What Is a Misto Olive Oil Sprayer and How Do You Use It?

A Misto olive oil sprayer is a handy kitchen gadget that can help you to save money as well as eat healthier.

Are Commercial Cooking Sprays Healthy?

Over the years many home cooks have used nonstick cooking spray products like PAM or Baker's Joy to keep food from sticking in pans when cooking and baking. These products work very well but they can be expensive. In addition they work with the use of propellants.

While these propellants are deemed safe by the United States Food and Drug Administration, they contain 14% ethanol as well as other potentially harmful ingredients. In addition to the propellant they often use canola oil as the oil of choice. Some researchers and nutritionists have concerns about the safety of canola oil. You can read more about the other ingredients used in the patent held by Con Agra for cooking sprays.

It is important to take responsibility for the ingredients that you eat. Since not all ingredients are listed on the label of cooking sprays it make sense to use something that allows you to control what goes into your body.

Add the problem of all of the empty cans that get tossed into the landfills every day and you can see how these commercial products, although convenient, are not great for the environment or the human body.

An olive oil sprayer is a handy kitchen gadget that allows you to have the convenience of the cooking sprays without the potential hazards and environmental concerns.

Benefits of the Misto:

• It is easy to use.
• It is refillable.
• It is economical.
• It looks great on your counter.

Cons:

• You need to clean it often.
• It needs frequent pumping to get the spray out.
• It is made of aluminum, which some researchers feel may contribute to Alzheimer's.

A Misto olive oil sprayer is one of the least expensive sprayers on the market, costing about $10.00 USD. The company also makes a stainless steel version which retails at about $20.00 but avoids the concern of the aluminum.

If you want a little more beauty in your mister as well as some added functions check out the Prepara oil mister. It is about twice the price of the MISTO but it has some cool features that MISTO doesn’t have.

Benefits of the Prepara

• Glass bottom is safe for your health and allows you to see how much oil you have.
• You can add herbs, spices, peppers or garlic to your oil to make flavored oil.
• It has a filter in the top to keep pieces of the herbs from clogging the mister.
• The plastic used for the pump part is BPA free.

Cons:

• It is heavier than the MISTO
• You need to clean it.
• It takes a few pumps to get it going.

So, what's so fabulous about an olive oil sprayer?

Well, for one you can put a thin layer of oil on a pan for nonstick cooking rather than adding extra calories by pouring. You can also use it to oil your baking pans before you make cakes, although you might want to put a less flavorful oil in it for that (and definitely don't use your garlic flavored olive oil for your favorite angel food cake!)

More ideas for using a mister:

• If you bake bread you can use the sprayer to oil the top of the loaves as they are rising.
• You can spritz oil on your salad and then dribble vinegar over it (try raspberry vinegar) for a low cal dressing.
• You can even add the vinegar and oil together in the sprayer for a spray on salad dressing just like in the stores.
• Brushing breads or meats with oil before grilling is simple and you use a lot less.

Just remember that because your sprayer does not have unhealthy propellants you will need to pump it several times in order to build up the pressure and get a good spray.

Cleaning Your Olive Oil Sprayer

Cleaning an olive oil sprayer, whether it is a MISTO or another type is simple. Most sprayers have instructions included.

1. Fill halfway with hot tap water.
2. Add a drop of dish soap and shake vigorously. Do not add too much or you will have soap flavored olive oil.
3. Pump it about 20 times and allow it to spray for several seconds.
4. Let the soapy water sit in the sprayer overnight to break down oils.
5. Rinse with hot water several times to ensure all the soap is gone.

You May Want More than One

Believe it or not, you may want to consider buying more than one sprayer so that you can have one for spraying baking pans and one for using flavored oil in. Compared to many kitchen gadgets they are inexpensive and you will find new ways of using yours whether you choose the MISTO or the Prepara oil sprayers.