Article by: Tyler Linwood
What is palm oil?
You may or may not be familiar with the name, but chances are that you're more familiar with this versatile product than you know. Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of the oil palm tree. In fact, it is the most commonly produced vegetable oil in the world. The reasons for this include:
- It is a relatively healthy form of fat to use in processed foods
- It is relatively cheap to produce
- The oil palm tree is highly productive compared to other oil producing plants.
Oil palm trees are native to Africa but were brought to southeastern Asia in the 19th century. Now, Indonesia and Malaysia are the two largest producers of palm oil, and together account for 85% of the world's palm oil supply.
What products commonly contain palm oil?
Read more, including what you can do, after the jump.