Sunflower oil

What is sunflower oil?

Sunflower oil is made from pressing sunflower seeds and extracting the oil. It's usually used for roasting, stir-frying and deep-frying due to its high smoke point. This means you can roast or fry at higher temperatures before the oil starts to smoke. Use sunflower oil for roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, stir-frying vegetables or even in bakes as a replacement for butter.

A variety of oils can be used for baking including vegetable, corn, safflower and rapeseed oil. Strong-tasting oils like olive, sesame and walnut oil are not generally suitable, although some people enjoy the distinct flavour that a mild olive oil imparts. Cake recipes that use oil instead of butter are ideal for those with a dairy allergy or intolerance.

Oil produces a moist cake that keeps well, usually three or four days. It is popularly used in carrot cake.