Chef’s corner

This section has been specifically developed for chefs, after all you’re the ones that use our product and experience our service on a daily basis. We understand that you spend most of your time in a kitchen preparing good food and may not have the time to fully explore all aspects of our website and all its different sections.

In this area you’ll be able to learn more about Frylite, our oils, our service and the various products and innovations we’ve brought to the market place in partnership with yourselves.

We’ve kept each section purposefully brief to give you the raw information on which you can base your decisions. If you require more information - remember we’re at the end of the telephone line and we’d be more than happy to come out and visit you at your premises if you wish to talk further or have any unanswered questions.

Frylite - What we do

We offer a fresh vegetable oil supply and waste oil collection service.
We offer 3 healthy vegetable oils - soyabean, rapeseed and sunflower oil and a premium range of Italian olive oils - an Extra virgin and a pomace olive oil.
We supply and collect in tandem on a weekly basis, so there is no need to call or place an order as we turn up and deliver what you need and collect what you’ve used.
Oil is delivered in 20 litre plastic buckets or we can install a tank depending on how much oil you use. Both are free of charge and come as part of the overall service. This format cuts down on your waste and disposal costs, is better for the environment and our bucket system allows you to see that you’ve used all the oil you’ve bought.
This waste oil is then further processed and recycled which is better for the environment.

Our pedigree

Frylite have been in business for 21 years this year, the focus of what we do has not changed- simply oil supply and waste oil collection.
We are food business not a fuel company, we enjoy what we do and we do it well. We have seen many businesses come and go and have stood the test of time by keeping our customers happy. We are in the business for the long term; we have no interest in how much oil you use as we don’t make our money from bio diesel. We are more interested in supplying you with a fresh and high quality oil that will give you better cooking results and a longer frying life.

Our standards

We are very conscious of product quality, hygiene and operate to the highest levels of best practice. Oil is checked in our lab for freshness before being despatched to the customer. We offer full traceability and strictly follow the principles of HACCP. We have Grade “A” classification in the British Retail Consortium Global standard - Food, Issue 4 and have achieved the sapphire award from Hygiene Ireland.

We operate on a nationwide basis and are licenced to collect and dispose of your waste oil wherever you are in the country. We are happy to provide you with our HACCP and waste collection certificates for your files.

Changes in the law

From October 2004 new laws came in to effect under the Animal By- products regulation EC 1774/2002 (ABPR) which meant that waste cooking oil from catering premises could no longer be used as an ingredient in animal feed and anyone who consigned their waste cooking oil to an animal feed operation was committing an offence and would be prosecuted.

Frylite - a food company not a fuel company

As a result of this new legislation a substantial shake out of the industry

occurred and many collectors left the market as the sales opportunities previously available to them from the feeds industry were removed.

More recently in the wake of rising fuel prices and a concern with green issues and the environment a lot of new entrants entered the market again, attracted by the opportunity of making money from collecting and then selling Used Cooking Oil to make bio diesel which was touted as “the next big thing”. Again changes have taken place in that industry and with dropping bio diesel prices it will be interesting to see whether another shake out will take place again. Who then will collect your oil?

Unlike other organisations Frylite are not motivated by collecting your Used Cooking Oil to make fuels. We are a food company and have demonstrated loyalty to the sector that we’ve work with over the past twenty one years.

We are confident that we will be able to offer you continuing high levels of service, regardless of any further “gold rushes” that may take place.

This law - how it affects you - and how we can help

Your oil must be stored properly- we provide sturdy recyclable plastic buckets.
You should make sure that none is spilt- which is why our weekly collection service keeps thing clean and reduces the potential for accidents.
You have a duty of care to ensure your oil is collected by an authorised collector who will take your waste to an authorised site for recovery and disposal. We have made significant investments in our network of nationwide depots to ensure that your oil is disposed of correctly, legally and in a manner that doesn’t cause pollution or harm to health.
Local authority inspectors have been asked to check what catering premises are doing with their waste oil - Frylite are registered to collect, handle and dispose of your waste by every local authority in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and we can provide you with documents which will not only give you piece of mind but will also demonstrate that you take your duty of care seriously by providing your waste oil to a company which is a leader in its field.

Vegetable oils - an introduction

Vegetable oils are a group of fats derived from seeds, nuts, cereal grains and some fruits. There are different varieties of edible fats which include:

Soyabean
Rapeseed
Sunflower
Cotton
Cacao (Cocoa Bean)
Palm (Palm Kernel)
Coconut
Peanut

The crops that are grown to produce these oils are grown all over the world with many developing economies relying on them for the economic growth and development. Of the oils we sell -Rapeseed is produced throughout the EU, Russia and Canada, Soyabean in North and South America and Sunflower in the EU and throughout Asia Pacific. All these oils are inedible in their natural state and are refined in a process involving degumming, neutralisation, water washing, drying, bleaching, filtration and deodourisation before they are fit for human consumption.

Maintaining consistent product quality

The quality of the work undertaken at the refinery is critical to oil quality and Frylite throughout its years in business have developed a close relationship with the world’s leading refinery - confident in the knowledge that our customers want and expect the highest quality oils available in the world today.

It has to be said that this is not standard industry practice and other sellers in the market today base their buying on where they can get the best deal at that particular time, using various suppliers and middlemen, potentially compromising product quality and consistency of supply.

From Refinery to Fryer

The refinery where the oil is made is crucial and so to get good quality oil you have to use a good quality refinery. As soon as all oils are produced they naturally start to deteriorate so freshness and getting it to the customer quickly is vitally important. As the largest oil supplier in the country, with tankers arriving from the continent on a daily basis, we turnaround our oil very quickly getting it to the customer and in to their fryers much quicker than others who may sell oil bought from warehouses in who knows where, who knows when. To maintain product quality we test every tanker of oil we receive at our head office, carrying out a Free fatty acid test (FFA) and Peroxide Value (PV test) in our in house lab. It is only then, when we are fully satisfied that the oil meets our stringent quality standards, that we release it in to our holding tanks. It is then delivered to our customers. Also samples of all the tankers of oil we receive are taken and held for a period of 3 months allowing full traceability.

What to look for to check your vegetable oil is of the right quality

The ultimate objective of any refined oil is that it is flavourless allowing the true flavour of the food being cooked to flow through. To ensure your oil is of a top quality it should be

Of an almost completely bland flavour
Free from odour
Pale yellow and virtually colourless
Completely clear and bright.
No haziness or foreign bodies

Undesirable flavours

Different oils can display undesirable characteristics specific to a particular type of oil - for example rapeseed oil can develop a grassy flavour- soya oil a beany flavour and lauric oils like palm kernel or coconut a soapy flavour. More general attributes include rancidity.

Rancidity can be detected through a flavour change in the early stages followed by an aroma change which takes place later.

Off flavours in your oil can be produced by:

Rising temperatures- 10 degrees doubles the oxidisation rate.
Light- particularly violet or UV light but also natural light.
The presence of oxygen and oil being exposed to the air
The level of oil unsaturation
The presence of old oil in storage tanks, fryers

Storage and Handling

To ensure your oil remains in tip top condition ensure you:

Keep it cool
Out of the light
Avoid exposure to the air
Use within its shelf life

Brief history of Frying

Goes back to at least 1600 BC
Romans referred to it as “boiling in oil”
In 1853 George Crum invented the first potato crisp
Served as an accompaniment to restaurant food
In 1929 the first continuous fryer was invented by the JD ferry company
Other par fried products followed quickly
During WW2 Smiths crisps were the only company in the UK allowed to continue producing crisps owing to food shortages and the only oil available was teaseed oil.

The purpose of frying is to

Reduce moisture content
Allow efficient heat transfer
Increase oil content
Impart flavour, texture and colour

Frylite’s different oils

Soyabean

Is an inexpensive healthy oil with a high smoke point
Contains higher levels of polyunsaturated fats than other oils
Is a rich source of vitamin E which can reduce the risk of heart disease

Rapeseed oil

Has a neutral flavour
Contains higher levels of mono- unsaturated fats shown to reduce blood cholesterol levels
Is a rich source of vitamin E and is 7 % lower in saturated fats than any other oil

Sunflower oil

Has a neutral flavour and aroma
This pale yellow oil is extracted from sunflower seeds
Is high in polyunsaturated fats and low in saturates
It has a relatively low smoke point

Extra Virgin olive oil

Extra Virgin is called the king of olive oils; it is the highest quality classification of olive oil.
It is characterised by its outstanding fruity taste and low acidity. It is a totally natural and unrefined product made from 100 % pure olive fruit juice.
Cremonini’s extra virgin olive oil is produced from the first cold press of the olives and no heat is applied during the extraction process which can damage the unique flavour and aroma that extra virgin olive oils are often prized for.
Cremonini’s extra virgin olive oil can be used as a flavouring in its own right and is an ideal accompaniment to cooked food. It can also be used for sauces, marinades and mayonnaises. It is delicious drizzled on salad leaves, pasta or fresh crusty bread.

Pomace oil

Pomace olive oil is a versatile all rounder and allows a busy chef to bring a taste of the Mediterranean to their cooking.
An economical oil, it is often the best oil to cook with as many of the delicate flavours, tastes and aromas of an extra virgin olive oil can be lost during the cooking process.
It is made by extracting the residual oil from the olive press cake. It is then carefully refined and combined with Extra Virgin olive oil.
Cholesterol free and high in vitamins E and A, pomace oil can replace traditional oils in your dishes in a healthy and delicious way and is ideal for frying, cooking, baking as well as using it for a range of dressings and even mayonnaises.

Nutritional profiles of oils

Different oils contain differing levels of fats- saturates, monounsaturates and polyunsaturates.
Broadly speaking saturated fats like lard are the least healthy leading to obesity and coronary heart disease. Vegetable oils like soya bean, rapeseed and sunflower are healthier owing to the higher levels of monounsaturates and polyunsaturates and anti-oxidants.
Hydrogenated oils, which is a chemical process applied to turn oil from a liquid into a semi solid fat to prolong its frying life are also very unhealthy due to their high levels of transfats and their use has been banned in many countries. Since our inception we have made a concerted effort not to sell these oils to our customers. We have also made strident efforts to educate our customers and the general public about the healthier oils available on the market.

The key challenges facing any chef today is to

Eliminate transfats
Reduce saturated fats
Reduce oil absorption
Create products that taste nice

Typical absorption rates for fried foods

Crisps 30-40%
Chips 5-10%
Fish 10-15%
Doughnuts 15-20%

Temperature ranges in some fried foods

Frozen chips 180-190
Frozen Fish 190-210
Doughnuts 175-185

Extending the frying life of your oil

Excessive temperatures and product throughput put a massive strain on your oil. Frying life can be extended by employing the following processes.

Temperature control
Reducing moisture content
Reducing or eliminating down time or idling
Good fryer cleaning schedules
Filtration

Particulate build up

Carbonised particles create oxidisation of oil reducing its life. These

Will vary in quantity depending on food type
Will carbonise and darken frying oil
Will lead to premature smoking
Can give off scorched or burnt flavours
Can be a fire hazard

We hope the Chefs Corner has given you a good overview of the sector in which we work, how we do business and how we may be able to help you. We are always interested in your opinions and views and if you would like to talk to us, simply pick up the phone and call us on 00 44 (0) 28 71 383133 or send an email thorough to info@frylite.com.