Types of plant oils facts for kids

Plant oils (also called vegetable oils) are oils that come from plants. They are different from oils that come from animals or from the ground (like petroleum). People use plant oils for many things, like cooking, making paint, and even in perfumes.

There are three main kinds of plant oils:

• Vegetable fats and oils are usually squeezed out of plants.
• Macerated oils are made by adding parts of plants (like herbs or flowers) to a base oil.
• Essential oils are strong-smelling liquids taken from plants, often by a process called distillation.

What Are Vegetable Fats and Oils?

When most people say "vegetable oil," they are talking about vegetable fats and oils. These oils are used for cooking, like canola oil, or as solid fats, like cocoa butter. Some are also used in things like paint (for example, linseed oil) or for industrial purposes.

How Are Vegetable Oils Made?

Vegetable oils are usually taken from the seeds of plants. There are two main ways to get the oil out:

• Pressing: This is like squeezing juice from a fruit. Machines called oil presses squeeze the seeds very hard. The most common type is a screw press, which has a large screw that crushes the seeds and pushes the oil out through small holes. The leftover solid parts are called seed cake. Another type is a ram press, which uses a piston to crush the seeds. Ram presses are often more efficient.
• Chemical Extraction: In big factories, oils are often taken out using special liquids called solvents, like hexane. This method is cheaper and gets more oil out of the plant than pressing.

Sometimes, when oil is pressed, a little heat is added to get even more oil. If the temperature stays below 120°F (about 49°C), the oil can be called "cold-pressed." This means it was made without a lot of heat.

What Are Macerated Oils?

Macerated oils (or infused oils) are made by adding other things, like herbs or flowers, to a regular cooking oil. The oil soaks up the good stuff from the herbs or flowers, giving it a new smell or flavor.

What Are Essential Oils?

Essential oils are not really oils in the same way cooking oils are. They are strong-smelling liquids that come from plants. They are used to make things smell nice, like in perfumes or soaps. They are also used in aromatherapy, which is a way to use plant smells for health and relaxation.

Essential oils are usually made by a process called distillation. This involves heating the plant material with steam to capture the fragrant parts. Sometimes, essential oils are also made by maceration, where plant parts are soaked in warm water to release their smells.

See also

In Spanish: Planta oleaginosa para niños