Canola oil comes from the seeds of the canola plant, which is cultivated across Canada, China, India and other countries for its oil. Through breeding and research over several decades, canola has been transformed from its origins as a subset of rapeseed into a nutritional oil that’s the second-largest vegetable oil by volume after palm oil.
Understanding where canola oil originates from and how it goes from seed to bottle can help consumers better appreciate this popular, versatile cooking oil.
The Canola Plant
Canola belongs to the Brassicaceae family of flowering plants like broccoli, kale and mustard. But the specific plants canola comes from are rapeseed cultivars that have been bred to be lower in erucic acid and glucosinolates.
Canola is grown as a cool weather crop in various parts of the world with moderate temperatures and plenty of moisture. Leading producers include Canada, China, India and several European countries. The provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in Canada account for around 20 percent of global canola production.
The Evolution of Canola Oil
Rapeseed oil has been used for thousands of years in ancient civilizations in Europe and Asia. But it had high amounts of erucic acid – a fatty acid that can be toxic to humans in large doses. In the 20th century, Canadian researchers used selective breeding to create rapeseed cultivars that were lower in erucic acid and glucosinolates, natural compounds that made unprocessed rapeseed meal unpalatable to livestock.
This new variant of rapeseed developed in Canada was given the name "canola" from "Canadian oil, low acid" to differentiate it in the marketplace. Canola oil contains less than 2% erucic acid compared to about 50% in traditional rapeseed oil. The creation of these low erucic acid rapeseed cultivars, which were later called canola, opened the door to safely using the oil for human consumption.
How is Canola Oil Made?
Commercial canola oil is extracted at large crushing facilities that process the raw canola seeds into oil and meal. The production process uses mechanical presses and chemical extraction with hexane solvents.
Mechanical Extraction
The first phase of commercial oil extraction crushes and presses the seed to mechanically remove around 32-35% of the available oil. Inside crushing plants, the canola seed passes through rollers to flatten it into thin flakes. This increases the surface area of the flake to maximize oil extraction. The flattened seed flakes are then pressed by a metal screw inside a metal barrel, pushing out and extracting crude canola oil. The mechanical screwpresses can recover 60-80% of the oil in the seed flakes.
Chemical Extraction
After mechanical pressing, the canola flakes still contain about 20% residual oil. Commercial processors use chemical solvent extraction with hexane to remove nearly all the remaining oil. The hexane solvent pulls the oil out of the already-pressed flakes. When the hexane evaporates, the oil separates from the solvent while the defatted meal solids remain.This chemical extraction by hexane solvents increases the total oil yield from the original canola seeds to over 99%.
Refining Processes
After the full oil extraction process, both the mechanically pressed oil and chemically extracted oil goes through additional refining steps. These include degumming, bleaching, and deodorizing the crude oil to create finished canola oil products for consumers and restaurants. Degumming uses water to remove phospholipids and gums. Bleaching filters out pigments and enhances oil appearance using absorptive clays. Deodorizing uses steam distillation under vacuum conditions to remove free fatty acids and other volatile compounds, thereby reducing odor and flavor issues.
Canola Oil Nutrition
One of the main nutritional advantages of commercial canola oil is its high monounsaturated fat content, composing over 60% of the total fatty acids. It also contains omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fats in a ratio of about 2-to-1.
Compared to other common cooking oils, canola oil has less saturated fat than palm, coconut or butter and more monounsaturated fat than corn, soybean or olive oils. Its overall balance of fats and stability at high cooking temperatures makes it a versatile, healthy choice for frying and sautéing.
In its original form as traditional rapeseed oil, high amounts of erucic acid raised health issues. Now with erucic acid reduced through modern cultivars, canola oil offers nutritional qualities that rival olive and other popular oils.
Myths and Misconceptions About Canola Oil
Despite the marketplace success and documented health benefits of canola oil, some confusion still exists around the terminology as well as questions regarding GMOs and sustainability. Canola oil comes from rapeseed, but has been modified through traditional breeding techniques to contain far less erucic acid, which is concerning from a health perspective. The canola plant also produces seeds very low in glucosinolates that previously made rapeseed meal inedible for livestock feed.
While genetic modification has enabled herbicide-resistant canola for farmers, most commercial canola oils are derived from conventionally bred plants, not GMOs. Recently released high oleic varieties were created using GM technology but are still pending approvals.
Sustainability concerns around canola have focused on genetic contamination and certain farming practices. But canola production supports bee populations since flowering brassicas require insect pollination. Studies in Canada have found native bees and honeybees benefit from the presence of canola plants.
Understanding the realities around canola addresses misinformation online. Far from being toxic or genetically modified, modern canola oil offers versatile everyday use with science-backed health benefits.Checking the source and nutritional profile behind the claims supports an informed view of canola’s journey from Canadian field to kitchen.
Conclusion
Canola oil has come a long way from rapeseed's origins thousands of years ago. Through determined Canadian research and breeding innovations, canola emerged as a versatile nutritional oil source quite distinct from its brassica ancestors. Now accounting for a substantial portion of the world's vegetable oil supply, canola oil continues to see growing demand across food manufacturing and restaurants.
With its high stability for frying, neutral flavor profile, and balanced fatty acid content, canola has cemented itself as a modern culinary staple. And by better understanding the careful development behind today's canola oil, consumers can appreciate why it has become a go-to choice in kitchens everywhere.