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Friday, February 25, 2011

Guess What’s In the Picture [Common Food]

By Fooducate

1. pepper corns
2. small furry animal poop
3. canola oil
4. none of the above

Answer below.

What you need to know:

The picture above is of rapeseeds. When crushed, these seeds produce canola oil.

Here are some more interesting facts:

1. Rapeseed is a bright yellow flowering plant from the Brassicaceae family which includes mustard and cabbage. The seeds grow about 20 to a pod, and are a fourth of the size of peas.

2. The plant has gone extensive breeding in the past 150 years. Originally it was very acidic and bitter tasting, and served as a machine lubricant in the 19th century.

3. Canada is where the transformation took place, and where huge tracts of land are utilized to cultivate rapeseed.

4. Convincing consumers to start cooking with a machine lubricant was not a simple task. A new name was devised – “Canadian Oil” or shorthand – “Canola”.

5. Today canola is the #3 vegetable oil globally, after soybean and palm oils.

6. With only 7% saturated fat and omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in a ratio of 2:1, canola is considered a heart healthy oil.

7. Similar to olive oil, “cold press” extraction is more expensive but yields the purest flavor and maintains the original nutrients. This process uses no chemicals and the oils is heated only up to about 150 degrees. Unfortunately most canola oil sold in supermarkets is not cold pressed.
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