Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees which are native to Africa. Two types of oil can be produced; crude palm oil comes from squeezing the fleshy fruit, and palm kernel oil which comes from crushing the kernel, or the stone in the middle of the fruit. 
 
Palm oil is in nearly everything – it’s in close to 50% of the packaged products we find in supermarkets, everything from pizza, doughnuts and chocolate, to deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste and lipstick.

Palm oil is an extremely versatile oil that makes it very useful. It is in nearly everything – found in about 50% of the packaged products you can find in supermarkets (i.e. pizza, doughnuts, chocolate, deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste and lipstick). It is semi-solid at room temperature and stable at high temperatures so that fried products have a crispy and crunchy texture. It is also resistant to oxidation so it has a longer shelf-life.
 
In African countries, palm oil is primarily used as a cooking oil, just like we might use olive oil here in the US.