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Friday, March 9, 2012

DIY: Cooking Spray

For my second post in this 12 part series on DIY convienence products I am tackling Cooking Spray. There are many different recipes for this online. You can even purchase special bottles. It doesn't have to be that complicated though.

I purchased an inexpensive food grade metal spritzer bottle at a local health food store. Poured in my favorite oil, replaced the lid, and started spraying. It was that simple. It is a small bottle and everytime I add oil I will thoroughly clean the bottle and sprayer, being sure to pump soapy water through the sprayer. Because it is small it should get cleaned about once a month. This cleaning is super important because I chose not to put any additives in my spray oil.

Other recipes call for Liquid Lecithin and/or water among other things. The water is to thin the oil to make is spray better and to keep the sprayer from glogging. Lecithin is an emulsifier that keeps the oil and water mixed. (Oil and Water do not naturally mix, and if they seperate the oil will float and the water will sink, since the hose to the sprayer is at the bottom of the bottle you will only get water and no oil, unless you thoroughly shake it every time you spray.) Lecithin is also the ingredient in commercial oil sprayers that make them NOT compatible with non stick surfaces. Over time the lecithin creates a sticky layer that doesn't easily wash away. Not really something I want to add to my food. Also I recently changed to a cast iron frying pan and really want to be careful with what I put in it, as it should last the rest of my life.


***Update. This spray bottle clogged quickly. So I purchased a Misto. And have been successfully using it to spray regular cooking oil with no problems for several months.***

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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous12/03/2012

    Can you use this like pam?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is exactly how I use it. Except, since there is no lecithin, you can even use it in a non-stick pan, unlike Pam.

      Delete

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