Abstract
The viscosity, density and specific gravity of different brands of cooking oil samples locally sourced for in Makurdi have been measured with respect to change in temperature. The viscosity of the different brands of cooking oil was measured with the instrumentality of Brookfield Viscometer. The density and specific gravity were evaluated using the mass of the sampled oil obtained with the help of the density bottle. The result showed a pattern of rapid decrease in viscosity with increase in temperature for the oil samples, while density decrease is observed to be almost linear with increase in temperature for all samples. Amongst the sampled cooking oils, palm kernel showed the least viscosity of 8.6 Pascal-second when measured at 45.200C. This illustrates that palm kernel oil has a relatively low viscous nature at 45.200C as compared to other samples used in this work but cannot be recommended to be used as lubricants in vehicles in place of gasoline because they have very low viscous nature within temperatures far less than 100 0C.
Highlights
Cooking oils are vital ingredients for preparing most of everyday food in many parts of the world and in particular, they are known to be rich sources of beneficial dietary nutrients that contribute to human health [1,2]
Ushie) cocoa-nut trees, groundnut and soybean plants are few examples of plants whose seeds and fruits can be processed in order to extract various kinds of cooking oils that are mostly consumed on daily basis in this part of the world
These plants are widely cultivated in different parts of the country of which Benue State being the Food Basket of the Nation [3,4] produces these on a high commercial scale [3]
Summary
Cooking oils are vital ingredients for preparing most of everyday food in many parts of the world and in particular, they are known to be rich sources of beneficial dietary nutrients that contribute to human health [1,2]. It has been demonstrated that free fatty acids, change of color, smoke point, iodine values, total polar materials, interfacial tension, density, cloud point, pour point, flash point, boiling range, freezing point, refractive index, foaming properties and viscosity are indicators used to determine the quality of cooking oils [13,14,15,16] This is to say that: frying of food may bring out the aroma, enhance the flavor and texture combination which is very desirable for consumption, making fried foods one of the most popular food products [17]. Especially temperature above the smoking point of the oil, will
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