Rapeseed oil

[Christine1976]

I bought a bottle of rapeseed oil recently and the taste is better than what I expected. I know not many people using this kind of oil and most restaurants using olive oil or other vegetable oil. Really want to know other ideas and opinions about rapeseed oil.

 

[Josie1945]

Hi Christine,
I can't help you with the rapeseed oil, Someone will come
along shortly to help.
I wanted to welcome you to DC.

Josie

 

[no mayonnaise]

No means no!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Canola oil is refined rapeseed oil. To be edible, the oil has to be highly refined, as it is inedible, even dangerous before that stage. It comes from the rapeseed plant, which was used to make mustard gas in WW1. In some circles, canola oil is highly controversial as to whether it is a healthy oil or not.

Me, I'll stick to nut oils, ollive oil, and sunflower oil.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[CWS4322]

Welcome to DC! I tend to not eat either canola or rapeseed...I stick with the nut oils as well. I also like to use Avocado oil when dressing salads and almond oil (which I also use on my skin--ditto for coconut oil). I also like grapeseed oil. Since joining DC, I've upped my inventory of oils and vinegars!

 

[Alix]

I use canola oil almost exclusively to cook with. (As do many other Canadians I know) It has a higher smoke point than olive oil (which is the other oil I use) so its better to cook with. Its plentiful and cheaper here than most other oils.

I have never encountered anyone touting canola as being unsafe to use until I came to DC. According to all the research I've done on the net and with the Aggies I know, canola is not only safe to use but healthful as well.

And I know there are lots of folks who are going to freak out and jump all over that statement, so please do some of your own research and make sure the sources you check are reputable. There are some notable papers written whose credibility is somewhat less than stellar.

Commence canola argument! (Sorry Mods)

 

[CraigC]

We use canola oil. Never heard any negative issues with it. If there were serious concerns, I would think the serveral companies selling it would not want the liability associated with it. All bets are off if the brand is processed in China.

 

[Mel!]

I think, that oil can be used in all the ways olive oil can. It is good. I almost always have a bottle of it, in the kitchen.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I use grapeseed, canola and olive oils. I even have a special bottle of grapeseed oil in the bathroom as a skin moisturizer.

Grapeseed if I want a light oil, for stir-fries and such.

Canola for regular frying.

Olive oil if I don't mind the flavor in what I am cooking, usually not at a frying temp.

 

[Andy M.]

...And I know there are lots of folks who are going to freak out and jump all over that statement, so please do some of your own research and make sure the sources you check are reputable. There are some notable papers written whose credibility is somewhat less than stellar.

Commence canola argument! (Sorry Mods)

I don't use canola oil. Canola is a perfectly safe oil. That's not the issue. Often, when I'm using it to sauté or fry, I get a fishy smell I don't care for. Especially when there is no fish involved in the meal.

I stri-fry with peanut oil. Corn oil is what I use for high heat or when it really doesn't matter what oil I use as it's cheap and has a high smoke point. Olive oil for the usual olive oil uses.

 

[Dawgluver]

Canola, corn, olive oils are what I use. Canola is my go-to. I haven't noticed any fishiness. Then there's always butter! Peanut oil is hard to find around here, I have no idea why.

 

[Andy M.]

Canola, corn, olive oils are what I use. Canola is my go-to. I haven't noticed any fishiness. Then there's always butter! Peanut oil is hard to find around here, I have no idea why.

I buy Asian peanut oil and use it for stir-frys. Asian peanut oil has a noticeable smell of peanuts when you open the bottle. Domestic peanut oils are more highly refined and have no smell or taste of peanuts.

 

[bakechef]

I've heard about the fishy smell from canola, but have never experienced it, and I am sensitive to that smell, because I really dislike fish. I use a store brand of canola.

I am waiting for the day that I get that bottle of canola, that will gross me out. We use canola for frying at work and that doesn't smell either (it's treated for stability, maybe that's why).

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I buy Asian peanut oil and use it for stir-frys. Asian peanut oil has a noticeable smell of peanuts when you open the bottle. Domestic peanut oils are more highly refined and have no smell or taste of peanuts.

That's an interesting observation. I suspect there are times when you'd want peanut smell/taste and other times you would not. Is it possible that some peanut oils are toasted to a greater degree, like toasted sesame oil?

It's interesting that Asians often call peanuts ground nuts, because in fact they are not true nuts but rather they are legumes. I suspect this makes peanuts and peanut oil rather unusual of all the varieties of oils.

Rapeseed is interesting because it is in the Brassica family, along with cabbages and mustards, and many of my other favorite vegetables (and maybe yours too).

Rapeseed needs significant processing (and some selective breeding/genetics) to be palatable. According to Wikipedia the rename of rapeseed to canola comes from an abbreviation: Canadian Oilseed, Low-Acid: Canola, originally a trademark but now a generic term.

Canola used to be my "go to" oil when I wasn't using EVOO or cooking at high temperature (in which case I've preferred peanut oil). I've been somewhat put off by recent discussions that Canola may be unhealthy, but I haven't found any scientific basis to support this.

 

[Andy M.]

...I've been somewhat put off by recent discussions that Canola may be unhealthy, but I haven't found any scientific basis to support this.

I haven't found any either. The sites I've visited struck me as being funded by the corn oil lobby or some similar agribusiness.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I haven't found any either. The sites I've visited struck me as being funded by the corn oil lobby or some similar agribusiness.

Wow! The same people who popularized High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) for which I've seen a lot of science based articles that suggest that HFCS is a very bad thing for humans to consume.

It would be despicable if the corn special interests were steering us away from canola and toward corn products, just to improve their profit line, and no matter what health cost to us.

Only a very cynical person would believe that. Like me for example.

 

[GLC]

I haven't gone into it deeply, but my impression is that newer culinary cultivars have made it possible to offer cold-pressed rapeseed oil. And it seems to be having its fashionable day, in spite of odd flavors, being used in other than heating ways, such as mayo. And I gather that it's like a few other things where different people describe the odor differently. (Cilantro, for example.)

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I think I'll continue to back off of Canola, and rely instead upon EVOO, peanut oil, and a few I want to experiment with, particularly Avocado oil. I'm not sure what I should pick for a general purpose deep frying (cheap) oil, to be used once or twice and disposed of. In the last few years Canola has been my cheap/disposable oil.

 

[Andy M.]

I think I'll continue to back off of Canola, and rely instead upon EVOO, peanut oil, and a few I want to experiment with, particularly Avocado oil. I'm not sure what I should pick for a general purpose deep frying (cheap) oil, to be used once or twice and disposed of. In the last few years Canola has been my cheap/disposable oil.

I use corn oil for deep frying.

 

[buckytom]

i love to ask kids "if peanut oil comes from crushing peanuts, and olive oil comes from pressing olives, where does baby oil come from"?