Does blending oil (for vegan butter) make hydrogenated oil?

Question

I recently figured out the recipe for garlic vegan butter which is made primarily by roasting garlic, then whipping it in a blender with coconut and olive oil, and cooling in the refrigerator. It's delicious, textured similarly to butter and, as far as I know, not terribly unhealthy.

Then my father mentioned to me that that is similar to the process of making hydrogenated oils. I DO remember once reading something about whipping oil being a bad idea. Is that true? Am I basically just quaffing hydrogenated fats?

Answer 1

Oil is hydrogenated by bubbling hydrogen through it at high temperature (on the order of 400 to 500 degrees F), in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel.

Air is 0.00005% hydrogen, you are probably not using temperatures high enough, nor doing it for a significantly long period of time, nor having an appropriate catalyst present. The amount of hydrogenation introduced via this recipe is somewhere between none and vanishingly small.

However, coconut oil itself is about 92% saturated fat--which means the fats are naturally saturated with hydrogen. While a natural saturated fat, not a manufactured one, coconut oil is saturated.

If your recipe is delicious and you enjoy it, eat up in moderation like anything else (chocolate excepted). :-)