Categories of Fats and Oils
You already know that fatty acids are the lipid-building blocks. It is customary to divide the fatty acids into different groups, e.g., saturated and unsaturated ones. Saturated meaning they have as many hydrogens bonded to their carbons as possible and unsaturated meaning with one or more double bonds connecting their carbons, hence, fewer hydrogens. This particular division is useful in food =technology because saturated fatty acids have a much higher melting point than the unsaturated ones, and the ratio of these fatty acids is of major importance for the physical properties of a fat or oil.