A blog by Jorge Garcia.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

And here I thought it was a typo



I was reading an ingredient list and came across the words "rapeseed oil." My first reaction was someone left the G off of grape seed oil right? But apparently it is not a typo.

Rapeseed oil is what Canola oil is. Canola oil actually means CANadian Oil, Low Acid. It's totally understandable because, let's face it "rapeseed oil" is a marketing nightmare.

In fact when I was googling to find a picture of the plant most pictures called these flowers rapeseed blossoms instead of what they are, rapes. Just fields and fields of rape.

77 comments:

James Hernandez said...

Jorge,

Yea Canada! The leaders and best! Oh wait that's the University of Michigan chant!

Unknown said...

A friend of mine is a photo editor for a stock agency and they have all kinds of photos of all kinds of subject matter.. one time she was looking down her list of the titles of photos she had been assigned to edit for the day.. one was called "field of rape".. she was scared to open it.. thankfully it was not what she thought (but is it weird that she DIDN'T think it was a typo? haha)

Darla said...

that's funny...very pretty though.

rickyleepotts said...

You know, I am not sure that I would be able to enjoy something that uses an ingredient like that! However, I did learn something in this post. I had no idea the meaning behind canola oil! Thanks for feeding my brain. Also, the pictures of those rapeseed fields are gorgeous. For a second I was hoping that was a picture of your backyard! (Great, now I am hungry! Thanks!)

Joe Allen said...

Jorge, can you show me on the doll where the plant touched you?

Unknown said...

Hi Jorge, even though the name may sound weird, the product itself is perfectly safe and (at least over here) very common. And so is the view of vast yellow fields of blooming rapeseed. The name surely is horrible, but the sight is just lovely :-)

Regards from Germany
Julienne

Lisa said...

In Canada we just call it Canola and it only has the yellow flowers for about two weeks a year. Should you ever end up here in the end of August I suggest trying to run through a field of it...it's like hitting a wall. We were chasing a neighbors cow and ended up ass over tea kettle when we hit that field...good times.

ArtforLife42 said...

that's hilarious. You gotta chuckle out of me. :) Did you check out my sketch? if you did, and thought it was lame. ignore me :) if not, look, if you like :) The thought was to think of really funny parts in LOST that I loved, it was actually really hard to think of ones that would be funny in a drawing. Do you know of any, I want to draw Michael Emerson in one :)

http://asimpleloveforart.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-am-not-crazy.html

Malea said...

That's actually gorgeous. Such a crime that something so beautiful can bring to mind something so vicious.

random2502 said...

In the UK we just call it rapeseed oil, so despite those connotations, rapeseed seems normal to me :P

-Eli- said...

I'd hate to have the job of reaping all that rape...

Jules said...

That should be a headline... fields and fields of rape...

tiffibug said...

I thought the same thing the first time I saw it.

Unknown said...

Does this mean that the bottle of "Rape Soda" that I found is also not a typo?

DanishGirl said...

We have a lot of these rape fields in Denmark, and the smell is just wonderful when they blossom... to me it is the smell of Summer on the way !

Topanga said...

Pretty. I've seen fields of this driving through New Brunswick. It's breathtaking.

Miss Inthia said...

This is the best thing I've read today.

thank you.

Jenny said...

Funny. In the midwest when canola oil first started popping up, people referred to the yellow blossoms as canola plants. Good to know what the real deal is, Jorge! :)

jennY said...

wow that field of rape is quite beautiful!

Sarah said...

yeah, no one wants to admit they have a rape field.

Unknown said...

Some might even call it "colza" which apparently has more to do with rape than with coleslaw.

Anonymous said...

"The Land of Rape and Honey" makes more sense now, doesn't it?

Frenetic said...

This is crazy. I just saw this in an ingredient list a couple of days ago and thought the same thing. I never got to look it up. Thanks for the info.

Unknown said...

Now you know why we Canadians call it Canola oil! :)

erika said...

Hee! And please, do your best to avoid that evil, evil oil. Processed and altered to a degree that it qualifies as Frankenfood, IMO.

Unknown said...

In German they call it "Raps" -Öl ... with a rolling rrr
never saw the English term for it.

cool you point it out.

Sharon said...

Yeah, rapeseed grows here in Ireland. The fields are crazy yellow.

Unknown said...

Excellent, I've been on your blog for two whole minutes (linked by the lovely Anna Pickard, by the way) and I've already learned something! We don't talk about Canola oil here in the UK so I had no idea what it was. Thanks :)

jess (of Get Sconed!) said...

informative and delightful, who could ask for more in a blog?


p.s. my favorite oil is rice bran.

Beena said...

They sure are pretty flowers...whatever they are called! (wink)

Amber said...

To further confuse things, rape is also "the residue of grapes, after the juice has been extracted, used as a filter in making vinegar".

Tracey said...

Oddly, I had heard of rapeseed oil, but had no idea of the origins of canola oil (though I use it all the time). Yours is a very informative blog.

Maria said...

Couldn't help but to giggle over the "fields and fields of rape". Makes you wonder just who named this plant?

Anonymous said...

Hi Jorge
You must check out this video on DarkUFO about getting the answers in Season 6. Funny video and song and you got big eyes to go with the larger version of your mouth. hehe

http://darkufo.blogspot.com/
Just scroll down past the Fantasy league stuff to the video.

Pen2
LA
Hope you all have a blast at the Lost on the beach there in Waikiki next weekend. Sure wish I could be there to see you. I will be over in June again but too late for any Lost. boohoooooooo

Tara said...

Yikes. I don't think I would go to the field of rape. I'm just sayin'.

Joaquin Joatcher 1 said...

This is really weird... the first thing to pop into my head this morning was how funny it is that canola oil is really rapeseed oil. And now here's your post. Two days ago my friend and I both had dreams about BLT's... I must be psychic!

Irma said...

On the other hand, I (Canadian) remember being VERY confused when the word Canola came around.... what the heck is a canola??? Oh, rapeseed, why didn't you say so?

Roman said...

Well how's that for "you learn something new everyday."

Miss Heather said...

I feel so educated now!! I had no idea what Canola meant AND if I saw rapeseed oil on a recipe I'd think the same thing! WOW! Smarty pants...

Anonymous said...

The first time I heard of 'rapeseed' was while in Sweden several years ago. I asked a friend what the 'yellow' fields were...the answer rapeseed. It's quite lovely.

cathescomicz said...

Er..many inappropriate, yet funny comments come to mind. Erik The Viking, Inclusive.

Lynn Faruque said...

See I learned something today, thanks!! I never knew that is what Canola oil was.

I can not wait until next week, this is sooo going to be a cool/uncool thing because I love that it is a new season but it is the final season. And lost is on the cover of People?! And I get to see Hurley again!!

Besos~~

Anonymous said...

I'm a perfumer so I get to read up on rapeseed, since the big wig chemical makers claim it has a really high allergy rate - which does not explain the popularity of canola oil in movie popcorn.

So dumb question not directly related to the post:
Why don't Hawaiians hunt chickens?

yellowdoggranny said...

it's really pretty isn't it?
just watched a reply on ABC of last seasons final 2 hours...and next tuesday is the new one..Im so excited ...so? whatcha gonna do when Lost is done?..you need to let us know..

Mare said...

Wow, what a beautiful picture. Who would think that such a disturbing named plant could have such picturesque beginnings. Use it; but never knew about Canola. Thanks for the info!

Michaela said...

wow...thanks for that info. Liked to read your "research files".

Anonymous said...

We grow a lot of it here in the UK, it's very pretty in season.

I think canola oil is going out of fashion because it has a reputation for being GM. "Rapeseed oil" is coming back as a term for posher canola oil. Personally, I can't stand the flavour.

tash&kurt said...

hi,
we saw you at the chevron today! me, my husband and our young son are vacationing on the north shore and are huge fans of Lost. Seeing you made our day! thanks!

ps. being canadian, i didn't know that canola was an acronym, now I do, so thanks for that too!
pps. we were going to say something, but got starstruck and just stared :) should have said hi!

piddy77 said...

it's known as rape and rapeseed in the uk...but there again we have no puritanical hang ups lol

Baldur said...

Over here in Luxembourg and surrounding regions, you see these everywhere. I was a bit surprised to read that it isn't known to everybody.

Unknown said...

It has a pungent and not particularly pleasant smell to it when in full blossom. Not quite Durian fruit levels of intensity, but it honks all the same. I invite you to the UK one summer to experience it!

Maureen said...

Not so much because the word "rape" would be a marketing nightmare; rapeseed oil is still called rapeseed oil in some EU countries. Rapeseed used to contain high levels of a fatty acid-erucic-acid-that has a reputation for being poisonous. Worse it has a bitter taste! Both have been bred out of modern food grade rapeseed. The problem is that today there are two types of rapeseed oil. 1) Canola oil which is very low in erucic acid while being very high in healthy monounsaturated fatty acids and 2) an industrial grade oil with more nasties than just erucic acid. Without the name change I wonder how many people would confuse the two (I'm a nutritionist and you should see the mail I get on the topic). Anyway IMHO that was what the researchers were trying to "cover-up" with the name change: a bitter taste. Not that I have read the scientific papers on it published.

You might be interested in a relatively new type of rapeseed oil that contains higher levels of oleic acid, an important monounsaturated fat for health. High oleic Canola has a higher smoke point that Canola Classic so it makes cooking with very hot oil easier.

McKoala said...

Rapeseed has changed the colour of the British landscape to the point where it's an issue for historical filmmakers - it's not easy to find a country location that's not streaked with yellow.

Unknown said...

They grow rape here in England and it is one of the stinkiest crops ever. They do call it rapeseed oil over here.

Jayne Smith said...

Yep no typo - there is a lot of that grown near us in the North West of England - poor choice of name and a hayfever sufferers nightmare!

Щур Сергей said...

Hi Jorge, check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1PAB6Sgdp8 . It's made by lost fans. Sorry I did not know where else to write

chunky_lover68 said...

ha thanks for this oddly enough, i was reading an old grimm's fairy tale and it involved a farmer and his feilds of rape. i was like, thats one sick farmer.

LikeLoveM said...

I've seen that before too. I never looked it up though, just kind of ingnored it and went on eating my goodies. Love the last line..."fields of rape" Sonds like a cheesy romance novel...

Alisha Rene' said...

my hubby and I ROFLed for a while at this. It was also interesting to learn what Canola Oil actually stood for.

TooTall said...

Ha! I saw that ingredient on my box of fondant and thought for sure they meant grapeseed oil. I was going to write the company and point out their little boo-boo. But I looked it up, and now I'm glad I didn't show my ignorance to Wilton. LOL

Unknown said...

having this a looot in germany. using it for the local busses and also for the food :D

kimberlina said...

wait.

so those fancy bottles of 'rapeseed oil' at the grocery store is just a way to rape our wallets? all we're buying is canola oil in a fancy can?!

Mary said...

Yes, a marketing nightmare! LOL That would make for an interesting campaign...

The other day I saw a commercial on TV for potatoes. Not a brand of potatoes, but just potatoes...in general...I thought that was weird. Don't tell me carbs are evil for years and years just to make "you-should-love-potatoes-because-now-we-say-they-are-healthy" commercials!

They did the same thing with the egg...cholesterol-laden death in a shell? NOOoooooo....Incredible and edible...

Oilerguy said...

Haha, yes the majesty of the rape fields...living here in rural Alberta I know this scene all too well. :P

The Shapusens said...

"Just fields and fields of rape."

I almost did a spit take with my coffee reading that at work.

lol

JohnLeMay said...

Out of the hundreds of post man, this has gotta be the best. So funny.

Jorge Morell Ramos said...

The second picture is really nice. :)

By the way Jorge, have you seen this: http://lostmediamentions.blogspot.com/2010/01/season-6-dvd-project.html

Don't you think it would be cool? I love the idea!

Lisa Coates said...

and my mom said I'd never learn anything reading blogs ... Thanks for the education Jorge!

DiegoL said...

LOL
dude you have to see this!!!

IS VERY FUNNY!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1PAB6Sgdp8&feature=player_embedded

groovyghosthunter said...

This has nothing to do with the post. I couldn't find a way to send you an email though ... have you seen this on Jay and Jack's nudia.tv site? It made me laugh.

http://www.nudia.tv/2010/01/21/lost-moments-hurley-ichats-with-dead-people/

Take care. :-)

Chraycee said...

Rapeseed oil was Lorenzo's Oil.

Martina G said...

Hej!
I have just seen this on youtube! The Lost Answers song! Haha.(Explaining Jin was really fun!)
If you havven't seen it. You must!
Take Care. Ha det bra!
/Martina (Sweden).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1PAB6Sgdp8#

Colby said...

Holy cow, man - you had me laughing right out loud, with "marketing nightmare," and "just fields and fields of rape." Reminds me of the Jack Handey "deep thoughts." Do you like those? Anyway, you crack me up. Here's a deep thought of his: "I understand why it's illegal to throw things off of the Empire State Building, but what's wrong with little bits of cheese? They probably break down into their various gasses before they hit the ground anyway." One more: "If there were two men named Hambone and Flippy, which one would you think liked dolphins the best? You'd think it was Flippy, wouldn't you. You'd be wrong, though. It's Hambone."

Julie said...

My grandfather grows canola out in Saskatchewan. A lot of people mistake it for mustard fields.

Michael Dines said...

If you think that's strange or off-putting... Tisdale Saskatchewan's motto is "Land of Rape and Honey".

Maybe that's where Depeche Mode got it from.

Anonymous said...

The first time I ever saw fields of it was walking in Northumbria. I stopped at a pub to ask what it was, and they said, "rape" and I said, "What?" and the guy says, "rape" and I said, "I need a drink." So he explained it over an excellent single malt.

http://seenonflickr.wordpress.com/ said...

I saw a license-plate holder once that said "land of rape and honey". I was really shocked and upset until I found out they were talking about the plant.