Take the RapeseedOilBenefits.com challenge: non-testers add your feedback - you could win a £150 voucher NOW CLOSED

[KatieBMumsnet]

Did you know rapeseed oil, sometimes labelled vegetable oil, is one of the healthiest and most versatile cooking oils you can buy? That's the message from RapeseedOilBenefits.com, a not-for-profit campaign that aims to inspire people to use this cooking oil.

Take part in the RapeseedOilBenefits.com challenge and add your feedback here by to be entered into the prize draw:

~ Official testers (those selected by MNHQ) can win a £250 supermarket voucher of their choice
~ Non-official testers' who add a comment can win a £150 supermarket voucher of their choice

The challenge is to buy two bottles of rapeseed oil - one labelled 'vegetable oil' and the other labelled 'cold pressed' - and then to use these in place of your normal cooking oils for two weeks and tell us what you think. (If you already use rapeseed oil, feel free to take part in this challenge too.)

If you have any questions about rapeseed oil, go to RapeseedOilBenefits.com to ask the nutritionist and check out their guide to rapeseed oil FAQs.

Do try their easy and tasty recipes while you're there.

Please add your feedback here on the following:

~ Let us know what you think of rapeseed oil and if you knew about the benefits already or not

~ Have you tried out any RapeseedOilBenefits.com recipes? How did you and your family find them?

~ Please add any other comments, recipes, tips or ideas you have too - we'd love to hear from you at various stages of the challenge

Thanks

MNHQ


Please note comments made on this thread may be reproduced by Rapeseed Oil Benefits (AHDB)
Closing date: 19 August 2013, winners will be selected at random from all posting a comment: either a tester or non tester - prizes as above.

[AngelieMumsnet]

A message from RapeseedOilBenefits.com:

"Thanks to everyone who has taken part! It has been really helpful to hear what you've got to say

Congratulations to the two lucky winners - your prizes will be with you shortly - enjoy!

Please do help us tell people about the benefits of rapeseed oil, including your local shop - as so many people just don't know

We'll keep working on our website, so look out for new recipes, competitions, content and more - sign up to get our news alerts"

[MrsJohnDeere]

Thank you so much.

[AngelieMumsnet]

Thanks to everyone who took part in the RapeseedOilBenefits.com challenge, as well as those who weren't official testers and added their comments.

Congratulations to MrsJohnDeere, who wins a £250 supermarket voucher for taking part as an official tester and neepsandtatties, who wins a £150 supermarket voucher for taking part as a non-tester :)

[alialiath]

Rapeseed oil got good free advertisement on The Incredible Spice Brothers on BBC2 this evening. You'll be able to watch this on BBC iplayer if you missed the show.

[mahalo]

I was first introduced to Rapeseed Oil by Bath Harvest at a tasting event in Wiltshire. I was hooked straight away. I had used Olive Oil and Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Oil for years for all my cooking but after that first taste of Rapeseed I was converted! My husband (a trained chef) was a little sceptical to start with but is now most definitely on board!
I use the Vegetable Oil to make the most fantastic patatas bravas which the kids love for the bright yellow colour of the potato skins and the delicious flavour. The Cold Pressed makes a super dressing for a chick pea, red chilli and parsley salad alongside grilled haloumi and courgettes (both basted in Rapeseed Oil).

[wavesandsmiles]

Banana bread and lemon drizzle cake have been turned out today (thankfully babywaves has finished his 3 week growth spurt).

The banana bread is half gone already, and was a huge hit. I used the following recipe:

3 large ripe bananas
180g plain flour
2.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
160g demerara sugar
2 eggs
4 tbsp rapeseed oil
50g roughly chopped walnuts.

DD mashed the banana whilst I sifted the flour, baking powder and salt. I then mixed together the sugar, eggs and oil and mixed it all until it was really light, then folded in the banana and flour mixture. During that, DS1 chopped the walnuts which we added once the flour was no longer visible in the mixture. Popped it all into a loaf tin, and baked in the over for 55 minutes on 160. Left it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire tray and standing guard over it to stop the DCs eating it immediately and entirely

It was really moist and light - and we have all enjoyed it very much!

Lemon drizzle cake is also looking really light and moist

I've pretty much gone through my entire baking repertoire during the product test, and can say that the substitution of the oil for butter has been absolutely brilliant and I will be using oil in my baking in future without a doubt.

Thanks for selecting me for this product test

[wavesandsmiles]

I'm hoping my newborn will let me have the time to do a bit more baking before Monday, but in the meantime I used cold pressed oil in place of the usual olive oil to bake potatoes in (each wrapped in tinfoil, drizzled with oil and sprinkled with salt). Just as good as using olive oil I am pleased to report. Fingers crossed I will try out banana bread later today as I've made that with butter a few times with olive oil before so will be very interesting to see how it turns out

[babypowder]

I bought my oil from Tesco. I like using cold-pressed oil in salad dressings (as an alternative to olive oil). I also made mayonnaise with it, and it had a lovely delicate flavour.

I like e idea of supporting our local farmers by using rapeseed oil. I tend to cook mostly with ghee or butter. That said, the 'normal' rapeseed oil provides a flavourless base if I need to deep fry doughnuts

Thanks for selecting me to be part of the trial, and sorry it took me so long to respond.

[Pontouf]

First of all, thanks so much for choosing me to be a tester for this. I had read an article in the Guardian about the various health benefits, but the article had suggested that the uses for were quite limited due to a "cabbagey" flavour. This hasn't been my experience at all. I have been using the cooking oil in all my cooking for a few weeks now and while I have found that it is necessary to use it sparingly or the food becomes greasy, it is simply a tasty, efficient oil so you don't actually need much. I have also used the oil to make bread in our bread maker and it has been a huge success. I'll definitely keep using it just because it's so much cheaper than the olive oil we were using before and has a much better sat fat level.

I haven't used the cold pressed oil myself as I'm not a massive fan of oil on salads/bread but I have offered it to my Dh and to guests who have all said they enjoyed it and couldn't honestly tell the difference between the rapeseed oils and olive oil.

One massive plus point for me is that's the oil is British made. I believe very strongly in using local produce and using foods that haven't travelled thousands of miles to get to us.

Thanks again

[KatherinaMinola]

We were very happy to be testers for this - I had heard of the benefits of cold-pressed rapeseed oil particularly and had been meaning to try it. I already use the ordinary variety.

During the two weeks we used it for everything except cooking pasta sauce (did not want to risk ruining a vat of it). We did try it drizzled on pasta though - I have to say that it's not great and I will stick to olive oil in future for pasta dishes.

We didn't have time to try out the new recipes, but we did use rapeseed oil for a variety of different dishes, including stir fries, roasted veg, curries, salads, chili, pie.

It worked well for most things - some things better than others. DH did a blind taste test for us on fried butternut squash (curry accompaniment), cooking one batch with sunflower and one with rapeseed. We both preferred the sunflower oil batch - the rapeseed had a slightly acrid aftertaste.

I really liked the cold-pressed oil on wholefood-style salads (chickpeas, seeds, quinoa, roasted veg etc). We used Borderfields oil, which had a nice strong nutty taste. I think I still prefer olive oil on a traditional fresh salad.

I found the website a bit vague and at times misleading on the health benefits, which put me off - obviously it is a promotional site, but I'd rather it was completely transparent about what benefits do and don't derive from using the product.

One other plus point for me is that the oil is British (food miles etc). As I've said, I already use rapeseed oil regularly and will continue to - I don't think it works for everything, but it was a good experiment. I liked and would buy the cold-pressed variety again, particularly for use on wholefoody salads.

[TracyKNixon]

I enjoyed the challenge!!! As requested, I purchased some vegetable rapeseed oil and also some cold pressed rapeseed oil....

One sunny day I made warm bacon, mustard and potato salad using the cold-pressed oil, and me and the kids enjoyed it outside on our picnic table! Results: Wonderful! It didn't taste oily at all - in fact it seemed to enhance the flavours of the mustard, cheese and bacon even more! I gave it a 10 out of 10 and my four children gave it an 8, 8, 9 and 9!! So a great result!

Next I used the vegetable oil to make oat topped mackerel with roast tomatoes as my parents were coming round for dinner. I used fresh mackerel caught by my dad!!!! Again the dish was a hit all round!!! I gae it a 10, my parents each gave it a 10 and my eldest son and daughter gave it a 9 too. Unfortunately I couldn't tempt my youngest son and daughter to try the dish as they are not too keen on fish!!! This dis was very tasty and felt very healthy too. As mackerel is quite oily already, I thought the oil might have made it a little too oily but it didn't - and I think this was because of the oaty topping.

Overall I enjoyed the challenge and will enjoy using and then buying again both the veg and cold-pressed rapeseed oils. I loved your little recipe book to and cannot wait to try out the Thai burgers and smoked salmon and oat baked cheesecake!

[MoogDroog]

Non tester but this has given me the impetus to try the bottle languishing in the cupboard. I'm impressed!
Had previously only used for salad dressings, but have recently used it to roast veg, in pasta, to fry the millions of courgettes in getting from the garden - it's great. I'm a convert.

[GetStuffezd]

Out of curiosity I bought a bottle of rapeseed oil this week instead of my usual olive oil. I'm really impressed - when I've fried off meat to go in stews or curries it gets it nice and brown, but the oil doesn't burn and smoke like olive oil does. Very impressed and will buy again.

[DoubleMum]

I have used cold pressed rapeseed oil for quite a while now, mainly because my 92 yr old grandma has been banging on for years and years about only using cold-pressed oils and it's easier without the ear ache. I like it, and the family has never complained!

[WelliesandPyjamas]

Yum, confusedofengland! Sounds lovely :)

[confusedofengland]

Well, I haven't revisited this page for a while but had to update! I used the cold-pressed oil in a potato salad dressing where EV Olive Oil was suggested (oil, tarragon vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper) & it was a hit! Everybody was asking me what oil I had used & commented on the fact that it did not overpower the other flavours like olive oil would have done. The potato salad completely disappeared

[WelliesandPyjamas]

I think I'll try freezing fresh herbs in the coldpressed rapeseed oil - has anyone tried this yet?

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

I am completely converted too. Haven't touched the bottle of olive oil since I started the trial.

I love the taste of crushed new potatoes with the oil, and it is gorgeous with chicken too.

[thismousebites]

I have become a Cold Pressed convert

[sealight123]

I'm not sure if it tasted delicious or not, as I hate eggs but, my partner does tell me that his fried egg sandwiches this evening were stupendous....he is still non the wiser about my olive oil to rapeseed oil switcharoo :P

[wavesandsmiles]

Put the cold pressed oil through its savoury paces again today after my recent cake baking spree (and no doubt I'm a convert to using the oil for making cakes)

I treated my DCs to a cooked breakfast and used the cold pressed oil for cooking fried bread, fried egg and scrambled egg (I grill the meat). Tasted lovely, and the brea and eggs took on a gorgeous yellow colour. Will definitely be the way to cook this in future.

For tea it was just sandwiches, so I lightly fried some slivers of chicken in the cold pressed oil. No overpowering flavour, and again, a lovely colour. Both DCs thoroughly enjoyed it. Not even any left overs for the dog and cat I served a side salad and used the oil to make a dressing, was lovely and light and I like the slightly nutty taste. Yum.

I'm so delighted with the results of testing the oils. It is brilliant to discover the health benefits and just as good to know that the food miles are so low. I like using spray oils and have looked up online how to make my own DIY spray oils, but as someone else suggested, perhaps local producers could think about a spray product as that is a very healthy way to cook with oil and would reinforce the health benefits message.

[Cheeseatmidnight]

I am absolutely loving the cold pressed oil. I used it in mash last night and dp commented immediately on how nice the mash was and asked what I had done differently.

I am pleased it is not too pricey as I can afford to carry on using it, and I don't seem to have got through as much as I thought I would. I don't seem to need as much as other oils as the flavour is nice with just a drizzle and in cooking it doesn't burn off so a light coating is fine.

So pleased I took part in this as I honestly had no idea it existed.

GET IT OFF THE TOP SHELF SO PEOPLE CAN SEE IT!

[HazelDormouse]

I have had no problems whatsoever with using the two oils. Really rather pleased with all cooking results, (Cold pressed was even used with great success in a blueberry muffin recipe.) Since I started this trial, I have started to notice how often rapeseed oil is used in a variety of supermarket bought food, even in baby/toddler food. Found this quite interesting.

[GetKnitted]

Thanks again, this has been a lovely trial and cold pressed rapeseed oil is on our shopping list now!

[snowballinashoebox]

Firstly apologies for the late posting, been camping and still drying out.

~ Let us know what you think of rapeseed oil and if you knew about the benefits already or not:

I bought the Borderfields cold pressed oil and think it's a keeper. I love the colour loads more exciting that olive oil. The veg oil is um veg oil. I sort of knew that Rapeseed oil had a higher burn point and might have waffled on about omega 3 and 6 but didn't really know much about it. The biggest benefit for me is that I can buy it very locally to me, so cutting food miles is fab.

~ Have you tried out any RapeseedOilBenefits.com recipes? How did you and your family find them?

Before we went camping, when it was still hot, lots of salad dressings with the cold pressed oil. The tear and share and potato and bacon salad all well received. Whilst camping in the fog and rain a vast amount of bacon butties were consumed all fried in rapeseed oil, no difference at all so happy with that. My fried onions, culinary camping genius that I am took on a good colour cooked in the cold pressed oil.

Today I made a carrot and apricot cake using veg oil for the first time and it looks good, nicely risen far less faff than messing about with butter and much cheaper. So that has got me thinking about cooking more with oil although I am still shuddering a bit about the processing that the cheaper oil goes through.

~ Please add any other comments, recipes, tips or ideas you have too - we'd love to hear from you at various stages of the challenge

Thanks for the vouchers and including me in this challenge it has been interesting and I will now always look above the middle shelf.