Hand-cranked oil press
$199.95
Lehmans.com
For the last five years, we’ve been bombarded with information about oils. Oils that contain monosaturated fats are supposed to be good for you, as are oils containing polyunsaturated fats, whereas hydrogenated oils are bad. But then some people have special allergies that force them to rule out all but the most highly refined oils. It’s getting so confusing that you might despair. How does one get just the right kind of cooking oil for one’s purposes? We saw a gizmo that, for the die-hard do-it-yourselfer, would be a boon. It’s a hand-cranked oil press, and it’s available from those purveyors of all things non-electric, Lehman’s. Some say that freshly pressed oils have complexity that off-the-shelf oil can’t match, even arguing that fresh, homemade cooking oil is better for you. We don’t know for sure, but if you really wanted to make your own oil — be it from sesame, safflower, sunflower seeds, canola, hazelnut, pumpkin seeds and more — this seems to be the only home-sized, hand-cranked oil mill on the market.
