• Corn and vegetable oils are light yellow in color.bottle of oil image by Adrian Hillman from Fotolia.com
  
  Similar in fat and calorie content, corn and vegetable oils are more alike than different. Corn oil and vegetable oil are staple ingredients in most kitchens. Both oils are often found in mayonnaise, salad dressings and baked goods. Corn is a common ingredient in blended vegetable oils. Before buying cooking oil, read the label to know exactly what you are getting.
  
  

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil is made of canola, corn, cottonseed, olive, safflower, soybean, sesame, sunflower or a combination of any of these oils. The common bottle of vegetable oil found in U.S. grocery stores is soybean oil. Only 15 percent is a blend of other oils.
  
  Corn oil comes from the innermost part of a corn kernel called the germ. The germ is pressed to extract the oil. Before it becomes the light-yellow and neutral-smelling bottle of refined oil it is filtered, bleached and then cleaned. Field corn is used to produce corn oil rather than the sweet corn sold in the produce area of a grocery store. A medium ear of field corn contains about 3.5 more grams of fat than a medium ear of sweet corn.
  
  

Taste

• Vegetable oils made from soy are tasteless. When frying foods in soybean oil it will not interfere with the taste. Vegetable oils that contain sesame oil will have a slight nutty flavor that will flavor food when cooking. Corn oil is different in that it does have a mild flavor. It has a slight flavor of roasted corn that will add flavor to your final dish.
  
  

Smoke Point

• A smoke point is the highest temperature that oil can reach before it begins to smoke and become discolored. Once the oil begins to smoke it will smell burned as well as add a burnt taste to your food. Corn oil has a smoke point of 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Vegetable oil made of soybean also has a smoke point of 450 degrees. Vegetable oil differs from corn oil if it is blended with a vegetable oil that has a lower smoke point like canola or sesame.