Whence
Canola (the oilseed plant)
Plant

Where does Canola (the oilseed plant) come from?

Canola comes from the Canadian Prairies. Plant breeders in Winnipeg and Saskatoon turned rapeseed, an old oil crop, into canola in the 1970s, after years of work, and the name itself comes from 'Canadian oil'.

Rapeseed goes to war

Rapeseed was first grown in Canada as a field crop during the Second World War. Its oil binds to water- and steam-washed metal better than other lubricants, and the Allies urgently needed it for the engines of naval and merchant ships. In 1943 seed bought from American companies was sown on 1,300 hectares. Breeders at the federal research station in Saskatoon and, from 1953, at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg went on improving the crop, and Canada licensed its first rapeseed variety, Golden, in 1954.

Breeding a new oil

Old rapeseed oil was rich in erucic acid, and from 1956 its food value was questioned. Baldur Stefansson of the University of Manitoba and Keith Downey of Saskatoon found rapeseed plants low in erucic acid, and in 1968 came Oro, the first low-erucic variety of Brassica napus. Breeders also cut glucosinolates, sharp-tasting compounds that made the seed meal poor feed for livestock. In 1974 Stefansson released Tower, the first 'double low' variety. The new crop needed a new name: canola, registered as a trademark in 1978.

Why people think of Europe

Rapeseed itself is old. It has been an oil crop in Asia for almost 4,000 years, and in Europe it was burned in lamps and used for cooking since at least the Middle Ages. Before gas and kerosene its oil lit European homes and even railway carriages. Today oilseed rape, as it is often called there, is grown across Europe in rotation with wheat and barley, and Germany is among the biggest producers of rapeseed oil. But canola, with its strict limits on erucic acid and glucosinolates, was made in Canada.

Sources: canolacouncil.org ↗ · en.wikipedia.org › Rapeseed oil ↗ · en.wikipedia.org › Rapeseed ↗ · thecanadianencyclopedia.ca ↗

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