Vegetable oil

[sinnoc00]

Which vegetables are squeezed to get vegetable oil ?

[Rosie.]

As far as I know, vegetable oil just means that it isn't derived from an animal - but doesn't necessarily come from a vegetable - some oil branded 'vegetable' is made from the seeds of a yellow flower which when crushed makes rapeseed oil.

[osprey]

Old joke I know but I still find it funny - what do you squeeze to make baby oil?

[Love-Lee]

Must confess I have no idea, although it's not from an animal as that would make it a Saturated fat. Right? or not?

[nickmo]

Or if you want a specific examples - corn or maize oil

Others if you want to be pedantic such as avocado , peanut, grape seed, mustard seed, pumpkin seed and olive are from pressing either fruits of the plants or derived from pressings of the seeds of the fruit, and there are then others like saff-flower or sunflower oil from the seeds, not from a fruiting body, and then also nut oils like walnut, hazelnut etc. from the pressing of the kernels of the nuts.

'Vegetable oil' alone is a blend and could include groundnut, safflower or any other vegetable derived - as opposed to animal derived - oil.

There are different properties that certain oils lend themselves to - stability at higher temperature, flavouring, carrier oils for other infusions and so on, so always use the best for the job.

[sinnoc00]

Yeah, I think it is poly-unsaturated - definitely not saturated. Why's it called "vegetable oil" then if it's made from rapeseed flowers ?? I always thought that was called "rapeseed oil". I mean, you get "sunflower oil" from sunflowers don't you !

[sinnoc00]

Thanks nickmo - so basically "vegetable oil" is like a generic name for non-animal derived oil then ! Nice one !

[nickmo]

Glad to help - and just a comment ref. rapesed oil - there is an 'extra virgin rape seed oil' as a gourmet product - have a look at Graig Farms info here: http://www.graigfarm.co.uk/grocoils.htm for a bit more about the uses of certain oils, if you have a few mins.

[Clanad]

As a somewhat pedantic addition to nickmo's post; rapeseed oil was found difficult to market here in the U.S. (and Canada) until the it was advertised as Canola, short for Canada Oil and has, since, done very well. Some credit the name change from rapeseed oil alone as being responsible, however, there's been a lot of controversey about the safety of rapeseed oil since it is derived from varieties of seeds from mustard plants, which have been found to have some detrimental properties...

[nickmo]

And to add - clanad is right in the comment re the variety of rapeseed used - un-treated rapeseed oil is actually 'mildly toxic', but you can happily eat the leaves of the plant - as a member of the brassica family i.e. its a wacky cabbage . !

Rapeseed oil is also added to mineral oil to make bio-deisel.

And a lot of the controversy about rapeseed stems from the involvement of Monsanto and their development of GM rapeseed. That opens the door to a whole load of other opinions. . .

[heathfield]

Personally, I avoid products containing rapeseed oil whenever possible for the reasons mentioned. Deer are attracted by it, yet it's poisonous to them. Bees are attracted to it too, but the nectar causes the honey to crystallise in the comb. And many peopleI living near to the crop suffer from severe respiratory ailments when it's in flower. I feel there's something not right about that oil for human consumption. Its popularity stems from the fact that it can be grown in cooler climates (i.e. northern Europe) than most other oil-producing crops. (By the way, the oil comes from the pressed seeds - note that the flowers are long gone before it's harvested)