I always cringe when I see someone write about the "potential health risks" of Canola Oil. You may want to look into this a little more. Here's
an article of interest at snopes.com (an urban legend website) that debunks a lot of nonsense that has been going around the internet. As far as vegetable oils go, Canola is actually pretty healthy and people have been using it for centuries. It has a lower percentage of saturated fat than any other oil, and a much better omega 3 to 6 ratio than even olive oil. It's just not suitable for high temperature frying.
When it comes to potential health risks, I would be far more worried about using a product like Whirl, which is made from high oleic sunflower and also contains artificial butter flavor. Sunflower oil (even the high oleic variety) is a known inflammatory agent, meaning that consuming too much of it may lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
One point I will agree with you on is that butter will probably give the best results for golden hash browns.
People have NOT been using Canola Oil for centuries.....Canola Oil
did not exist until 1968.
I should have been more specific....I don't buy into the "Scary Stories"
people post on the Internet about Canola Oil, or any other product.
What I was referring to is that Canola Oil was originally too acidic, and
therefore too dangerous to be used for Human consumption. Eventually
scientists were able to breed the "Rapeseed" plant into the "Canola" plant
and finally reduce the level of Acidity to what was considered "safe" for
humans.....(maybe it is safe, maybe it isn't...there are other oils to choose
from that are safe; so why take any risk with the Canola Oil?)
In addition Monsanto has genetically modified the seed for the "Canola
Plant" and holds a patent for it. PERSONALLY.....I am not yet convinced
that Genetically modified foods are safe for humans to eat. This is the
primary reason why I do not use Canola Oil. The majority of the crop
that is grown uses the genetically modified seed owned by Monsanto.
There are also concerns about the "possible" harm that genetically modified
crops may do to the environment.
If you want to use Canola Oil....that's OK. Everybody has the right to use,
or not use it.
You can do a search for.....Monsanto canola oil...and also for...genetically
modified foods....as there are other genetically modified foods out there
as well.
As far as the product "Whirl" is concerned....it was made for, and is used
by Restaurants and the food service industry. I think it is pretty much
safe to assume that any product that is made for the food service
industry was not made to be a "health" type of product. Most likely it was
intended to be cost effective, and taste good.