But it also means its a food quality type of thing to avoid, which realistically is probably a better way to get to most people than the environment that they don’t seem to care about if it saves them even a single penny. Tell them it tastes worse.
Funnily enough palm oil is, in isolation, one of the more environmentally friendly oils (based on land and water use). This is probably in direct relation with it being cheap. Switching to other oils is still better because the deforestation of rain forest being so much worse overall, but the real solution as is so often the case has to be lower plant oil use in general.
If you want an oil that does not impact the taste, and that has specific melting properties at certain temperatures, then palm oil can be the correct choice. This is a quality of palm oil that few other oils have. It is neither inherently good nor bad, it is just a property you can select. If you actually want a certain taste by the oil itself, then don’t select palm oil.
Secondly, being cheap is nothing bad. It is, by itself, unrelated to quality. In fact, all else being equal, cheap ingredients should be preferred. We need to get away from the opinion that only expensive food is good. Price and quality are somewhat correlated, but this is not an absolute, and it most certainly is not a requirement.
Isn’t palm oil also cheap and tasteless in comparison to cocoa butter? So not only is it bad for the environment but it also just kinda sucks
Yes, which is part of why it’s in so many things.
But it also means its a food quality type of thing to avoid, which realistically is probably a better way to get to most people than the environment that they don’t seem to care about if it saves them even a single penny. Tell them it tastes worse.
Funnily enough palm oil is, in isolation, one of the more environmentally friendly oils (based on land and water use). This is probably in direct relation with it being cheap. Switching to other oils is still better because the deforestation of rain forest being so much worse overall, but the real solution as is so often the case has to be lower plant oil use in general.
I want to offer counter points.
If you want an oil that does not impact the taste, and that has specific melting properties at certain temperatures, then palm oil can be the correct choice. This is a quality of palm oil that few other oils have. It is neither inherently good nor bad, it is just a property you can select. If you actually want a certain taste by the oil itself, then don’t select palm oil.
Secondly, being cheap is nothing bad. It is, by itself, unrelated to quality. In fact, all else being equal, cheap ingredients should be preferred. We need to get away from the opinion that only expensive food is good. Price and quality are somewhat correlated, but this is not an absolute, and it most certainly is not a requirement.
I suppose it depends on the product, but if you are buying chocolate you want it to taste of chocolate, not nothing.