Rapeseed Oil

Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils, pressed from the seeds of plants in the Brassicaceae, or mustard, family and used in both edible and industrial forms. Traditional rapeseed oil contains substantial amounts of erucic acid, and for centuries in Europe it was used more for lighting than for food, burning in oil lamps from at least the thirteenth century and later fueling the trainpot lamps used on British railways before electric lighting took over. The low-erucic-acid canola cultivars developed in Canada in the mid-1970s were bred specifically to make rapeseed oil safe and palatable for widespread food use, but the traditional higher-erucic-acid oil remains a distinct product still produced for industrial and some culinary purposes in parts of the world.