Inertial Invites on Nostr: Do you know why they call it "canola oil?" Ever heard of a canola before? What the ...

Do you know why they call it "canola oil?" Ever heard of a canola before? What the fuck even is a canola?

It's because no one would buy rapeseed oil. This is the unvarnished truth.

And the plant from whence canola oil cometh? It's a brassica. You know broccoli rabe? Yeah, "rabe" is a foreign version of the name, which comes from the Latin word for turnip, "rapa"...

Because brassica napus is also, when cultivated for its root, the rutabaga, and comes from a cross between brassica oleracea (the cabbage among many other things) and brassica rapa (there's that turnip name again, because it's the turnip). Brassica is also mustard, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, watercress, radishes, bok choy, and about every other goddamn vegetable that isn't a nightshade.

"Canola" is actually the combination of "Canada" where the variety was developed, and "ola" for "oil." Canola is a special type of rapeseed oil which is low in certain unpleasant compounds which can cause health problems in lab animals, though people have been cooking with rapeseed oil from the standard variety for about as long as there has been cooking, so maybe it's just a white people problem. It tastes more neutral too, and most importantly, it has a different name.

I am not making this up.