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 had never used rapeseed oil before this trial! I found the refined rapeseed oil great for cooking our steaks and roasting. The cold pressed oil had a lovely 'nutty' taste to it and was great for our side salads and gorgeous on some avacado and salmon dinners!
We also tried it in a carrot cake which was lovely! Definitely changing my vegatable/olive oil now for rapeseed

Official tester: I'm really surprised by how I liked it. I used them for frying and there was no unpleasant smells that lingered and burned your eyes. The food tasted lovely. I tried the salad dressing recipe as well and was complemented by MIL. We also made muffins and banana loaf both were great. Definitely a convert here thanks for the chance to try something new

Having used both now over the course of the past two weeks, I really like he cold pressed, everything smells lovely in the pan while it's cooking and there's no residue. It turns out I've been using the rapeseed vegetable oil all along without even knowing it. I don't really find that any different from any other vegetable oil

Official tester.
I didn't cooked with rapeseed oil before.In last two weeks I put my olive oil aside and used rapeseed oil and I should say that I am impressed and don't know why I didn't used this oil before.Cold pressed oil was good in salads as added little bit of nutty flavour and was great in bread.Refined one I used as cooking oil and to made my home mayonnaise, so delicious and easy to make with hand blender .Meat or potatoes cooked in refined oil tasted good. I would definitely buy more. Last year when we went for short break to Devon from London in May rapeseed fields looked so beautiful and was joy to look at while we travelled as yellow is one of my favourite colour.
Thank you ! I enjoyed this challenge as it was easy to switch to rapeseed oil and I am buying more!

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

I already used cold pressed rapeseed oil sometimes in place of olive oil. I would sometimes buy vegetable oil as my all-purpose cooking oil but had no idea it was often made from rapeseed. I liked it but thought it had quite a strong flavour. I wanted to buy it as I'm trying to buy more British foods.

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

No, I liked the look of them but I just haven't had a chance.

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.

It's a beautiful looking oil, really vibrant yellow. I didn't get the weather for salads but imagine it would have been lovely with them. I've really come to like the flavour and it is cheaper and healthier than olive oil so will be sticking with it. It worked in everything I tried including curries and cakes!

Official tester

Let us know what you think of rapeseed oil and if you knew about the benefits already or not
I already use rapeseed oil. I started using it when I read somewhere that the health benefits of olive oil pretty much disappear once it's cooked. I didn't realise that most vegetable oil is actually rapeseed oil until I did this challenge though.
I like cooking with it and use it for anything with oil in. It works really well on roast potatoes.

Have you tried out any RapeseedOilBenefits.com recipes? How did you and your family find them?
I'm sorry I haven't, I just used it to cook our normal menu.

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.
Another thing I hadn't thought of until I did this test was the foodmiles aspect. It's something I'm getting increasingly conscious of - and as UK grown rapeseed is so widely available it is just another reason to use it.

Thanks for the trial

Official Tester

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

I have been using rapeseed oil for about the last 15 years - it is the healthiest of all the vegetable oils, I'm very aware of food choices and try to eat well whenever we can - I confess to eating chocolate but that's my main vice. I use it whenever I am heating fat - so for sautéing potatoes or chicken breasts, roasting potatoes, butternut squash or parsnips.

I first came across the cold pressed oils when I went to a celebration of a famous cooking school's 40th anniversary and they gave us each a bottle. I have been using it in salad dressings and when I drizzle oil over dishes just before serving.

Have you tried out any RapeseedOilBenefits.com recipes? No - I looked at them and they are the sort of dishes I already cook for our family using rapeseed oil.

Knowing that we are taking part in the challenge has led my husband to say he doesn't like the flavour of the cold pressed rapeseed oil but he hasn't said anything before now!

I was surprised by the number of different brands of cold pressed rapeseed oil now available, at the top of this post here's a picture from my local Sainsbury's.

Let us know what you think of rapeseed oil and if you knew about the benefits already or not.
Anywhere I could I swapped my usual oils for rapeseed oil and, honestly, health wise I didn't see any differences but for value and taste I did. For my usual staple recipes (and a few new ones I tried) I hardly had to use any oil! It was also very light so it didn't take away or overpower the flavors of what I was cooking

Have you tried out any RapeseedOilBenefits.com recipes? How did you and your family find them?
I tried out a few of them but a lot of the time I just substituted the oil in the recipes that I already used. My partner and daughter did not know the difference at all. I felt everything tasted a lot lighter and fresher. (I did utilise a lot of the stirfry recipes)

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.
The only thing that I failed miserably at were making dressings... I have no idea why as it seemed so simple but everyone I made wet weird (It is worth noting that is was me, not the oil....my brain subconsciously wants me to eat plain salads)

I was an official tester. I've used both types of oils quite a lot of the last few weeks and I think I will continue to do so. One of the biggest revelations for me was the vegetable oil being rapeseed oil - I would have been more likely to buy it in the past if it was properly labelled!

I really enjoyed the cake i made with the cold pressed oil and thought by the flavour was enhanced by the oil. I don't think I'll stop buying olive oil (esp for Italian food), but I can see myself having a bottle of rapeseed on the shelf as well.

Thanks for selecting me to take part in the trial!

Official tester.
Married to a farmer that grows oilseed rape so have already had the opportunity to try pure unprocessed rape seed oil. Very nutty flavour and quite strong. It also makes everything look very yellow!!!! On this note I prefer the processed/refined supermarket rape seed oil that is more less strong but still deliciously nutty. We use this all of the time! Beats other oils hands down!!

Didn't realis that the cheaper oils are actually rapeseed us but for cooking a carrot cake and a chocolate cake both very well received here. Used the rapeseed oil for stir fry very impressed with the higher smoking temperature made cooking easier. Am a convert definatly

I have started to use rapeseed oil for cooking after I read that Oliver oil is not suitable for high temperature frying, rapeseed oil is one of the oil that can be used or high temperature.
There might not be a huge difference in cooking with normal or organic rapeseed oil, but for health and environmental reasons, I will be buying the organic oil in future.

Official tester with slightly late comments! Thanks again for the opportunity to try the oils. I will definitely be carrying on using both types of oil. I have used the rapeseed oil in cooking curries and roast veg and some baking for a school fundraiser. Added a nice light texture. I will still keep an extra virgin olive oil for drizzling directly onto salad or veg, but will definitely use the cold pressed oil for dressings from now one, I like the lightness of it.

Overall enjoyed the test and being introduced to new products!

Official tester - I already use Crisp'n'dry oil, which is fab for frying.

I purchased KTC Finest British Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil which I used for frying, it's very yellow but the taste is the same as with my usual (olive) oil. I also used it on salad and it left no aftertaste.

Overall, I will probably purchase it more often knowing it's good for me, the only minus is its name, as someone here already mentioned :-)

Having tested the oils now, im so impressed with using a cold pressed, i have been using the standard oil instead of sunflower and ive been impressed with the cleaner taste.

I used the Mr Hugh's Cold Pressed and Crisp and Dry oils, and they are a welcome change from Olive Oil, I was really impressed about the lightness of the cold pressed oil when used to make a dressing. I have recommeneded to many of my family to try a cold pressed rapeseed oil.

@vincenta - tester - and @AndBabyMakesThree - non-tester - have both won supermarket vouchers!

Thank you. I'm thrilled!

This plant causes serious allergies, rapeseed should not be grown anywhere near inhabited areas and I would not touch the oil.

A message from RapeseedOilBenefits.com:

“Thanks for taking part in the Rapeseed Oil Benefits challenge.

It’s really useful and interesting to hear about your experiences. We’ve enjoyed reading your posts and seeing your photos and we’ve learnt lots! Thank you

Congratulations to the two lucky prize draw winners. Your prizes are on the way to you – enjoy

We hope the Rapeseed Oil Benefits challenge has inspired you. Please do help us to tell others about the benefits of rapeseed oil too.

Come back and visit our website for new blogs, recipes, videos, competitions and more – and feel free to sign up for our news alerts.

Thanks again!”