Can You Use Canola Oil in Place of Vegetable Oil?

Posted by Hannah Broaddus

 

Have you ever made a recipe that called for vegetable oil, and in the midst of pouring the oil into the measuring cup, you’ve thought, “Hmm… I wonder if I could use something healthier in place of this?” As an avid baker, I run into this question a lot. [Spoiler alert: I no longer even keep "vegetable oil" in my house, so you can see where this discussion is going…]

 

The Short Answer: Yes, You Can Swap Canola Oil in For Vegetable Oil

The short answer is, yes, you can replace vegetable oil with a number of different options, including canola oil.

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How Storage Conditions Can Make Or Break The Quality Of Your Bulk Oil

Posted by Hannah Broaddus

How you store your bulk olive oil can’t just be an afterthought once it delivers. Getting olive oil and storing it in the wrong conditions is like buying ice cream from the store and taking 8 hours to get home and put it into the freezer.

You have to plan what you’re going to do with it before you buy -- in particular if you are a manufacturer, because there's more oil (and money) at stake. But manufacturer or home chef aside, the same still applies. 

Respect olive oil's proper storage conditions, and you will enjoy it -- in its freshest form -- for as long as possible.

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How Long Does It Take To Defrost My Olive Oil?

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

It's almost that time of year again where the temperatures drop! Throughout the US, food production facilities and shipping trucks will be colder in the coming months. 

In the wintertime, how you handle your olive oil may have to be very different.  Picture for a moment: it's February, your production is about to start and you pull out your tote of olive oil that arrived last week.  You attach the dispensing pump and nothing happens -- no oil flows, and you can't get anything to come out.  You look inside and see your oil is completely solid, like cold butter. Now what?!

This is an all-too-real situation that happens to lots food manufacturers using bulk olive oil. Any manufacturer that has a cool warehouse in the winter or is located in the northern half of the US can expect to have this happen at some point!  The best thing you can do?  Prepare and know your options.

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Bulk Organic Olive Oil: What You To Know

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

People are always wanting to know about the different grades of olive oil: how they are made and what they are used for. Let's really dive in and talk about the specific grade of Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Sometimes it can seem so straight forward when you hear about organic EVOO this it's easy glance over. 

To really understand, we've outlined some basics below about Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil that you should know. 

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How To Become USDA Organic Certified

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

Are you a food manufacturer serving the natural food industry and you are not already doing organics you have probably wondered the following:

What would it take to get organic certified? Is it worth it?

Our sales manager, Hannah, sat down with our quality control department and our warehouse manager to ask just a few questions. She wanted to find out precisely what it takes to get USDA Organic Certified. 

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Important Information To Include On Any Industrial Food Purchase Order

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

An order you send to any food ingredient supplier is, at the very least, a gentleman's agreement on both sides. To be able to get just what you're looking for you will need to make sure that you include all the necessary details.

When was the last time you were able to order a shirt on, say, Amazon and you didn't have to specify the size you wanted, color, or your shipping address? You are probably thinking to yourself, never.

Let's begin to look at the different details you need to make sure you are giving your supplier on your PO. In the industrial industry, a purchase order is important, to begin with - it's basically your contract. With any contract, you will want to make sure that you specify in writing the details you have agreed on. You will also want to make sure you've covered everything that could affect your order.


Sometimes the details can be a wide range and you may not naturally include certain information because it doesn't directly affect you. That's why we have created a list of all the information that you should make sure you include when you're putting your orders together. This applies to any industrial food supplier you work with.

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The Making Of Olive Oil

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

Olive oil is simply the juice that comes from an olive. The olive is a fruit, grown on the olive tree. Want to know more than that? The answer to exactly how olive oil is made will depend solely on the type of olive oil, or grade, that it is.

We are going to do a fairly basic review of the grades of olive oil and how they are made. There are many ways you can learn these things whether they are visual slideshows, videos, or reading.

For an easy step-by-step review on how olive oil is made we recommend watching the slide share presentation below:

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The Meaning Of Expeller Pressed vs Cold Pressed

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

It can be hard to know exactly what you may be getting when it comes to oil. Oils are produced in multiple ways. Some are expelled using solvents like hexane, while others are expeller-pressed with a mechanical press that squeezes the oil out.

How the oil is produced isn't always clearly marked either. Sometimes it is described in the title, in full works or abbreviated form, or sometimes you might find that it is only described on the spec sheet. Worse still, some industrial suppliers make no mention of how the oil is made on any documents. It will be in your hands to make sure you ask all the right questions and receive the proper documentation.

Here at Centra Foods, we make it a point to be as clear and explicit as possible. That is why today I will explain what solvent expelling, expeller pressing and cold pressing methods all look like in detail.

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How Much Will You Save By Switching From Drums To Totes Of Edible Oil?

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

Do you remember going to the grocery store when you were little with your parents? Did you ever want something in a small package to snack on but find that your mom or dad would grab the big box? Well if you ever experienced this you probably also experienced them showing you the price per ounce for both and comparing to teach you the difference and help pick the best option for the price.

I'm sure many of us can say we have memories like this. And adults, whether grocery shopping or working for our company, if we want a lower priced item for the same exact ingredient, the best way to do this is to purchase a larger packaging size.

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3 Problems With Buying Olive Oil In Bulk

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

If you are a small business looking to get cheaper prices on your olive oil, it’s smart to begin purchasing bulk quantities. You can save a lot of money by switching to larger packaging, getting your oil packed onto a pallet and ordering from a bulk supplier.

What most suppliers don't always tell you is that the transition from wholesale orders (buying one or two cases at a time) to bulk orders (buying a full pallet) brings its own intrinsic issues. You have to consider closely if the switch you’re looking to make, while helping you save money, may be too tough to handle in other ways.

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Is My Cloudy Olive Oil Bad?

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

Have you ever had olive oil arrive to your home and it looks cloudy? Or perhaps you’ve pulled your olive oil out of a cold cabinet or garage, and seen the same thing?

You may ask yourself: Is this bad? Great question, and a common one, to boot.

The answer is simple: No, it is not bad. Have no fear, the oil has just simply solidified, which is a completely natural process that happens in the cold.

Here is a step by step guide for thawing out your oil whether you’re at home, in a small manufacturing facility, restaurant or commercial kitchen.

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The Shelf Life Of Olive Oil

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

Olive oil shelf life is truly a important thing we need to be aware of. Every distributor may have a different answer for you in regards to how long they suggest olive oil to last for. As for Centra Foods, our oils have a shelf life of 2 years (or 24 months) which is based on the date of manufacturing.

Here’s more about what you need to know about the shelf life of olive oil and why it’s so variable.

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Quality Control Of Oils & Fats

Posted by Hannah Broaddus

What should you expect when it comes to the quality control of natural fats and oils used as ingredients in food manufacturing? There's a lot of different documents that you as a food manufacturer can ask for.

If you're wondering what's normal to expect from your bulk oil supplier in terms of quality assurance documentation, here's the list of the QA docs we most often get requests for.

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How Long Will It Take My Olive Oil To Defrost?

Posted by Hannah Broaddus

Picture this: it’s February and you plan to use the olive oil that’s been sitting in your warehouse for a week. You plug the pump into your drum and… nothing happens. You can’t actually GET to your oil to use it. It’s completely solid, like cold butter. Now what?

This is an all too real situation that happens to many a food manufacturer. Anyone who has a cool warehouse in the winter or is located in the northern half of the US can expect to experience this at some point.

As we head into November (and officially the colder months of the year) I want to make sure we talk about this today.

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How To Taste Olive Oil

Posted by Hannah Broaddus

Olive oil has a specific way that it should be tasted to get the full effect of the oil -- just like you would taste wine. I do a lot of olive oil tastings in meetings with customers, along with training our staff internally.

Here's a quick run down if you've never officially been taught how to taste olive oil.

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