By Ginger Rowsey
Delta Farm Press
Cottonseed oil is a pretty common ingredient in processed foods — chips, crackers, snack cakes. It is also famously used to fry those beloved Café du Monde beignets that New Orleans visitors eagerly line up for.
With high-profile uses in foods that are better for the mood than the waistline, it may surprise some that in recent years, limited research has suggested cottonseed oil may impact human cholesterol levels more favorably than olive oil — which public opinion has long viewed as the premium choice for healthy cooking.