Cottonseed oil

For well-refined cottonseed oil the smoke point is approximately 232 °C. The flash point is cottonseed oil is generally about 343 °C. The specific gravity of cottonseed salad oil is about 0.1917.

Crude cottonseed oil is derived mainly from the seeds of Gossypium hirsutum L. (American) or G. barbadense (Egyptian) varieties of cotton. Cottonseed oil is removed from the seed either by mechanical screw presses by solvent extraction or by a combination of both.

More that 2% of crude cottonseed oils is made up of gossypol, phospholipids, tocopherols, sterols, resins, carbohydrates and related pigments. Cottonseed oil has a relatively complex system of gossypol-type pigments (o.1 to 0.2%) of crude cottonseed oil.

The principle use of cottonseed oil in the United States is in salad and cooking oils. It is also used in shortening, margarine and mellorine - a frozen dessert that comparable to ice cream in appearance and nutritive value.
Cottonseed oil