For the last month I have been testing a bottle of Braham & Murray Good Oil. Usefully the chic black glass bottle told me that Good Oil is a pure natural oil of cold-pressed hemp seed with is very rich in omega 3, 6 and 9, is nutty, nutritious and tastes delicious adding “use like an olive oil”.
Olive oil is our default cooking oil so in the name of family cooking research for PWT I have prepared all our standard dishes using first Good Oil and then olive oil these include vegetable soups, chilli con carne, roasted vegetables, shepherds pie, ratatouille, salad dressings and jacket potatoes.
I did not tell the family what I was doing and can report that they would never have known from the taste alone. The fact that the Good Oil has half the saturated fat of olive oil, contains zero trans fats and various other health benefits is an absolute bonus.
However, when it came to roasting vegetables I felt that the "smoke point", the temperature when the oil started to smoke or burn, was lower with Good Oil than my regular oil which meant that the results weren’t as crispy as I would have liked. Roast vegetables and potatoes are the only things we’ve stopped using Good Oil for and I am very happy to have been introduced to a product bursting with health-giving properties.
For some years now I have only used olive oil in cooking. I don’t do any “deep frying” so only use small amounts in roasting, sautéeing, sealing chicken and so on. Sometimes olive oil can have or give a too distinctive flavour which some people don’t like. If that’s the case for someone in your family then I would recommend Good Oil.
For the last few weeks I have used only Good Oil for all my cooking and can honestly say that I haven’t noticed a difference – although perhaps our bodies’ have – given that this oil has major health–boosting qualities.
I particularly like the fact that Good Oil is made from hemp seed, a sustainable crop which also has benefits for the environment. Even more impressive, it is produced in Devon so no worries about a huge carbon footprint!
Good Oil, which also has a Mild & Light version both £5.99/500ml, is currently stocked at most branches of Tesco, Waitrose, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Co-Op.