Topic: Rapeseed Oil

[madeinbeats]

Was watching latenight QCV last night (don't ask) and they were flogging some food stuffs on there. The chef guy mentioned rapeseed oil and basically implied it was even better for you than olive oil and contains half the amount of saturated fat over olive. Contains much more vitamin E, and EFA etc etc...

Anyone use it or know anything about it's supposed advantages ? Just interested to know...

[PaulP]

Here you go:

http://www.truthaboutabs.com/the-canola-oil-deception.html

Depends what you believe really but I wouldn't buy it myself.

Cheers,

Paul

[Peripatetic Phil]

Was watching latenight QCV last night (don't ask) and they were flogging some food stuffs on there. The chef guy mentioned rapeseed oil and basically implied it was even better for you than olive oil and contains half the amount of saturated fat over olive. Contains much more vitamin E, and EFA etc etc...  Anyone use it or know anything about it's supposed advantages ? Just interested to know...

Rapeseed oil is often the oil used in the generically-labelled "vegetable oil"s : for example, I have in front of me as I write a 3L bottle of "Tesco Pure Vegetable Oil" which on reading the small print turns out to be rapeseed oil.  I use this for chips, papaddum, deep-fried fish, and anything else that needs deep oil, and also decant 500mL into a small container which I use for curries, shallow frying, and virtually anything else that doesn't require a specialist oil.  I try to stick to grape seed, rice bran or groundnut oil for Chinese stir fries, but if I have run out of these will happily substitute Tesco's generic and can probably not tell the difference.  And of course, being "bulk vegetable oil", it is also dirt cheap.

On the other hand, I attended a ploughing match recently where single-crop organic cold-pressed rapeseed oil was being sold, and they were asking  GBP 5-00 and upwards for just 500mL.

So you can get rapeseed oil for about GBP 1-00/L ("Tesco pure vegetable oil") and rapeseed oil for at least GBP 10-00/L ("XXX single-crop cold-pressed organic rapeseed oil").  Whether you (or I, or anyone else) can taste the difference, I have no idea, but I'm not willing to spend GBP 10-00/L just to find out !

** Phil.

[madeinbeats]

The Daily Mail gives it 9/10 and olive 8/10 in terms of health! After 30 mins research I've discovered that coconut oil is both the healthiest and the most unhealthy!?!?!?! I am well confused!!!

I remember reading in the Daily Express once that orange juice is healthy for you, and then the very next day I think it was, they printed a story saying the total opposite .

[PaulP]

Like I say it depends what you believe:

http://newfoodview.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/whats-the-deal-with-vegetable-oil/

I think for making a curry you would be ok with rapeseed oil. Using rapeseed oil in a deep fat frier might not be such a good idea due the polyunsaturated content of the oil changing into something much more unhealthy as the oil is reused again and again. Food for thought I guess! One thing is for sure though - the claptrap they told us to get off butter and onto margarine decades ago was a mistake. Those old-fashioned margarines were much worse for us than butter. (re Trans fats and hydrogenated oils in margarine)

Regarding coconut oil (unprocessed) the traditional viewpoint is that it is saturated therefore it must be bad. This viewpoint, IMHO, is probably completely wrong.

Paul

[Peripatetic Phil]

The Daily Mail gives it 9/10 and olive 8/10 in terms of health! After 30 mins research I've discovered that coconut oil is both the healthiest and the most unhealthy!?!?!?! I am well confused!!!

I remember reading in the Daily Express once that orange juice is healthy for you, and then the very next day I think it was, they printed a story saying the total opposite .

Taylor's axiom : if it tastes good, it is good for you; if it tastes foul, avoid it like the plague.  And if it has no flavour at all, it is either wallpaper paste or a health food -- best to avoid both.

** Phil.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Using rapeseed oil in a deep fat frier might not be such a good idea due the polyunsaturated content of the oil changing into something much more unhealthy as the oil is reused again and again.

Tesco do advise "Use for deep frying only 2--3 times, then discard".  Of course, we take no notice of this, but the advice is there.
** Phil.

[madeinbeats]

Well, I think the difference here is that science doesn't recommend saturated fats, but, the saturated fat in coconut oil is plant based, which is a massive difference.

I've been reading the comments here, as I think on this one you are forced to look at personal experience by way of ascertaining a more definitive answer.

http://www.dietriffic.com/2007/10/05/coconut-oil-good-bad-or-ugly/

Reading the comments on this page of people's personal experiences, then I would say I am going to try coconut oil. I have a small amount of weight to lose so let's see what happens.

It is absolutely disgusting how corporation seems to have a massive say in what's good and bad for us based on nothing more than their profits just like the pharmaceutical industry.

Basically, I believe they are largely to blame for the broken and devastated society that lays beneath when you scratch the mask of happiness of iPhones and designer label vanity. Greed. (I'm going to say this last bit to the shop assistant when I buy some coconut oil)

[976bar]

It has been the only oil I have used for the past 4-5 years since discovering it. It has better properties than Olive Oil, and it doesn't have such a strong taste, which makes it great for Indian Cooking

I would now not use any other oil except for the new spiced oil from chalice which I wrote about on here a couple of weeks ago, which I use for base sauces, which has changed my base sauce completely to another level

[loveitspicy]

Any vegetable, rapeseed oil is great for curries - Hell we use palm oil as well as do the Indians. I've seen coconut oil used too!

I would never use Olive Oil for curries only salad dressings - mind you its too expensive out here

best, Rich