Canola

Canola is a cultivar of rapeseed bred to be low in erucic acid. As a term canola may refer to both an edible oil (also known as canola oil) produced from the seed of any of several varieties of the Brassicaceae family of plants, and to those plants, namely a cultivar of Brassica napus L., Brassica rapa subsp. oleifera, syn. B. campestris L. or Brassica juncea. To be called canola, the oil must contain less than 2% erucic acid and the must contain less than 30 micromoles of aliphatic glucosinolates per gram.

Consumption of the oil is common and is claimed not only to be completely safe for human and animal consumption, but also to be among the healthiest of plant-derived oils, having a relatively low amount of saturated fat and a high content of polyunsaturated fats. It is also used as a source of biodiesel.

The name "canola" was chosen by the board of the Rapeseed Association of Canada in the 1970s: the "Can" part stands for Canada and "ola" refers to oil or oleum. One source purports it stands for Can(ada) + o(il) + l(ow) + a(cid).

Canola was developed through conventional plant breeding from rapeseed, an oilseed plant already used in ancient civilization as a fuel. The word "rape" in rapeseed comes from the Latin word rapum meaning turnip. Turnip, rutabaga, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, mustard, and many other vegetables are related to the two natural canola varieties commonly grown, which are cultivars of B. napus and B. rapa. The change in name serves to distinguish it from natural rapeseed oil, which has much higher erucic acid content.

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