Cast Iron

[Jayme]

Couple things. I was doing some reading on seasoning my cast iron and found this site:
http://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/ ... cast-iron/

Anyone know where to get food-grade flax seed oil?

Also while reading that article, it mentions this site:
http://www.asianexports.cn/cast-iron-co ... cat_6.html

I'm thinking of buying a dutch oven from them and posting it as a group buy. Anyone know of a better website/is there interest in a group buy?

[GAM]

I read that in an old Cooks Ill. last week.

I own cast pans. I may look at a Duchie.

Sandy

[CorneliusAlphonse]

I doubt her 'science'. at one point she mentions preheating the pan in order to "open the pores in the iron". now that's not to say if she is right or wrong on the flax seed oil. but a scientific approach would do several pans, each with a different type of oil, and see how they compared. something makes me think 6 to 10 coats of any appropriate oil/fat will give you a good surface.

a good read nonetheless!

[NASH]

Any of the high scoring iodine-value oils are excellent for seasoning. It's the measure that determines whether it's a drying oil or not, the iodine value must be above 130 to be a drying oil. Generally the higher number is better for seasoning. Flax does have the highest ALA content so it may be the best, not sure about her science on that one. I usually use hemp oil since I always have it on hand, it does an amazing job.

Iodine values of some of the more common oils:

Sunflower Oil - 133
Safflower Oil - 145
Evening Primrose Oil - 160
Hemp Oil - 167
Flax seed oil - 180
Rosehip Oil - 188

BTW, Flax seed oil is food grade, you can buy it or Hemp oil at most any supermarket but grab it in the refrigerator in the organic food section otherwise you'll be using some form of altered oil composition since the acids transform into trans-fats with light and heat exposure. Clear bottles of oil exposed to light and stored at ambient temps on the shelf are garbage, they'll be fully converted inside ~ 6 months not to mention they aren't properly processed to begin with. Never buy 'healthy' oils for your diet off the supermarket shelf!

[GAM]

Hemp Oil!

HA, HA!

Sandy

[Jayme]

Never buy 'healthy' oils for your diet off the supermarket shelf!

Huh... I did not know that. Olive oil included? I need to catch up on some reading.. Seems to be a good time to strongly consider buying a Piteba press and just make my own damn oil!

[NASH]

Never buy 'healthy' oils for your diet off the supermarket shelf!

Huh... I did not know that. Olive oil included? I need to catch up on some reading.. Seems to be a good time to strongly consider buying a Piteba press and just make my own damn oil!

To a certain extent yes. OO isn't as susceptible to going rancid (happens long before we can taste it) as fast as many other oils but the cheaper the OO, the faster it will turn and become deadly with free radicals so always store cheap OO cold not ambient. EVOO is best kept at cellar temps.

It's fucking unbelievable how the shelves are full of these oils in supermarkets, no packaging or press dates etc, clear bottles exposing them to light, cheap stuff is bleached and deodorized so if it does go rancid with trans-fats and free radicals we'll never know it. Fuck. You won't catch me drinking any of it! Don't buy it unless it comes clearly labeled with a best before date at least. And they wonder why everyone is kicking off with cancer

[Jayme]

Wow... That sucks haha. Well at least now is as good a time as any to change habits and hopefully stop slowly killing myself! Yayyy!

[CorneliusAlphonse]

Don't buy it unless it comes clearly labeled with a best before date at least. And they wonder why everyone is kicking off with cancer

where does one go about getting oils like this? there's an olive oil place in the hydrostone, but otherwise i dunno. is it important for, eg, canola oil?

[Jayme]

Pretty sure canola = bad, evil, deadly, right off the shelf.

[Jayme]

http://www.naturalnews.com/026630_oil_canola.html

[CorneliusAlphonse]

http://www.naturalnews.com/026630_oil_canola.html

thanks for the link... not to be offensive, but it is kind of a fearmongering article on the chemistry of canola oil... but it was written by a psychologist.

he doesn't raise any actual issues with it (they use chemicals in the extraction process! horrible!) the biggest issue he does raise, and it is legitimate, that it has not been around as long as olive oil, and not many studies have been done on it. not sure if it's true, but if it is, legitimate concern.

[NASH]

Don't buy it unless it comes clearly labeled with a best before date at least. And they wonder why everyone is kicking off with cancer

where does one go about getting oils like this? there's an olive oil place in the hydrostone, but otherwise i dunno. is it important for, eg, canola oil?

Yeah Canola oil blows. There's a chart online somewhere that shows the chemical structure of Canola oil, add a single molecular link to it and it was PVC or some type of plastic! Me thinks the Canola council had it removed

Extra Virgin Olive oil is pretty stable at room temp so not as much concern there at all, it's the cheap olive oils that go nasty in short order. Frugal shoppers are killing themselves The organic food section refrigerators at the local supermarkets carry selections of Flax and Hemp, Coconut and likely others but don't be afraid of package dated extra virgin off the shelf.

Some crazy reading here:
http://www.earthrainbownetwork.com/FoodSafetyFiles5.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.bhawkindustries.com/blank?pa ... rodstart=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://customers.hbci.com/~wenonah/new/canola.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In this Issue:

Are You Cooking with Motor Oil?

Warning: Mad Scientists at Work...on Your Blood Pressure...

Doctor Kickbacks Leading to Drugged Children...
Are You Cooking with Motor Oil?

There is a food in your home right now whose name translates to Canadian Oil and millions of people use it every day to prepare their family’s meal. Are you?

What’s worse is that the food product is promoted as a healthy alternative to other cooking oils.
Here are a few of the risks my research turned up on one of the commercial food industry’s favorite ingredients:

Heart attack
Stroke
Heart lesions
High blood pressure
Vitamin deficiencies
Hemorrhaging
Free radical damage
Retarded growth
I’m talking about canola oil.

This is something that’s been marketed for years as a “good” alternative to butter, lard, and other edible fats...but a group of chemists practically made it up from scratch. It isn’t found anywhere in Nature. Chances are you’ve eaten a lot of it without knowing it. You’ll find it in restaurants and kitchens all over the country...and it’s a potential killer.

Today, I’ll tell you what you need to know about canola oil, and give you a safe, natural alternative that’s actually good for you.

Meet the Canola Plant

Think about it: olive oil comes from olives. Peanut oil comes from peanuts. So where does “canola oil” come from?

Here’s a hint: the kind of “plant” it comes from doesn’t need sunlight, soil, or rain to thrive.

The word “canola” is an industry invention. And once you know where it really comes from, you’ll understand why the industry had to come up with a new name for it.

Canola is an artificial, processed oil made from rapeseed, a flowering plant of the brassica family, which includes cabbage, rutabagas, broccoli and turnips. “Rapeseed” comes from the Latin word for turnip, “rapum.” Not an especially appealing name.

It also turns out that for most of human history people didn’t think of it as an especially appealing food, either.

Asians used rapeseed oil to light their lamps for centuries. Then during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, machinists found that it worked well as an engine lubricant. It even played a crucial role in combat operations for the US Naval fleet during World War II.

Today it’s used in all kinds of industries. It happens to be a great insect repellent. You’ll also find it in synthetic rubbers, ink, even soap...

Your Salad Dressing Could Be Toxic

You may be wondering how rapeseed oil turned into “canola” oil—and how it came to be considered a food in the first place.

It all started with the mainstream medical establishment and food industry’s obsession with so-called “bad” fats. Back in the late 70s, they were looking for something to replace corn and soybean oil.

They’d promoted these oils for years as more healthy than traditional fats like butter, lard, or palm oil. But new science was emerging indicating that the oils they were peddling to the public were actually unhealthy.

There were other healthy options available, like olive oil. But olive oil was too expensive to use because it wasn’t a major crop. And it doesn’t blend well into most mass-produced, processed foods. So the industry went looking for something inexpensive, “healthy,” plentiful that would be easy to store, transport, and include in commercial food production.

That’s how rapeseed oil made it onto the industry’s radar screen. It had been widely used in Asian countries. It was cheap, easy to grow, and there was a readily available source nearby, in Canada, where it was farmed in abundance.

Scientists found that it was rich in what they considered healthy vegetable fats, including omega-3. But there was a big problem: two thirds of the fat in rapeseed oil is “erucic acid.” This is a dangerous toxin that can cause deadly heart lesions.

Then in 1978 a few Canadian agricultural specialists figured out how to breed a strain of rapeseed that was low in erucic acid.1 Suddenly, the industry had its new “healthy” alternative. And that’s how it eventually got its name: “canola” stands for “Canadian oil, low acid.”

The problem is that canola doesn’t really resemble the rapeseed oil found in Asia. In places like India and China, they traditionally pre-cooked the seeds before they extracted the oil, and they used stone presses to make it. They sold it soon after they made it, so it was fresh and pure. The process was entirely natural.

Compare that with the industrial processes used to make canola here: high temperature pressing in metal vats; blasting with chemical solvents to remove the oil; bleaching; soaking in acid; and “deodorizing,” since some of the omega-3 in the oil goes rancid and creates a foul odor.

Traces of these chemicals remain in the oil, particularly hexane. Hexane’s a component of gasoline. It’s used to make shoes, leather products—even roofing! Its toxic effects on the body are well known. It causes nerve damage,2 and the gas emissions from industrial hexane can cause cancer. In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency issued regulations on commercial hexane use in 2001 because of the serious cancer risks.3

They Can’t Back Up Their Claims

One of the problems with all the industry’s health claims about canola is that there are virtually no studies of canola’s effects on humans. But the research done in animal studies paints a grim picture.

Canola has been shown to retard growth and cause heart lesions in rats.4 Newborn piglets fed a formula with canola oil developed a vitamin E deficiency in one study. Vitamin E’s a key ally in overall heart health, protects eyesight, and acts as a powerful antioxidant. They also suffered from sustained bleeding, because a diet high in canola lowered their platelet count (platelets are what help your blood to clot and stop hemorrhaging).5

Another recent study found that canola worsens high blood pressure, and stroke in rats genetically prone to these health conditions.6

Yet we’re still hearing about how good canola is for you. Millions of Americans are pouring this stuff on their salads or eating foods fried in it, thinking it’s great for their health. They may as well be eating their shoes.

Try This Truly Healthy Oil From Nature, Not Industry

For some reason, the word still hasn’t gotten out on this, but there’s a natural plant-based alternative to canola that’s plentiful, and safe for all kinds of cooking. It’s easily digested, free of toxins... and actually comes with a host of major health benefits.

It’s coconut oil.

I still scratch my head over why this isn’t the best-selling edible oil in the world. The fact is that conclusive clinical evidence of its health-promoting power has been around for over 30 years.

Coconut oil has the power to

Power overall heart health
Boost your metabolism
Raise your antioxidant levels
Promote weight loss
Strengthen your immune system
Stimulate healthy thyroid function
Maintain healthy cholesterol balance
You can even use it as a skin care product. It helps to moisturize and keeps your skin elastic, radiant, and youthful.

Unlike canola, coconut oil actually protects the heart by keeping fat and cholesterol in your bloodstream in proper balance. One study looked at native island tribes in the South Pacific whose diets were heavy in coconut oil.7

They had perfect serum lipid and cholesterol profiles at the start of the study. But once they migrated to New Zealand and stopped using coconut oil, their total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol increased, and their HDL cholesterol (the good kind) decreased.

It’s also been shown to ramp up your body’s ability to convert fat into energy, increasing your metabolism and actually helping you to lose weight.

The most recent research also suggests that the natural health-promoting compounds in coconut oil can actually prevent free radical damage.8

Finally, coconut oil contains lauric acid, one of the key building blocks of your immune system and a powerful anti-viral/anti-microbial.

In other words, you should make coconut oil one of the staples in your kitchen. Unlike olive oil, coconut oil’s stable at very high temperatures, so you can put it on salad or fry with it. It won’t start to smoke and burn your food like olive oil

I recommend finding an organic, extra virgin brand at your local health food store or on line. These give you all the health benefits and are free of any industrial contaminants.

____________________

1 RK Downey. “Genetic Control of Fatty Acid Biosynthesis in Rapeseed.” Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society. 1964. 41:475-478.
2 Hathaway GJ, Proctor NH, Hughes JP, and Fischman M. Proctor and Hughes' chemical hazards of the workplace. 3rd ed. 1991. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
3 Anuradee Witthayapanyanon and Linh Do. “Nanostructured Microemulsions as Alternative Solvents to VOCs in Cleaning Technologies and Vegetable Oil Extraction.” 2005. National Center For Environmental Research.
4 Trenholm et al. “An Evaluation of the Relationship of Deitary Fatty Acids to Incidence of Myocardial Lesions in Male Rats.” Canadian Institute of Food Science Technology Journal. 1979. 12(4):189-193
5 Kramer et al. “Hematological and lipid changes in newborn piglets fed milk-replacer diets containing erucic acid.” Lipids. 1998. 33(1):1-10.
6 Ratnayake et al. “Influence of Sources of Dietary Oils on the Life Span of Stroke-Prone Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.” Lipids. 2000. 35(4):409-420.
7 Prior et al. “Cholesterol, coconuts, and diet on Polynesian atolls: a natural experiment: the Pukapuka and Tokelau Island studies.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1981. 34:1552-1561.
8 Nevin and Rajamohan. “Virgin coconut oil supplemented diet increases the antioxidant status in rats.” Food Chemistry. 2006. 99(2): 260-266.

[derek]

Extra Virgin Olive oil is pretty stable at room temp so not as much concern there at all, it's the cheap olive oils that go nasty in short order.

Unfortunately, "Extra Virgin" olive oil is apparently one of the most counterfeited commodities in the world.

http://www.fakefoodwatch.com/2012/02/gr ... am-in.html
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007 ... ct_mueller

[mr x]

Olive oil is wayyyyyyyy down the list of things that is going to kill me, lol. FWIW, I prefer safflower and grapeseed oil.

[benwedge]

Frugal shoppers are killing themselves

I think you mean cheap shoppers. Frugal people look around for the best deal on what they want/need, like getting beer during happy hour only.

[chalmers]

Yeah Canola oil blows. There's a chart online somewhere that shows the chemical structure of Canola oil, add a single molecular link to it and it was PVC or some type of plastic! Me thinks the Canola council had it removed

The chemist in me went a bit crazy when I read that, sorry Nash.
Canola oil is a mixture of several oils, including several long-chained carboxylic acids. (1)
PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) is a polymer of an alkane with a chlorine group on it (2).
The plastics we know of are also polymers (many linked chains of alkanes and other similar groups). (3)

They are not the same, and adding one molecular link any of the oils won't make a plastic.

And I don't work for the Canola Council. They stopped paying me years ago. (Sarcasm)



1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canola#Health_Information" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_ ... production" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic#Composition" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[NASH]

Yeah Canola oil blows. There's a chart online somewhere that shows the chemical structure of Canola oil, add a single molecular link to it and it was PVC or some type of plastic! Me thinks the Canola council had it removed

The chemist in me went a bit crazy when I read that, sorry Nash.
Canola oil is a mixture of several oils, including several long-chained carboxylic acids. (1)
PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) is a polymer of an alkane with a chlorine group on it (2).
The plastics we know of are also polymers (many linked chains of alkanes and other similar groups). (3)

They are not the same, and adding one molecular link any of the oils won't make a plastic.

And I don't work for the Canola Council. They stopped paying me years ago. (Sarcasm)



1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canola#Health_Information" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_ ... production" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic#Composition" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Be sorry for the dumb fuck that made the chart and posted it online, not me.

[NASH]

Frugal shoppers are killing themselves

I think you mean cheap shoppers. Frugal people look around for the best deal on what they want/need, like getting beer during happy hour only.

No. I meant frugal shoppers

[NASH]

Olive oil is wayyyyyyyy down the list of things that is going to kill me, lol. FWIW, I prefer safflower and grapeseed oil.

It's way down on my list too! I shall continue drinking the good stuff

[Jayme]

How's hemp oil for cooking? I'm going to pick some up on my way home to season my cast iron. Unfortunately not the 'good stuff' haha. Too expensive. Anyone see Run from the Cure: the Rick Simpson Story? http://www.phoenixtears.ca/

His claim of 'hemp oil' curing cancel may be far fetched, but at least you will be high as fuck all the time and no longer care.

Unrelated to that but speaking of frugal shoppers as mentioned by Nash - Gale Quiggly, or whatever her name is (I call her the Quiggler), has been giving horrible advice every Friday on the CBC news. She's a 'couponing expert' and has her own special segment . Problem is all the coupons and deals are for food that is just god awful. It's kind of a weekly tradition at Delta Force Brewery that I spend 5 minutes shouting horrible things at her on the TV Fridays after work.

[NASH]

How's hemp oil for cooking? I'm going to pick some up on my way home to season my cast iron. Unfortunately not the 'good stuff' haha. Too expensive. Anyone see Run from the Cure: the Rick Simpson Story? http://www.phoenixtears.ca/

His claim of 'hemp oil' curing cancel may be far fetched, but at least you will be high as fuck all the time and no longer care.

Unrelated to that but speaking of frugal shoppers as mentioned by Nash - Gale Quiggly, or whatever her name is (I call her the Quiggler), has been giving horrible advice every Friday on the CBC news. She's a 'couponing expert' and has her own special segment . Problem is all the coupons and deals are for food that is just god awful. It's kind of a weekly tradition at Delta Force Brewery that I spend 5 minutes shouting horrible things at her on the TV Fridays after work.

Ahahhaa! Get Gavin to video that sometime for us, but first chug a few RIS

I've never seen that coupon segment, have to check it out. There's a ton of advocates on the oil bandwagon for cancer but it's not exactly hemp oil

Hemp oil is no good for cooking. Well not traditional 'cooking'. It can't handle much heat at all, I use it in smoothies, ice cream, salads yadda yadda. Smoke point is 330 F so you stay well away from that number in cooking.

[Jayme]

Hemp oil it is not! That's just what Rick calls it in the documentary. He's got a pretty wild story though.

I was just looking at a bottle in the SS and yeah the 330F confused me. How do you season pans with it? Once it's dry on the pan will it burn above 330?

Indeed I was just looking at a bottle in Super Store

[mr x]

I think that wigged out coupon person is on Maritime Noon every so often as well.

[Jayme]

I think that wigged out coupon person is on Maritime Noon every so often as well.

She is the devil.