived of aromatic substances, which shorten its shelf life.

• Brand "D" indicates that the product is suitable for dietary and baby food,
• Brand "P""—for other groups of the population.

Refined deodorized frozen sunflower oil

Freezing the oil removes waxy substances (which cause cloudiness in cold conditions and spoil the presentation) and further increases shelf life. In fact, this product has no taste, no smell, no beneficial substances in its composition, and is nothing more than a mixture of triglycerides.

How to choose the best sunflower oil

Most useful– raw virgin oil obtained by cold pressing from high-quality sunflower seeds grown in environmentally friendly conditions and sold in glass containers. It has a short shelf life, if not stored it becomes cloudy and goes rancid. In addition, when oil goes rancid, it produces carcinogens that are hazardous to health.

This product contains all useful substances and is ideal for salad dressings and side dishes. But you definitely shouldn’t fry with it: when it boils, it starts to foam, smoke and release carcinogenic substances that get into the food, and with it into the human body. Yes, an incoming carcinogen will not necessarily cause cancer. But the regular intake of carcinogens (and not only from food) leads to their accumulation in the body, and sooner or later the sporadic effect may work!

A reasonable question arises: where to find it and how to choose good unrefined oil?

Today, such products can be bought in small farms, health food stores and from manufacturers who produce environmentally friendly products. Naturally, all manufacturers must have permits, strictly adhere to technology and carry out production control: testing the quality and composition of the oil in accredited laboratories at established intervals. The buyer has the right to demand documents for the oil: research reports and a quality certificate.

How to choose homemade sunflower oil?

It is very difficult to talk about the quality of oils that are sold bottled or bottled in markets. There are only guidelines that you can rely on, but the main guarantee that the bottle is not counterfeit is a quality certificate.

So, homemade product:

• has a pronounced, rich aroma and natural taste of seeds;
• has a rich yellow-golden color, but not dark;
• a drop of oil on the skin of the hand should spread slowly;
• when pouring a product from a container into another container, there should be practically no sound;
• Let's allow a little sediment at the bottom.

You should be wary of:

• unnatural dark color, taste and consistency of the product,
• the presence of suspension (turbidity),
• Strong smell,
• The shelf life of bottled oil is only 1 month - no one can guarantee that the seller is conscientious and tells the real production date.

If you are lucky enough to find that very best manufacturer of a product who is “passionate” about his business, do not buy a lot of oil, it is better to come to his market twice or thrice a month for fresh. Store purchased oil only in the refrigerator and in glass containers.

How to choose good refined oil in the store?

• You can't blindly trust advertising . Very often, manufacturers manipulate the minds of buyers and write attractive phrases on labels:
  • "no cholesterol" This is already clear - a product of plant origin cannot contain cholesterol;
  • "fortified" If we are talking about unrefined, then the statement may be true. But a multiply purified (refined) product cannot contain vitamins, and most likely a synthetic vitamin is added (most often E);
  • "natural". Natural means made from sunflower seeds, i.e. natural, not artificial. Both refined and unrefined oils are natural. There are no nanotechnologies yet to synthesize oil artificially.

You can write anything on the label - but the consumer should pay attention not to the front part, but to the back, where the composition is indicated.

• Read the composition of the product carefully! On the front of the label it may be written “Sunflower”, and the composition may contain a mixture of vegetable oils, for example, the addition of rapeseed. This is a cunning but legal trick by the manufacturer: in this case, the word “sunflower” is the name of the product, as well as “Golden Seed”, “Kubanskoe”, etc.
• Give preference to proven, well-known sunflower oil manufacturers who manufacture their products in accordance with GOST and marked “P” or “D”.
• Choose a bottle that is located at the back of the shelf and under no circumstances take the packaging from open display cases - the oil oxidizes in the light.
• Carefully read the release date and expiration date: if it is coming to an end, you should not buy such oil (and most often it is precisely such products that are sold as promotional items with a very tempting price).

Digging a little from the topic, we note that adherents of a healthy lifestyle and people who want to live long have long abandoned such methods of cooking as frying in oil and deep-frying. There is a special kitchen utensil that allows you to cook with an appetizing crust, but without oil.

If life without classically fried products is not possible, you need to buy oils that do not change their properties and the properties of the product when boiling (high-quality, refined, deodorized and frozen).

Very important:

• pour the product into a cold frying pan and heat slowly;
• do not cook at the highest temperatures;
• do not overcook food (the crispier and tastier the crust, the more dangerous the food is for health);
• during frying, turn meat products over more often - this ensures uniform heating without the formation of local overcooked pockets with carcinogenic substances;
• Allow excess oil to drain from product and discard any remaining oil after frying. The greatest harm from refined sunflower oil occurs if it is reused for frying foods: with each subsequent heating, dangerous carcinogens accumulate, which can cause the development of cancer.

Experiment

In one of the programs of the “Habitat” series, an experiment was conducted: a professional chef fried potatoes in different types of oils: refined and unrefined sunflower, sesame, unrefined olive, ghee and butter. Samples of the finished product and remaining oils were tested in the laboratory of the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences for the content of one of the most powerful carcinogens - acrylamide.

Results:

• In all samples of the finished product, the level of acrylamide was 900-1500 micrograms per kilogram, which is within normal limits.
• In two samples the level of acrylamide was negligible:
  • 0.584 milligrams per kilogram in a product prepared with unrefined sunflower oil,
  • 0.009 milligrams per kilogram in potatoes fried in refined sunflower oil.

Thus, it was concluded that the best oil for frying foods is refined sunflower oil.

• Even natural vegetable oils should be taken in limited quantities. This is a high-calorie product, which in large doses can provoke the development or exacerbation of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and lead to weight gain. With uncontrolled use of oil, especially on an empty stomach, gastrointestinal dysfunction (diarrhea) may develop.
• Consumption rate– about 2 tablespoons per day in its pure form (including oil in dishes).
• Under no circumstances should you cleanse your body using this product.. This method is still positioned by charlatans as the best and safest, but in fact it leads to irreversible changes in the function of the liver and gall bladder.
• You can’t ignore expiration dates, but it’s better to divide them by two. Over time, oxides (peroxides and hydroperoxides) are formed in the product, disrupting metabolic processes. Any product after opening the container must be used within 1 month after opening.
• Storage temperature conditions should also be observed., Do not place the product on a window or where there is direct sunlight. Natural unrefined oil should be stored only in glass containers and in the refrigerator.
• Cloudiness and sediment, which formed in the raw product during the permissible shelf life, are not a sign of poor quality. Waxes and phosphatides, useful components, precipitate. Just shake the bottle.

Harm of sunflower oil

Sunflower oil delivers the strongest blow to the body in the following cases:

1. Unrefined- if it is expired or used for frying and deep-frying;
2. Refined– if it is expired or used for frying and deep-frying INCORRECTLY – repeatedly and at maximum temperatures at which it starts to smoke!

The harm of expired oil

In expired oils (when they go rancid), aldehydes and ketones are formed.

• Ketones- toxic. They have an irritating effect, penetrate the skin, some of them have a carcinogenic and mutagenic effect.
• Aldehydes- are able to accumulate in the body, producing general toxic, irritant and neurotoxic effects, and some are also carcinogens.

• The most useful of all is raw and unrefined oil, but it will not be possible to buy it for future use, since Shelf life is limited (4-6 months).
• The shelf life of homemade oil is 1 month, i.e. it must be eaten immediately after purchase.
• Refined oil can be store for 12-18 months. after production(and as practice shows, it can be stored longer without changing at all in appearance, and some people take advantage of this), but there will be no benefit from such oil, but harm is quite possible.

Why frying in vegetable oil is harmful?

The smoke point of refined oil is 232°C, unrefined 107°C. It is easy to understand that the oil has reached the specified temperature range: it begins to smoke, emit a pungent odor, “cut” the eyes and irritate the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract.

When frying among a bouquet of “chemicals”, the following are especially dangerous:

• Acrolein. Acrylic acid aldehyde, a toxic substance that is highly irritating to the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract and eyes. Forms immediately when the oil reaches its smoking point.
• Acrylamide. Acrylic acid amide. A toxin that affects the liver, kidneys and nervous system. Formed in starch-containing products when frying in oil at temperatures above 120°C. It is localized in that very “tasty and aromatic” crust.
• Fatty acid polymers, heterocyclic amines and free radicals. Formed in combustion and smoking products. They have a general toxic effect.
• Carbon-containing polycyclic substances (benzopyrene, coronene). Strong chemical carcinogens of the first hazard class, which are formed in smoke and burning products.

Application in cosmetology

The natural product is used for cosmetic purposes to moisturize dry skin. It has regenerating and softening properties and helps restore the skin after a long stay in the cold. Smoothes out small wrinkles. Used to cleanse facial skin - quickly dissolves and removes impurities.

To moisturize dry skin, make compresses from heated oil. For problems such as cracks on the feet, hands and lips, as well as irritation on the skin, a simple recipe helps: take 100 ml of oil and 1 bottle of pharmaceutical vitamin A, mix and lubricate problem areas of the skin two to three times a day.

For hair it is used as a component of nourishing and moisturizing masks.

Contraindications and restrictions

A direct contraindication to the use of the product is individual intolerance - an allergy to oil or sunflower seeds.

In limited quantities and with caution, the oil should be used by people with:

• chronic diseases of the cardiovascular system;
• dysfunction of the biliary tract or gallbladder, cholelithiasis. This category of people should not take the oil on an empty stomach and should strictly follow the recommended dosage. In patients with gallstones, while taking the oil, stone movement and blockage of the bile ducts may begin;
• diabetes mellitus;
• obesity.

conclusions

Many media outlets write that the panacea is olive oil, which is positioned as the most valuable and healthy. What's the reality?

To obtain the basic nutrients necessary for the body, the sunflower oil familiar to Russians is enough: unrefined, fresh, not rancid, properly stored (no more than 1 month in the refrigerator in a glass container) and without subjecting the product to heat treatment, i.e. for dressing salads and as a flavoring additive.

For frying and deep-frying, you should use only good refined sunflower oil and drain it after cooking. For each new portion of food, pour fresh oil.

And to get the maximum, you need to combine different oils (and not just olive oil) or alternate their use:

• the largest amount of vitamin E comes from sunflower products;
• essential Omega-3 acids contain flaxseed and mustard oil;
• a complex of Omega-6 acids, biologically active substances, minerals and vitamins and are contained in any unrefined product obtained by direct extraction, including olive oil.

And one more thing - everything useful is useful if taken in moderation. Do not consume more than 3 tbsp. oil per day, even if you produce it yourself and are 100% sure of the quality!

One day, two eagles admired the beauty of a little girl, kidnapped her and took her to their nest, which was high in the mountains, almost next to the sun. And the eagles named their favorite Surya-bai - lady sun. One day, when the eagles flew away about their business, the girl got out of the nest and went to wander through the mountains. But then a misfortune happened - she pricked herself on the poisoned nail of the cannibal and fell dead. Fortunately, one king was nearby, he pulled the nail out of the girl’s finger, and she came to life. Struck by her beauty, the king took her to his palace, but the queen disliked the little girl and pushed her into the pond. The king wept bitterly about his loss, but one day he left the palace and saw that where the sun girl had drowned, a golden flower, which was called a sunflower, had floated out of the water.

This is how the ancient Indian legend tells about the origin of the sunflower. But the sunflower was born not in India, but in the south of North America. Scientists found sunflower seeds during excavations at the site of ancient Indians who lived about 2-3 thousand years ago. They deified the sunflower and worshiped it. Some scientists believe that people began to grow sunflowers even earlier than wheat. The Indians used ground sunflower seeds as flour. It is even assumed that they knew how to extract oil from seeds, which they used in baking and for cosmetic purposes.

Sunflower came to Europe in the 16th century, along with the Spanish conquerors who returned to their homeland. A sunny flower was sown in the Madrid Botanical Garden. The huge, pleasing inflorescence, looking lovingly at the sun, immediately pleased the locals. In less than a few years, sunflowers became an indispensable inhabitant of vegetable gardens in France, England, Italy, and Germany. At first, sunflowers were bred in Europe solely for their beautiful golden flowers. They decorated gardens, front gardens, even clothes. Even the great artist Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641), in order to win over the English king Charles I, who was called the “sun,” painted himself next to a sunflower.

No one expected any practical benefit from the sun flower. Everyone was pleased with his beautiful appearance. The plant is pleasing to the eye - and thank you for that. True, in some places attempts were made to use it with some economic benefit, but nothing came of it. The only thing that could be extracted from his solar circle were seeds. The girls chewed on them at their leisure.

Over time, people found other, more useful uses for the plant. The British, for example, once ate young sunflower inflorescences with oil and vinegar. In Germany, its seeds were roasted and coffee was made from them. Then they began to use it in medicine and even tried to extract oil from the seeds. The British patented their invention in 1716. But for some reason things didn’t work out for them.

The name of the flower was invented by the famous Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus. Maybe because his yellow flowering basket looks like a golden circle of the sun with outstretched rays, or maybe because of its amazing ability to turn towards the sun, he named the sunflower with the Latin name “hellianthus”, from the words helios - sun and anthos - flower. This name has passed into all European languages.

In Rus', according to archaeologists, the sunflower grew about eight to ten thousand years ago, and then for unknown reasons disappeared from the face of the continent. Sunflower seeds were found in the Moscow region during excavations of ancient settlements dating back to the 7th–5th centuries BC and returned here as a North American “native”, through the very famous “window” that Peter I cut through to Europe.

Tsar Peter I, while studying shipbuilding in Holland, once noticed a growing stem of a sunflower in Amsterdam. He had never seen such a flower before and ordered the seeds of the plant he liked to be sent to St. Petersburg and sown in the pharmacy garden. And then, for the first time, a flower of the sun was planted on Russian soil. A strange flower, as tall as the Russian Tsar himself, was in the palace gardens for a long time in “decorative roles”. After some time, the sunflower stepped over the fence of the “sovereign’s garden” and began to rise in the landowners’ estates. At first, sunflowers again served only for decoration. Then they began to gnaw its seeds.

At the end of the 18th century, Russian academician Severgin wrote that sunflower seeds, which are excellent food for birds, can be used to extract oil and make coffee. And even the article “On the preparation of oil from sunflower seeds,” which appeared in 1779 in the Academic Yearbook, had no effect other than scientific interest. Thus, the possibilities of its practical use gradually opened up. Sunflower quickly spread in Russia. He was greeted with great honor in Ukraine. There probably wasn’t a hut near which this universal favorite wouldn’t show off. Then they began to sow it in the North Caucasus, the Volga region and the Kuban. Having been in human hands, the sunflower turned into a cultivated plant - it grew plump, became fat, and began to grow more than two meters tall. And here the conditions turned out to be the most suitable - enough heat, plenty of light. So the sunflower lived in bliss on Russian soil for more than a hundred years, decorating cities and villages. But in 1829, a simple savvy serf from Alekseevskaya Sloboda, Voronezh province, Daniil Bokarev, came up with the idea to get “benefits” from it, squeezing out several buckets of butter with a homemade hand-made churn. The news spread all over Russia that some peasant had obtained excellent oil from sunflower seeds! At first few people believed this. People from neighboring villages came to Bokarev to see the exotic oil with their own eyes, smelled it, dipped bread in it, and ate fried potatoes. And then people realized that they had laughed in vain in the spring at Bokarev’s “beautiful, but useless” vegetable garden. Here is what a certain landowner Terentyev wrote about this in the article “On the division of sunflowers”: “Bokarev, a peasant of Count Sheremetev, decided to sow a very small amount of sunflower seeds in the garden as a test, for his own pleasure; when the sunflowers grew, he, Bokarev, He tried to break the seeds on a manual butter churn and, to his joy, he received excellent oil, the likes of which he had never seen and which was not on sale here.”

The next spring - this was already in 1836 - sunflowers were sown almost all around Alekseevskaya Sloboda. From year to year the crops increased. Four years later, the world's first oil mill was built in Alekseevka. In 1835, the export of oil abroad began. Over the next 30 years, the success of growing sunflowers and producing oil from them became so significant that industrialists declared that they could flood the Baltic and Black Seas with sunflower oil. In 1860, there were already about 120 oil mills in this district.

Since then, not a single hut has survived without sunflower oil. The Church recognized it as a lenten product, which is where its second name came from – lenten oil. And they began to call it in their own way - lean, since they used it as food, unlike butter, without taking a break for fasting days. It was added to buckwheat porridge - hence the famous “you can’t spoil porridge with butter.” It was seasoned with oatmeal jelly - the main dish of the Lenten table.

In our country, sunflower has become the most important oilseed crop. Already in 2009, about 6 million tons of seeds were collected in Ukraine. Today, our country is the world's leading exporter of sunflower oil, supplying products to 64 countries, and is one of the three leaders in the world in sunflower production.

Irina Kamshilina

Cooking for someone is much more pleasant than for yourself))

Content

Vegetable oil is a popular product that is used by housewives all over the world in cooking when preparing salads, soups, frying, stewing and canning. How sunflower oil is obtained, what are the unique properties of this useful product, what are the benefits and harms of unrefined oil - these are the range of questions that will be discussed in this article.

What is sunflower oil

Vegetable oil obtained from oilseed sunflower seeds is called sunflower oil. It is extracted from ripened sunflower seeds and is widely used in cooking, industrial canning, soap making, paint and varnish production, pharmaceutical, and cosmetology production (included in various ointments and creams). The industrial method of squeezing seeds was invented in 1829, since then it has been the most popular Russian oil product.

Compound

The main beneficial component of the chemical composition of sunflower oil is omega fatty acids. This type of vegetable oil product is an almost irreplaceable source of vegetable fats: saturated fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids (oleic acid) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic acid, linolenic acid) - vitamin F. In addition to them, the product is saturated with vitamins D, A and E. Energy value (calorie content) – 899 kcal. The content of all substances per 100 g of product is given in the table below:

Kinds

There are several types of classification of vegetable oils, including sunflower. There are different types of product according to the method of production (type of pressing) - cold (the greatest benefit), hot pressing, and obtained by extraction. The following types of sunflower oil, which have undergone various purification methods, are common:

• unrefined sunflower (rough mechanical cleaning; has a sharp, specific odor);
• hydrated (purified with hot water);
• refined (additionally refined after mechanical cleaning);
• deodorized (deodorization – steam treatment under vacuum).

To answer the question of which vegetable oil is better to buy, you need to understand which purification method retains a greater amount of useful substances in the product. After going through several stages of purification, the nutritional properties of sunflower oil decrease, so the most useful is considered to be an unrefined, cold-pressed oil product that retains the maximum percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids.

How they do it

The process of making the product begins with cleaning the sunflower seeds and grinding them. The higher the humidity and degree of ripening of raw seeds, the greater the amount of product obtained at the output. Before pressing the seeds, pulp or mint is obtained from them. Then, by pressing or extraction (chemical separation of the resulting mixture into an oil product and miscella), oil is isolated from this mass. During subsequent refining, it is further purified using hot water.

Application

A vegetable oil product made from sunflower is one of the most popular Russian dressings, which is widely used for preparing a wide variety of dishes and for dressing salads. However, cooking is not the only area of ​​its application. Due to its high-oleic composition, the product is used in the production of cosmetics and added to ointments and creams. It is also used in its natural form in the process of treating a number of diseases and promoting health. Traditional healers recommend drinking a tablespoon of the oil product in the morning on an empty stomach to improve digestion.

The benefits of sunflower oil

Sunflower seeds contain vitamins and a number of essential microelements, such as phosphorus. The benefit of sunflower oil for the body lies in the high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which normalize metabolic and reproductive processes, improve the condition of skin and hair, strengthen vascular walls, and activate the immune system.

Refined

High-quality refined deodorized oil is widely used for frying and is considered a more dietary product with low cholesterol content. In cooking, it is used mainly for frying and canning dishes, it is transparent, does not have a pronounced odor, does not contain sediment, and is perfectly stored for a period of one to three months.

unrefined

This type of squeezing sunflower seeds produces a product that retains the maximum amount of their original beneficial properties. Therefore, the use of this type is useful for:

• strengthening cell membranes and vascular walls;
• normalization of the digestive system;
• improving the functioning of the endocrine and genitourinary systems;
• strengthening skin and hair growth.

Cold pressed

With cold pressing technology, the beneficial and medicinal properties of the oil product are best preserved. Therefore, it is used for most recipes of traditional medicine and in cosmetology, as part of masks for hair, face and hands. This product perfectly moisturizes dry skin, making it more elastic, and activates healing and natural renewal of epithelial cells.

Frozen out

Freezing technology cleans the oil product from waxy impurities, thereby increasing transparency. Frozen sunflower oil product is recommended for people on a dietary diet, since the content of harmful impurities in it is minimal. Vegetables are fried and stewed on it, and added when preparing light desserts and baked goods.

Treatment with sunflower oil

The beneficial properties of sunflower oil (unrefined, obtained by cold pressing) are widely used in folk medicine. The simplest and most effective method of strengthening the overall health of the body is to suck on a sunflower oil product in the morning on an empty stomach. The oral cavity is a place where a large number of nerve endings are concentrated, plus due to contact with the salivary glands, the best absorption of the product occurs. Take a dessert spoon of oil into your mouth and roll it throughout the cavity for 1.5-2 minutes without swallowing.

To strengthen the immune system, it is good to give a teaspoon of sunflower oil product to children in the morning (this method is especially relevant for the cold season). Unrefined sunflower oil is added to herbal infusions used in the treatment of constipation, liver and kidney diseases, and cholelithiasis. For example, tincture with oregano (3 tablespoons of herb per 0.5 liter of oil product) is taken to relieve pain from stomach ulcers.

Sunflower oil in cosmetology

The benefit of vegetable oil for moisturizing the skin and improving its condition lies in its high content of fatty acids. The simplest face mask can be easily prepared by mixing:

• unrefined sunflower oil – 15 g;
• steamed oatmeal – 10 g;
• large strawberries – 5 pcs.

Apply the mixture to your face and keep until completely dry. After several uses, the facial skin will cleanse, tighten, become more elastic, and take on a fresh, healthy appearance. For hands, a different recipe is used:

• fat cottage cheese – 100 g;
• Unrefined sunflower oil – 1 teaspoon.

Grind the cottage cheese with the oil product, apply to clean, dry hands for 7-10 minutes. Make a mask once a week. To strengthen and activate nail growth, keep your fingertips for two to three minutes three times a week in a mixture of sunflower oil product with lemon juice in a 1:5 ratio. The same mixture can be applied to the hair roots to accelerate growth and reduce the percentage of hair loss.

Harm of sunflower oil

Use only fresh product so as not to harm the body by consuming the seed extract of any variety of sunflower. Check the expiration date when purchasing, pay attention to transparency, absence of sediment or impurities. Store unrefined oil in glass containers; observe the maximum shelf life of an opened bottle - no more than 30 days.

Sunflower oil contraindications

Vegetable oil products should be consumed with caution by people suffering from high cholesterol, as well as:

• patients with diabetes mellitus;
• for liver and kidney diseases;
• if you are allergic to sunflower seeds or their processed products.

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Although sunflower seeds and sunflowers are perceived as something native, this flower was born in the south of North America. Even the ancient Indians, who lived a couple of thousand years ago, deified and worshiped the sunflower. It was believed that the Indians not only used sunflower flour, but also already extracted the oil! It was used for baking bread and for cosmetic purposes.

Sunflower reached Europe only in the 16th century. It was sown in the Madrid Botanical Garden. Europeans liked the huge bright flowers so much that after a few years they could be found in France, England, Italy, and Germany. Gardens and even clothes were decorated with sunny flowers; no one thought about the practical benefits. In some places there were attempts to use it with some economic benefit: but the only thing that could be extracted was the seeds. Over time, the British, for example, began to eat young sunflower inflorescences with oil and vinegar. In Germany, coffee was made from roasted seeds. The British did patent sunflower oil itself in 1716, but the invention did not catch on.

How did sunflowers get to Russia? Tsar Peter I, while studying shipbuilding in Holland, noticed a growing sunflower stalk in Amsterdam. He had never seen such a flower before and ordered the seeds to be sent to St. Petersburg and sown in the pharmacy garden. In our country it has also been used for decorative purposes for a long time. After some time, sunflowers appeared on landowners' estates, and then they tried our seeds too.

But at the end of the 18th century, Russian academician Severgin wrote that sunflower seeds, which are excellent food for birds, can be used to extract oil and make coffee. And even the article “On the preparation of oil from sunflower seeds,” which appeared in 1779 in the Academic Yearbook, had no effect other than scientific interest.

At that time, sunflowers were already planted almost throughout the country, and they took root well in the southern regions. For more than a hundred years it served as a decoration for cities and villages. But in 1829, a simple serf from the Alekseevskaya settlement of the Voronezh province, Daniil Bokarev, squeezed out several buckets of butter with a homemade hand-made churn. The news spread all over Russia that some peasant had obtained excellent oil from sunflower seeds! At first few people believed this. People from neighboring villages came to Bokarev to see the exotic oil with their own eyes, smelled it, dipped bread in it, and ate fried potatoes.

Here is what a certain landowner Terentyev wrote about this in the article “On the division of sunflowers”: “Bokarev, a peasant of Count Sheremetev, decided to sow a very small amount of sunflower seeds in the garden as a test, for his own pleasure; when the sunflowers grew, he, Bokarev, tried to break the seeds on a manual butter churn and, to his joy, he received excellent oil, the likes of which he had never seen and which was not on sale here.”

Four years later, in 1833, in Alekseevka, the merchant Papushin, with the assistance of Bokarev, built the first oil mill in Russia. In 1834, Bokarev opened his own oil mill, and a year later the export of oil abroad began. By 1860, there were about 160 oil mills in Alekseevka. By the way, you can now see a monument to Daniil Bokarev there.

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It is impossible to do without sunflower oil in the kitchen these days. But not everyone knows who was the first to receive this amber product, who began to cultivate sunflower... The centuries-old history of sunflower oil begins with a flower with yellow petals - helianthus, which in Greek means: sun.

North America is the birthplace of sunflowers. According to historical information, more than 4 - 5 thousand years ago, the indigenous inhabitants of the continent already used the oil of its seeds as a medicine and dye. The sunflower was considered sacred and was worshiped. During these years, the flower was not yet cultivated, and came to Europe as a wild plant. It was brought by Spanish sailors in 1510. It was they who began cultivating sunflowers, which led to an increase in the size of the seeds and the presence of fat content. But it did not become popular with the Spaniards (they preferred olives). The yellow flower was grown for a long time in flower beds and front gardens. No one thought about large production for almost two centuries.

Founders of production

In 1716, the sunflower appeared in England. Much of the credit for improving the production of sunflower oil belongs to the British. They patented the technology and set up production. They also began the industrial cultivation of sunflowers.

In Russia, sunflower flowers appeared under Peter the Great. And the history of sunflower oil production began only in 1829. Mass production was established by a resident of what is now the Belgorod region, serf D.S. Bokarev. He discovered a high content of oily liquid in the aromatic seeds and was the first to begin squeezing out a healthy product that we happily use every day. Already in 1833, the first oil mill was created in the village of Alekseevka.

Valuable properties

Sunflower is a wonderful Pancake week crop. It is widely used:

• in the food industry (for butter, halva, margarine, sweets, etc.);
• in folk medicine (making decoctions, oil mixtures, infusions);
• as a honey plant for bees;
• in agriculture (cake, haylage, silage, etc.);
• for technical purposes (soap, paper, paints, fuel).

The oil has many beneficial properties, minerals, and vitamins.

The Orthodox Church deservedly recognized this unique product as Lenten, and therefore useful for the population, and began to widely promote it in society. Since then, many plots of land have been sown with sunflowers. Just 100 years ago, a valuable flower returned to its historical homeland - North America, where the traditions of the indigenous people had already been forgotten. Came back as a fragrant amber oil.

Ukraine is in the lead

Nowadays, the world produces an average of 10 million tons of sunflower oil, which is always in demand. Ukraine produces about 6 million tons of this number.

Kaissa Oil is the largest agro-industrial company, reliable and sunflower processed products in Ukraine and an exporter of quality products to other European countries.