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.

[ouryve]

I'm not an official tester, but we converted to rapeseed oil, this year. We don't do any deep frying and one of the reasons we converted was concern about the processes involved in making ordinary vegetable oil, sunflower oil, etc. Another reason is that much of the rapeseed oil we buy is either from Yorkshire, or Northumberland, so it's done far fewer food miles than other choices.

So we're already using it where we would normally use a neutral oil. It does have a strong taste, but not one that clashes with other flavours and it makes lovely stir fries, as it gets quite hot and has a nutty flavour which works well.

I also use it in bread, but I've found that dried yeast doesn't work very well with it. It makes a lovely loaf using fresh yeast, though (and the two can be used interchangeably in most recipes in Panasonic breadmakers)

I made some banana and blueberry muffins, using it, a few months back and they had a lovely golden colour and were moist and light.

[sc00ter]

Hi

Well it's the official start date - today I have done roasted vegetables(peppers,red, green and yellow, onion etc) which have been sitting in the oil to marinate in the fridge with herbs and later will be added to cous cous.

Today gone with the cheaper oil as I have not used that one yet.
looks a little paler in colour - but that could be that this one is in a plastic bottle and the cold pressed is in a glass bottle!!

maybe just me!!

Like the look on the veg, not to greasy looking, like my usual extra virgin olive oil, and it does not seem to over power the veg.

I will be trying some of the new recipes, however I want to see what its like on my usual cooked family meals on the whole. :)

[5madthings]

I still hqvent got my vouchers yet, tho the post has been a bit crap so maybe they will turn up soon :)

[florencebabyjo]

I found a local Sussex cold pressed which looked nice. I used it for the first time last night to make a salad dressing which tasted nice and light with a slightly nuttier taste than olive oil, but was nice. I'm going to try it in an Italian chocolate cake tonight and see how it stands up to being baked. The ordinary vegetable oil I used for pancakes yesterday and I couldn't taste any difference in this one. I hadn't heard of the benefits so am finding it interesting finding out.

[gazzalw]

DW and DD have just made some delicious seeded cheese scones, as found in the recipe booklet send in with the £10 gift card. They are delicious and every bit as nice as 'traditional' ones. Dare I say that they are lighter - interesting to see how they will last for school packed lunch boxes tomorrow....

[MimsyBorogroves]

Got mine yesterday and cooking the turkey burgers tonight.

I had no idea of the benefits until I read about them on mumsnet. I'm particularly impressed by the reduction in saturated fat whilst still having the omega 3 benefits.

The costs seem minimal for each bottle - the cold pressed slightly more expensive, but it looks a lot posher (!) I think the vegetable oil in particular could be overlooked on the shelves - I was surprised when DH brought it home as it just looks like regular vegetable oil!

I like the taste and the smell - not overpowering at all. My Dad, who is a bit of a foody was raving about the benefits too when I told him I was doing this test.

[poopoopoo]

Hello everyone,
I went to Sainsburys today and bought the cold pressed rapeseed oil and the vegetable oil version (much cheaper!). Altogether cost £5.50.
I read a bit in the Telegraph dated 22nd July:
As with olive oil, rapeseed oil contains Omegas 3, 6 and 9, essential fatty acids known to reduce cholesterol and maintain heart health, joint mobility and brain function. It is also a rich, natural source of vitamin E. High in mono-unsaturated fats, it is one of the few unblended oils that can be heated to deep-frying temperature without its antioxidants, character, colour and flavour spoiling. In short, it is one of best "good" oils. However Al Overton states for heavy deep frying and baking:"More and more, we are realising that the food scientists who scared us away from cooking with certain fats got it wrong. It was our grannies ? who cooked with goose fat or butter, ghee or coconut oil, depending on where they came from ? who had the right idea." He suggests:The simple answer is, keep a range of oils. Keep coconut or a similar saturated fat for heavy frying, olive and rapeseed oils for light frying and salads, and pumpkin and avocado oils for dressings and dips."
So an interesting article about our choices for cooking and the health science affecting our choices. I feel that I will certainly be changing over from sunflower oil which was my normal choice (though I tend to keep some olive oil for certain dishes). I will now use the cold pressed rapeseed oil instead of the olive oil in order to support UK farmers. the oils seems great. I want to further research sunflower oil and rapeseed to do some more comparison.
Have a look at this:
Vegetable oils all contain varying amounts of these types of fat but are generally dominated by one. For example, rapeseed is predominantly a monounsaturated fat; sunflower oil is mainly a polyunsaturated fat and palm oil is largely saturated fat.
Any type of oil or fat will help the body absorb fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K), and make sex hormones. But moderating intake of fat in general, and some types in particular, is important for health.
When saturated fats are eaten to excess, they can raise blood cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease. Moderate amounts of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are beneficial as they lower blood cholesterol.
Polyunsaturated fats help cell membranes remain flexible and porous, allowing nutrients to enter and waste products to leave. But the amount and balance of polyunsaturated fats we eat is important, too.

Rapeseed gts a 9 out of 10
Sunflower oil gets a 6 out of 10

Plus there is a good reminder not to re use oil.


Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-499546/The-cooking-oils-make-healthy--dont.html#ixzz2ZnPbi9V4
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[poopoopoo]

I would also like to add I do not like to by pal oil as they chop down rain forests to plant the palms. A great deal of well known chocolate brands use palm oil....(cadburys) shame on them.

[poopoopoo]

Should say Palm oil!

[WelliesandPyjamas]

I bought the Borderfields British Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil for £4.50 (or maybe £4.00?) at Sainsbury's. Nice colour, good consistency.

First use today - a splash for frying sausages for tea. It actually had an appealing smell, mixed with the sausages, noticeable compared to vegetable oil.

[aristocat]

NotAQueef I usually make this as my Carrot Cake and it is always good

5floz sunflower oil
2 ripe bananas (mashed)
2 eggs
5oz light muscovado sugar
4oz grated carrots
8oz SR flour
2tsp baking powder
2oz chopped walnuts

ICING
6oz fullfat soft cheese
2oz soft butter
4oz icing sugar (sieved)
vanilla


Mix all ingredients together. Use an 8" deep round cake tin (lined) and cook at 180C for about an hour (maybe 50mins). Blitz the icing ingredients and spread on top of the cooled cake. Store in the fridge to keep the icing cold.

Obviously I was going to substitute rapeseed oil for the sunflower oil and I do not think it will make any difference

[poopoopoo]

I really like the flavour of the cold pressed Sainsburys Taste the difference Cold Pressed Rapeseed oil. I used it as a salad dressing on a mixed leaf salad. It has a light nutty taste as it states, very pleasant. It goes very well with the balsamic vinegar. We had BBQ chicken, beefsteak tomatoes and mixed leaf salad with peas fresh from the pod dressed with Cold pressed rapeseed oil and balsamic vinegar, Yummy. I forgot to use it, but thank you for the gift card; I will give it to my mum as a thank-you for looking after the kids!

[SuedeEffectPochette]

Right, I have now bought my Rapeseed oil and so far I have used it to roast vegetables (very tasty) and make a cake. I used half butter and half oil, to make it cheaper, and it was great, very moist.

[wavesandsmiles]

We used the standard rapeseed oil today to make chocolate and cherry brownies, based on the recipe from the recommended website

Very tasty according to my builder and my DCs

Then for tea we had left over flan, with salad and some boiled potatoes. Usually I would put butter on the potatoes so instead we drizzled them with some of the cold-pressed rapeseed oil. Certainly lighter than butter, and tasted nice. Only needs to be used quite sparingly which is good.

[alialiath]

I've spent the entire day in this heat trying to find a supermarket, or shop that stocked rapeseed oil. I tried Sainsbury's Tesco's Holland and Barrett, Lidel, Iceland, and even tried Poundland and come up a blank.

You'd think I'd be able to buy it with no problems in SW London.
Please, please can someone point me in the direction of somewhere that stocks it.

[Alwayscheerful]

Waitrose.

[PiHigh]

I've got my vouchers and picked some oil up from Sainsburys at the weekend. It was £1.50 for the vegetable oil and £4 for the cold pressed one so not particularly expensive. We've been out today but will start using it asap.

[Theimpossiblegirl]

DH made pizzas tonight and used the cold pressed instead of olive oil. There was no noticeable difference tbh, but the price makes that another plus for the rapeseed.

[thismousebites]

"alialiath" if you go to Tesco or Sainsbury just look on their normal vegetable oil. In very small writing it should say 100% rapeseed oil somewhere.
Have used my cold pressed today in a shepherds pie. I fried the onions off first and was amazed at the gorgeous yellow colour and the fact that, after adding the mince, I did not have to drain off excess fat like I normally do.
Will be making yorkshire puds tomorrow so am going to use both oils and compare them half and half.
Will also see how well the cold pressed performs on my homemade pizza.

[IncaAztec]

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

I like rapeseed oil but I had no idea of the benefits - it seems to be difficult to pick up in store around here. Maybe it needs greater distribution?

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

No, not yet but I might if I can get hold of some rapeseed oil.

~ 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

Better distribution of the product - I don't know what your price point might be - more/less expensive than olive/veg oils?

[confusedofengland]

Made a salad dressing with the cold-pressed version yesterday (oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard). It was delicious Somehow lighter than the olive oil version, but without the twang - it was smoother.

So far so good for the rapeseed oil.

When I have a day in with the DC, we will attempt one or two of the recipes from the booklet.

[NotAQueef]

aristo I'll give it a try thank you

[emsthecook]

Gutted not to be chosen for the rapeseed oil challenge...but maybe it's because I'm already a convert through and through! Love it!

[VelvetStrider]

I've bought my oils - Farrington's Mellow Yellow at £4.30 and Sainsbury's veg oil at £1.50. I don't use a lot of oil so I'd be happy to buy the luxury brand if it's tastier and healthier - my only complaint so far is the bottle is too tall to fit on any of my shelves!!

I used some Farringtons neat on salad today and liked the taste and texture - didn't seem greasy and gloopy like some oils.

I've bought the ingredients for the lamb and quinoa patties, but I'm going to leave out the harissa paste as I'm not keen on spicy food. Will report back once I have made and eaten them!

[gazzalw]

We were going to make those on Saturday, VelvetStrider, but DS vetoed the suggestion. Look forward to hearing how yours turn out....

Used some of the pressed rapeseed oil for doing my scrambled eggs on granary toast this morning - yum!