Rapeseed Oil Benefits challenge feedback thread – chance to win supermarket gift cards!NOW CLOSED

[AmeliaMumsnet]

Here's what RapeseedOilBenefits.com, a not-for-profit campaign aiming to inspire people to use this cooking oil, say about the challenge:

“Did you know rapeseed oil, sometimes labelled vegetable oil, is a healthy choice of cooking oil? It contains less saturated fat than other commonly used cooking oils and fats (e.g. approx. 50% less than olive oil). Recent UK dietary and nutrition surveys estimate that as a nation we’re eating too much saturated fat so we need to look for ways to cut down. Current UK government guidelines advise cutting down on all fats and replacing saturated fat with some unsaturated fat. Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats such as rapeseed oil in the diet has been shown to lower blood cholesterol, which may reduce the risk of heart disease. It’s also a rich source of vitamin E.

Rapeseed oil is the only commonly used culinary oil that can be widely found both grown and bottled in the UK. It's also produced in other countries in the EU and worldwide. It comes in two forms: artisan cold-pressed and refined, which is often labelled vegetable oil. As well as its nutritional benefits, it’s competitively priced and has many culinary benefits, like its excellent, light, non-greasy flavour profile, and its versatility – from crispy roast potatoes, to healthier baking, to vibrant salad dressings.

Struggling to keep up your New Year’s resolutions? Give rapeseed oil a try, involve your family too if you can, and add your feedback here to be entered into a prize draw."

Here's what's involved:

~ Official testers (those already selected by MNHQ) who add a comment here between Monday 13 March and Sunday 2 April can win a £250 supermarket gift card

~ Non-official testers (open to all UK MNers) who add a comment here between Monday 13 March and Sunday 2 April can win a £150 supermarket gift card

• The challenge is to buy two bottles of rapeseed oil – one refined, often labelled 'vegetable oil' and usually in plastic bottles, and the other labelled 'cold-pressed' and often in glass bottles – and then use them in place of your normal cooking oil for two weeks and tell us what you think by adding your feedback here. Involve your family too if you can. If you already use rapeseed oil, feel free to take part in the challenge too, as Rapeseed Oil Benefits would like to know what you think also, to help them inspire others to use this cooking oil.

• If you have any questions about rapeseed oil go to RapeseedOilBenefits.com and check out the Guide to Rapeseed Oil pages and the FAQs, or use the Contact Us form. To help you get cooking with rapeseed oil, try these delicious Recipes created by professional home economists and dietitians, designed to show that healthy eating doesn’t have to be boring – it can be surprisingly good!

Please add your feedback below 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, photos, recipes, tips or ideas you have too – we'd love to hear from you at various stages of the challenge.

Thanks
MNHQ

Closing date: Sunday 2 April. Winners will be selected at random from all posting a comment: one ‘official’ tester and one ‘non-official’ tester – prizes as above.

Please note: posts on this thread may be reproduced by Rapeseed Oil Benefits (AHDB).

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

I am a big fan of home grown products and if I knew the oil was produced from rape grown here I would definitely buy it in preference to other oil - I use vegetable oil for baking, frying and roasting but have never really considered where it comes from before - even though we see fields of rape round here

I use both refined and cold pressed all the time.

Refined for cooking at higher temperatures such as when I am using it for a meat fondue when we are entertaining friends or just cooking popcorn for a healthy snack.

I used cold pressed oil for cooking as well. It adds a lovely flavour to potato wedges when roasted in the oven and I use it in 100% place of olive oil now days. I love the rich golden colour it has.

I also found out recently how much lower in nasties it is when using the refined version compared to most other oils/fats used for cooking at high temperatures are. I think the only lower one is coconut oil which I sometimes use.

Meat fondue link m.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t--2294/beef-fondue.asp

I always used rapeseed oil in cooking and I already know it makes the most fantastic roasties! I've now tried it on toad in the hole and that was great too.
I'v never used cold pressed before and didn't even know it existed - so far I've used it in salad dressings and I put a little bit on top of my pasta salad for lunch and it def added something and i'll be doing it again.
I've not yet tried any of the recipes on the official web site but I really like the look of the split pea soup and the genoise sponge, my daughter is dairy free but loves to eat cakes so this one looks perfect!

Official Tester

I bought the organic rapeseed oil and the cold pressed rapeseed oil from Sainsburys.
I’ve used the organic oil in a number of different recipes. I’ve made the carrot cake recipe from the rapeseed oil website, I thought it was a bit bland but I really liked the texture. It was very light and had a sponge like texture. I’ve also made banana bread, which was also practically sponge like. I did a batch of dough balls and a loaf of white bread which were really good, no noticeable difference to when I normally use olive oil or vegetable oil.

The only thing I have cooked that I didn’t like, because of the flavour, was a Spanish tortilla. It didn’t taste as good as it normally did and the flavour of the olive oil was missed. Otherwise I found it easier to get crisper food, potatoes wedges had a nice crunch and browned well.

I wasn’t aware that rapeseed oil has less saturated fat than olive oil 6.3g / 100ml compared to 13.9g / 100ml respectively, I will continue to use rapeseed oil when baking and roasting as there was no noticeable change in flavour and obvious potential health benefits.

Official tester. I found a handy spray bottle for my refined rapeseed oil. It was very good. I like that I only needed a little bit to cook so nothing was too oily. It worked well cooking omelettes, fried eggs, steaks and stir fry. The taste was pleasant and not overpowering.
I struggled to find cold pressed oil but did eventually find the right shelf. I used the oil to make a salad dressing and garlic dip for bread. It was nice and I will buy both again.
I also like that rapeseed is a UK crop unlike olives, coconut etc and therefore rapeseed oil is good for UK farmers. I will buy it again.

Tester here again. I became aware of the benefits of rapeseed oil fairly recently when a friend began working on a rapeseed oil farm but have hardly using it before this. I was a bit interested whether i would have any reaction to it (rapeseed pollen gives me hay fever) but am pleased to report I don't. I'm enjoying cooking with it, the cold pressed makes a nice oil based salad dressing. The only disaster I've had was the lemon cake recipe with yogurt which stubbornly stayed liquid in the middle.

I regularly use rapeseed oil for high temperature cooking. It makes crunchy roast potatoes, tasty wedges sprinkled with salt and paprika, and yummy stir fries.
I usually buy any supermarket brand.
The only thing I don't like about the rapeseed oil is the rapeseed fields sets off my hay fever for the month of the year that the fields are in flower.

I've been using the oils in place of my 'usual' sunflower and olive oils for two weeks now, so here's my feedback.

I wasn't really aware of the health benefits of rapeseed oil before. I was pleased to see that it's high in omega 3 than other oils (I'm vegetarian so can't use oily fish as a source of omega 3).

I've used the oil for a variety of dishes including vegetable stews, ratatouille, risotto, pasta dishes, homemade potato wedges, roast veg and chickpeas, frying eggs and Quorn sausages, and dressing salads. I was happy with how everything turned out. When frying eggs, Quorn sausages and bacon, I found out that they turned out less 'greasy' than they would have been with sunflower oil.

Initially I was sceptical about how well the cold-pressed oil would work as a dressing or in a gremolata (where I would previously have used extra virgin olive oil). I was pleasantly surprised. I found the flavour of the rapeseed oil less noticeable than EV olive oil would be, but that let the main ingredients shine through (eg in a rocket salad) and my whole family enjoyed that.

My daughter baked some chocolate brownies using the oil and we didn't notice any difference from how they would have been with sunflower oil.

I haven't tried any of the recipes on the website because none of them particularly appealed to me.

I must admit I do find the name rapeseed oil a little offputting, but my experience of using it has been positive. I shall continue using these the oil and probably buy more of the same when they run out.

Tester here. Taste wise this has been a hit with the whole family. Roast potatoes were amazing as we're pancakes! The health benefits are an added extra! We will be continuing to use rapeseed oil in the future.

Official Tester

I normally use sunflower oil and olive oil.

I bought both the cold pressed rapeseed oil and the refined oil (I never knew this was the same as vegetable oil) and I used these instead of the normal oils.

I found the cold pressed oil gave the food more of a flavour. It was also that I needed much less of it than normal.

I used the cold pressed in salad but to be honest prefer the olive oil for this. However, since it has less saturated fats, I may just sacrifice the taste. It's probably just a question of getting used to it.

All in all there was not much difference when using the refined oil as compared to my normal sunflower oil.

I would probably substitute the sunflower oil for rapeseed oil.

Official tester - My Mother has always used rapeseed oil but my husband was a fan of olive oil (not that he does much of the cooking!) so it was good to have the excuse to buy and try the rapeseed oil. I used the refined and cold-pressed for cooking, I cooked four roast dinners with the oil and the family demolished the dinners, best roast potatoes ever apparently!
I wasn't aware that the oil had less saturated fat but as we have recently had an event that has made us more health aware it was good to know.
The oil made lovely roast dinners with chicken and beef, and the potatoes were lovely. Stir-frys were great.
Haven't tried any of the recipes on RapeseedOilBenefits.com yet but will check them out.

Official tester here, I am a convert. I bought both refined and cold pressed but have pretty much used the refined for everything. It doesn't have the strong flavour that olive oil has so works in practically everything apart from as a dip for bread. Wasn't loving that.

I have made roasties, really good
Spag bols, really good and glossy
Frying off veg for soup.
Fajiatas
Curry, this was much better than olive oil. Carried the spice flavours and coped with higher temperatures.

I will definitely be buying instead of olive oil from now on.

I had read about Rapeseed oil being better for cooking on a higher temp than olive oil.
So I tried out the Rapeseed challenge. I noticed the colour staying the same when cooking. which is a good thing.
I used the oil for my normal cooking including yorkshire puddings and stir frys. there wasn't any taste change.
I also used the cold pressed for baking
I also saw on pintrest to make up a hair mask using cold compressed rapeseed oil along with egg whites and lemon juice. so I tried this and my hair looked shiny so I was really impressed.

We've been using Sainsburys Taste the Difference Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil and Mazola these past couple of weeks. The Mazola has replaced our usual cooking oil and I've been so impressed - our roast potatoes for Mother's Day yesterday was delicious, so much better than normal! Won't be going back, especially now I know it's healthier than Olive oil :) The cold pressed oil has been lovely drizzled over pizzas, fish and salads.

My little ones and I made your tear n share seeded cheese scones over the weekend and loved them - they didn't last long at all! Next on our to-do list is the Salmon and Kale Filo pie, it looks delicious.

I'm definitely converted to rape seed oil for most things. I still prefer olive oil for salad but otherwise it'll be rape seed oil from now on. I knew it was lower in fat than olive oil but didn't know of the other benefits.

I haven't tried any of the recipes but will. I have just used it in my usual cooking. My roast potatoes came out as good as ever and my Yorkshires were the best I've ever made! My Dh hasn't noticed the difference at all but no surprise there

I prefer the tesco finest rape seed to the standard vegetable oil simple because it looks nicer 😳😂

Official tester. My husband and I have really enjoyed testing these oils, he loves to cook and I love to bake.
I made some delicious carrot cake and brownies with the refined oil. I would normally use coconut oil but my son much preferred the rapeseed as it has a much milder flavour.
My husband also preferred the milder flavour whilst cooking and has declared that he will always use the cold pressed oil for roasties now as it gives them a perfect crispy texture and golden colour.
I am impressed with the health benefits compared to other oils and the fact it is grown and bottled here in the U.K. We will definitely be switching most of our oils to rapeseed from now on!

Official Tester

I purchased both of my bottles and have been using them for about 10 days now. Previously I have been used to using frylight, so it's been quite a bit change for us.

I have loved using the refined oil for foods where you can really taste the oil - potato wedges, roast potatoes etc, as I feel like the extra calories are really worth it because the taste really shines through.

I haven't continued using it in very heavily flavoured dishes such as spaghetti Bolognese, as I was unable to taste the difference, and every calorie counts sometimes!

I am looing forward to using the oil for making some mayonnaise/salad dressing next

Thanks

Official tester here!

I wasn't aware of rapeseed oil benefits before the challenge.

I purchased a Sainsbury's "vegetable oil" and a Taste the Difference Cold-pressed rapeseed oil and have been using them as part of my everyday cooking. Usually I use Olive Oil in Mediterranean recipes and Sunflower oil in everything else. I decided that with the higher burning point and less flavour I would exchange the rapeseed oil for where I would usually use sunflower oil. For curries, stir fries and for shallow frying (I don't deep fry anything).

To start with I found that everything seemed tainted with a "chip shop" taste. I almost felt as if I could taste fishyness on the fish and chips on some corn fritters I fried in the "vegetable oil". However as I've used it more I've gotten used to it and also have been finding that in recipes like curries with a stronger flavour, that taste is masked. Now I know of the health benefits (low saturated fat, more omega 3) replacing it where I can seems worthwhile.

I have found that the cold pressed oil has less of the flavour that I initially found off-putting so have been using it a lot more than the vegetable oil.

I will continue to try different recipes this week and report back again.

Non official tester. We sometimes use rapeseed oil anyway and like it. I didn't know about all the health benefits before so this is an added bonus!

Tester here - I've previously used fry light si bit of a change. We really liked the cold pressed rapeseed oil as a salad dressing and I've also used the oil for making roasties.

I had no idea of the health benefits but would continue to use. I knew it was home grown as there's loads of fields of it near my dad's but wasn't ever an oil I really considered.

Very glad I got the opportunity to test.

Tester here - Sorry for the delay in posting; my storecard took a while to arrive so I rushed out excitedly on Friday and bought my 2 bottles of rapeseed oil and got cracking right away!

Although I'd heard of rapeseed oil previously, and I knew that it was usually the main/sole ingredient in Vegetable oil, I had absolutely no idea of the health benefits or that there was a cold-pressed variety suitable for salad dressing etc. In fact, it has never occurred to me to treat even the vegetable oil variety as anything other than "last resort" so I was quite startled by the health benefits.

I tried replacing olive oil and extra virgin olive oil in a few recipes - see pics. The taste of the oil is quite different, especially in salad dressings: much nuttier and a bit gentler than e.v. Olive oil. I found I needed a lot more oil to balance out the red wine vinegar, but didn't feel too bad about it because my bottle of cold pressed rapeseed oil had some amazing facts on the back about how much lower fat it is!!

Overall, I quite liked the cold-press version for cooking Middle eastern recipes (like the lentil stuff peppers with feta, in the oven) and for nut and couscous salads, but we weren't quite so keen on it replacing the olive oil drizzled neat on the tricoloure (mozzarella, tomato, avocado).

No pics, but I swapped out my regular sunflower oil for the "cheap and cheerful" rapeseed oil for a batch of chocolate cakes and they worked really well. So well, that I will probably stick with rapeseed oil in future!

Official Tester

I vaguely knew the benefits of rapeseed oil. I have used it before a while ago. On this occasion, I used Sainsburys cold pressed rapeseed oil and an ordinary veg oil. I found the former to be more useful and better to have in - multiple uses for it. The vegetable oil is okay for frying but not much else. I prefer to just have one bottle of 'oil' in the cupboard which I can use for anything so would just stick to the cold pressed rapeseed oil. I found the cold pressed rapeseed oil excellent from frying onions, to making roasties, to baking blueberry muffins, to creating a fine (in my opinion) side salad dressing.

I have also found the cold pressed rapeseed oil useful for getting poached egg residue off my pans. (I was desperate for a quick method at the time.)

I think I might be tempted by the infusion garlic rapeseed oil that I also saw in Sainsburys.

Official tester

So here's one of the dishes - shallow fried using the refined Rapeseed oil/vegetable oil. They are Turkish boureks' and they tasted amazing. It is cooked mince lamb, potatoes, peas and carrots wrapped in fillo pastry and then shallow fried gently. We didn't notice any difference in taste/oil saturation than usual when using sunflower oil.
I thought I noticed slight discolouration of my rice today though, when I used the cold-pressed oil? I need to try it again and see if it happens again.

official tester
I purchased both bottles of oil and have been using it for last 7 days in all my cooking,i usually use olive oil and did not know the health benefits of rapeseed oil so am pleasantly surprised.
I have used the oil for roast potatoes frying eggs quorn and bacon and have been really pleased with the results as i have found food to be less greasy.
I have tried the oil in the recipes recommended and thought the creamy pesto mushrooms and halloumi on toast was delicious.i used the cold pressed in my salad dressings and really enjoyed it.
i will continue to use rapeseed oil as i like it better than my olive oil.

I'm already converted to rapeseed oil and have used it for years. The cold pressed stuff is much yellower in appearance and is nice for dressings but I use the cheaper stuff for cakes and frying and love it: