I’m not sure how you all choose the various oils you use in the kitchen, but I have a few that I like. I remember a time when my family used a lot of just general vegetable oil and Crisco (crystallized cottonseed oil). For me, cottonseed oil I use in the kitchen is different. (This post includes affiliate links to Amazon where you can purchase the products I use.)

To be clear, I have a combination of a few oils I use — olive oil is pretty common and you may remember my seeing some olive oil be pressed a few years ago. But I also have used a variety of cottonseed oils that many would find unusual.

Last year, I shared a recipe for a tortilla soup I make in my Instant Pot and casually mentioned that I used a cilantro cottonseed oil. However, I have to confess, I more commonly use the shallot version but also really like several other flavors.

Why cottonseed oil?

There are lots of choices in terms of cooking oils and they all have reasons to use them.

• Flavor — I love the flavor of really good olive oil and use it with a range of the things I make — especially things like hummus, salads, etc. One of the things I love about cottonseed oil is it doesn’t really have a flavor. It seems to take on flavors of the things it is cooking or mixed with.
• Flexibility — Cottonseed oil makes a great oil for frying since it cholesterol free, has a high flashpoint so sauteeing goes well without the oil changing its profile and it is great on salads too — especially some of the flavored oils! Love that Acala Farms, the company that makes the oils I use, has a variety of suggested recipes using cottonseed oil.
• Long history of safe use — I appreciate that cottonseed oil has a long tradition of use, especially in areas of the world where cotton is grown. After all, it is one of the primary uses of cottonseed. The oil doesn’t contain the gossypol I mentioned in a recent post on the effort to create edible cottonseed.

If none of those reasons are enough, then let me add lots of prominent chefs and restaurants use it — my beloved Cafe du Monde beignets are fried up in it!

Cottonseed Oil on the Menu!

I had a chance to taste several of these cottonseed oils thanks to Tom Wedegaertner (@CottonTom) and some of the team at Cotton Incorporated. I’ve been there with my day job to speak to farmers and found the dinner included a range of flavors! Appreciate the Cotton Inc team for working with catering staff to get me thinking about the many ways I can use the oils at home! I have made that happen.

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With grain crops like corn, soybeans and rice, the seed product is the primary commodity you sell. While that’s an everyday realization to farmers, sometimes consumers like myself have to pause to think about that. Yes, the beans we are eating are seeds as are the kernels of corn we are munching on. Well, cotton definitely differs.

Cottonseed are one of the parts of the cotton boll harvested in the picker and once the gin separates the seed from the lint there are a few options for what to do with it. I’ll walk through a few.

Livestock Feed — This one has been mentioned in the blog post that Kathy Swift, DVM wrote on what cattle eat. But I wanted to be sure I didn’t forget it. The seed is a source of good protein I understand. The seed isn’t fed to some other animals due to basic biology. The cotton plant and it seed includes gossypol, a naturally-occurring substance that is difficult for humans and other species with a simple stomach to digest so its fed only to ruminants. You can also feed the hull or meal from seeds to livestock.

Cottonseed Cooking Oil — Trucks from cotton gins frequently head to the press where cottonseed oil is produced. While very few consumers are familiar with cotton seed oil, as vegetable oils or canola oil tend to get the grocery store shelf space, cottonseed oil is something many chefs use.  It is probably one of the oldest oils in the South (according to the cottonseed oil facts) and offers a transfat free healthy oil.  One of the South’s treasures, Cafe duMonde in New Orleans uses cottonseed oil to fry up there famous beignets! You can read that and other tips from them on their website!

Planting Seed — In the US and most of the developed cotton-growing world, this is not a primary use of cottonseed. Yields have continued to grow due to advances in genetics and technology.  Some cotton gins and farmers are contracted to grow cotton seed for replanting in the subsequent season though and this provides a premium above the commodity seed price as they have some specific practices to employ to reduce the potential of outcrossing. (Cotton Trivia: cottonseed is the commodity vs cotton seed is used for planting seed that is preserved by

Land farming — A few times I’ve heard farmers talk about using cottonseed that was no longer viability for planting land farmed as it returns a lot of nutrients to the soil and helps rebuild. 

Personal Products — I don’t have a lot of connection with this first-had but I understand cottonseed oil can be cold-pressed to extract the finest quality of oil for use in cosmetics. According to e-how, “cottonseed oil has health benefits for the skin because it has a 50 percent omega-6 fatty acid content and is rich in natural antioxidants. The use of cottonseed oil in lotions will leave a smooth, silky feeling that will absorb into the skin and leave it well-moisturized.”

I’ve really enjoyed starting this cotton 101 series on my blog. I started with harvest and will keep going for a while! You can click on the linked photo to get to the list of posts on the subject.

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