Coconut Oil

From a reviled “artery-clogging, cholesterol-raising, heart-attack-causing” nutritional deviant to a reluctant health food enjoying double digit sales increases, coconut oil may just be your next cooking oil of choice if it isn’t already. Proponents claim that it possesses antimicrobial, antiviral, and antibacterial properties that could possibly rev up your metabolism, alleviate acne, and combat H.I.V. Health claims aside, we love coconut oil primarily for its intoxicatingly nutty and sweet flavor that turns nearly everything it touches into culinary gold.

Many credit coconut oil’s rapid change of face to the growing number of practicing vegans looking for a good substitute for butter. Coconut oil is widely used in fashioning vegan cupcakes, frosting, scones, brownies, and pies. It’s also delicious as a cooking oil, particularly for sautéing bitter greens, onions, and also for roasting sweet potatoes. Not to mention, it’s apparently rather divine drizzled over popcorn. [New York Times]