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.

[TotallyEggFlipped]

Well I've been a little busy in the kitchen today (DD1 at nursery).

Made the blueberry & oat muffins and the banana chip teabread off the website. Both delicious.
I made the French dressing to go with salad at lunchtime. It was lovely & light. The rapeseed gives a much nicer flavour than olive oil.
For dinner we had the Thai turkey burgers, but I did some stir fried veggies instead of the buns. Lovely burgers & the veggies were very tasty too. The whole family enjoyed it.

Loads more recipes I want to try out on the website. Love the sound of the oat & chickpea dumplings. Going to make the pesto later in the week too.

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

Had roast chicken tonight and roasted some new potatoes in the vegetable oil, then drizzled the cold pressed oil over the finished meal and it was superb!

DH took some persuading to try it, but he loved it too.

I love the flavour, and it tastes so much less greasy than olive oil, and doesn't have the harsh after-taste.

I am really surprised how nice it is. I wish I had discovered it before. However I am surprised the cold-pressed stuff is a similar price to extra virgin olive oil. I would have thought it would be cheaper as it a UK product.

I am also disappointed that I couldn't find it in Costco, as I usually buy 5l bottles of olive oil there, and would like to buy similar-sized bottles of the cold-pressed rapeseed oil.

[poopoopoo]

Fried prawns for a curry and used the cold pressed oil to drizzle over baked marrow. Lovely.

[thismousebites]

Has anyone tried it for deep frying yet? If yes does it work?

[ToomuchIsBackOnBootcamp]

Hi, I always use Ola Oils, produced very locally to me in rural Aberdeenshire from rapesee. The oil is has a pure, clean flavour, doesn't burn or smell when cooking even at high temperatures, and is also good enough to use straight on salads. Ola oils also produce a range of flavoured oils and sauces which are great too.

[Crazybit]

I bought the normal rapeseed vegetable oil and the cold pressed rapeseed from Tesco. The cold pressed is double the price!

So far I have used the vegetable one to make potato wedges to fry onions, can't tell the difference between my usual one tbh.

The cold pressed has been used to make the seeded cheesy scones, without the seeds as I did not have any. Dd2 and I where not keen on these, I felt the had a bit of a strange taste but dd1 and ds ate them no problem, so we need to try a little bit more experimenting with that one I think before I have any sort of verdict.

[Crazybit]

Ps, I have got pictures of the scones if they are needed MN?

[MsInterpret]

Griddled courgettes tossed in the cold pressed oil and served with mozzarella and sweet chilli sauce, yum.

Not a recipe from the booklet but looking forward to trying them out as well.

Very happy to be using oil which is healthier, cheaper and more local. Thanks for letting me take part.

[violetwellies]

Right, finally got it, tea at Grandad's, we fell @ the first fence, he couldnt stand the smell of the cold pressed, (no organic @ sainsburys, v. dissapointing) and wouldn't let me cook with it.

[CheeryCherry]

Bought it today from Tesco, will get cracking tomorrow!

[smilingthroughgrittedteeth]

used the cold pressed to make a toffee cake yesterday in the bread maker, couldn't tell the difference from when I use sunflower oil.

made chicken curry and used the vegetable oil to fry the chicken, I've found it less greasy than sunflower oil.

I love the smell of the cold pressed one which is odd because I hate the smell of it when's growing.

[gazzalw]

Just used some this morning to make American Pancakes...can't quite put my finger on it but I would definitely say that even the normal 'vegetable oil' is lighter...

I am beginning to think that butter is going to be marginalised in this house- except on crusty granary bread and in sandwiches! And olive oil too....

[NotAQueef]

I made some naan bread last night and used the normal rapeseed/vegetable oil in place of olive oil and could tell no difference (therefore a winner in my mind)
Am hoping to use the cold pressed one tonight and make the sweet chilli chicken salad (though will probably substitute the pea tops for spinach!)

[NotAQueef]

Am really looking forward to the weekend (payday weekend at that!) so I can buy some nice ingredients.
I till make some tapas dishes as I usually use lots of olive oil when I make chilli and garlic prawns, and patatas bravas - plus olive oil & balsamic for bread dipping. Will be nice to try the coldpressed on some yummy bread.

[GlobalWarning]

Our turkey was a success. Tonight I am going to mix the cold pressed with some balsamic and mustard seeds and maybe a little honey to go over our pork salad.

[HazelDormouse]

I had some problems getting the oils from my local (medium sized) Sainsburys supermarket. As a result I ended up ordering them online from Tescos. (Even online Tesco seem to have more choice in terms of these oils than Sainsburys.) The cold pressed oil was considerably more expensive than the vegetable oil. However, currently I prefer the cold pressed oil. The vegetable oil has a slightly stronger taste/smell to it. Cold pressed seems more versatile - satisfied with both the stir fry and dressing that I made. Both seem lighter than even the 'light and mild' olive oil that I have recently been using.

[BookwormMummy]

Well, got my Tesco vouchers at weekend and went straight out to buy the oils. I'm actually quite surprised to find out that like someone else has mentioned on this thread, I already made the change to vegetable oil from sunflower oil some months ago, however I was not aware that it was also known as Rapeseed oil and I certainly didn't think it could actually be more beneficial.

I think this challenge has made me re-look at just how I use oil in general. I tend to do a lot of baking but have never thought of using oil in place of butter in any of my recipes. So, I decided to modify the cheese scone recipe and try oil for the first time. The recipe was a success and the scones didn't last long. Not one of my children said a thing about the change and even though I tried a few of the scones and did notice the strong smell of the oil, I suppose I could get used to if I wanted to keep cooking with it, which I would like to do.

I have used the cold pressed oil for frying, chips, eggs etc and also for drizzling on roast potatoes and I can honestly say that although the substance seems a bit more slick (greasier looking if possible), the taste is actually quite impressive.

I had never heard of cold pressed oil before but suspect I will be quite knowledgeable about it by the end of this challenge!

[MakeTeaNotWar]

Got my oils from Tesco earlier this week and am already converted. I genuinely didn't know about the health benefits so to be informed about that and for the oil to be so much cheaper than the olive oil that I've been habitually buying for years means a happy customer here.

From the recipe booklet, we've made the oaty pork in cider which was a hit with the whole family. Really easy to make and tasted great. Also the cheese scones were a hit. Fish on Fridays here so tomorrow we'll have the smoked salmon and oat baked cheesecake and the oat topped mackerel which both look great

[CuppaSarah]

I got the oils last week from tesco and have started using them already. I haven't had a chance to use any of the recipes from the website yet, but am excited about trying a few soon.

I've been using the cold pressed oil this week and plan to use the vegetable oil next week. So far I've been loving the cold pressed stuff! I've used it to brown off meat before it went in the slow cooker. It made the meat a really nice colour and it did have some affect on the taste which surprised me. The meat tasted quite a bit better! I was surprised that it even made a difference to be truthful.

I even used a little while baking and lined the tray with it. The biscuits came out lovely and I am a very poor baker.

I am really impressed with the oil and I genuinely was shocked reading up about it on the website. I honestly think if more people were aware of how much better it is for you than other oils that there'd be no competition at all. I love that there's an option of a normal oil and a fancy posh oil too.

[SmilingandWaving]

I used the cold pressed to make pizza yesterday, used a tablespoon in the dough & it didn't seem any different to the olive oil I would normally use. I also used it to make a tomato/vegetable sauce which I then blended to use as a topping. I don't think it really made any difference taste wise but it's nice to know that it's healthier.

I did try a bit on it's own and I actually prefer the taste to the olive oil we usually use, think I will be buying another bottle once this one has run out.

We already had a bottle of cheap rapeseed/vegetable oil, but we don't actually use it that much. I did use it to make eggy bread for DS the other day and it worked just as it always does and didn't seem to leave any oily taste etc.

I think someone may have mentioned already that Aldi have 500ml bottles of cold pressed oil for £1.99 at the moment. I'm tempted to go back and get a couple of bottles. Definitely a convert at that price.

[SmilingandWaving]

Oh and DS & I are going to make the savory flapjack from the recipes on the website tomorrow so will let you know how that goes.

[sc00ter]

Hi ( used the cheaper of the two oils today)
Made a roast chicken and the trimmings today. The chicken was lovely and my roast potatoes were really crispy and were not at all oily.
Very impressed with the results today and the kids commented how nice it all was. So praise indeed. :)

[VelvetStrider]

Oh no, the lamb mince I got to make the quinoa patties has gone a brown colour instead of red. It's been in the fridge and is still in date. Does anybody know if it's safe to use, or should I get some more? I've never cooked with lamb mince before .

[emily80]

I used the cold pressed oil to make the oat and chickpea dumplings and was impressed. I used quite a lot to cook and then stick them together, but they didn't turn out greasy at all and the taste of the oil seems very subtle - just what I want in a cooking oil.

[lljkk]

I think it's a weird contest when consumption of nearly all canola (oilseed rape) is not cold pressed, so solvent residue perfectly possible.

The marketing hype about Canola health benefits has been going on since the 1980s at least, but maybe not in UK (shrug).

Do you all know the history of how canola was developed? Canadian, a variety to make brassica seeds edible. And of course Monsanto was involved along the way.

We don't consume much veg oil so useless for the challenge.