[Sca-cooks] Rape Seed Oil, Canola Oil, and the Early Norse

[David Walddon]

In line. 

On Apr 25, 2013, at 3:58 PM, Terri Morgan wrote:

>> Define Viking-era Norse. 
> 
> Norse/Danish cultures found in Scandinavia, the British Islands, Greenland,
> and Iceland. (We are for the most part focussing on those settling in the
> British Islands) during the 700s-approx 1066.

That is what I figured. The range of counties and climates would allow for many different types of oil/fat usage. If we focus on the British Isles then the problem becomes 300 years! :) Of course the closer we get to 1066 the more written evidence we have access to, but the less "Viking" the Island becomes.  

>> I would be interested in the canola oil/rape seed oil extrapolation. 
> 
> Yes. My quick reading online about rape seed says that the oil contained a
> dangerous amount of acid up until the 1800s, so I had doubt that it was
> commonly used pre-1000 with any surety of safety.

I think we can look to the archeological record for seed production during the time period to extrapolate on this one. I think your below comment on flax is worth exploration but what is the smoke point of flax? I thought it was fairly low (but just off the top of my head). 

>> Do we know the technology used to process the amount of seeds
>> needed for this type of oil production existed? 
> 
> It appears that a certain amount of extraction was possible by crushing
> source and collecting the runoff. This made me curious about the possible
> use of flax seeds, as the seeds could be harvested before the flax was
> retted to make fibre for cloth.

Could be. Bingham also talks about Borage (or a type of borage) "sap" that might be (I need the original Latin) borage seed oil. But not for frying but for adding to ginger "cakes". 

>> If pork production was high I would think Lard would be one
>> of the most important oil products (easy to store and easy to produce). 

> But also quick to go rancid, wouldn't it be? (I'm hazy on that.)

In hot temperatures and with very small amounts of salt it is pretty stable for long period of times. 

So many questions! Such an interesting period to study. BUT I must say that I prefer all the questions around the written sources from 1460's Italy! :) 

> 
> 
> Hrothny
> 
> 
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