SUNFLOWER OIL
Sunflowers, native to the American Southwest, have been grown and put to a variety of uses by Indigenous peoples for millennia. Recent history has seen the sunflower become one of the world’s top oil crops, with Rus-sia and Ukraine leading global production.
Sunflower oil is available in two primary types: refined and unrefined. Refined sunflower oil is the most commonly available in American supermarkets. It is neutral-tasting with a high smoke point (450 degrees), making it ideal for high-heat cooking (page 12). Unrefined or cold-pressed sunflower oil is more flavorful (retaining more of the nuttiness of the seeds) but also more volatile, giving it a shorter shelf-life and a lower smoke point (of about 320 degrees). It’s less common and best used (like a good extra-virgin olive oil) in raw applications such as vinaigrettes or for finishing dishes.
