I've been scouring the net for DIY spreadable butter recipes but nearly all of them use Canola oil, but all I've got available here is Vegetable Oil and Coconut Oil. What's worse is that none of them really seem to say anything about substituting either oil for spreadable butter.
Is there anything wrong with using either in a spreadable butter recipe?
UPDATE: So I probably should've mentioned that I was in the Philippines. That apparently makes a difference, as even the vegetable oil is actually coconut oil :-/. Palm oil and coconut oil seem to be all we have here.
I attempted it with the palm oil I had and while the softness was what i wanted the final product had a funny smell and a weird taste. I'm getting ready to try again.
Best Answer
In terms of spreadability, the real issue is the level of saturation.
Coconut oil is quite saturated (especially for a vegetable based lipid), and so it is far more solid at room temperature than most oils. (Cocoa butter would be another exception; it is quite hard at room temperature).
Generic vegetable oil, at least under US labeling laws, may contain any number of vegetable oils including corn, soy, rapeseed (canola) and so on—or even a mixture of any or all of these. They are all quite similar in the saturation and viscosity at room temperature, and so any of them should perform similarly in your butter application.
So go ahead and use the vegetable oil.