Does anyone know where to find Varieties with both Low Erucic Acid & Glucosinolates that are open source we could start a Canola Oil Landrace with? Most are known as LEAR (Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed) Cultivars but not sure bout the Open source status.
Nearly all are closed source industry secrets with most being GMO with CMS (To encourage Out-Crossing & exploit Hybrid Vigor), not to mention Monsanto got their hands dirty with lots of GMO Cultivars specifically bred to be resistant to their Glyphosate Roundup.
My goal is an Open Source Canola Mustard Seed oil that's low in both Erucic Acid & Glucosinolates.
I'm hoping I won't have to start from scratch & can callaborate with others to speed run the effort if we do.
Here's what I learned, please let me know if I understood something incorrectly.
Erucic Acid is toxic in high concentrations but is not the part that causes Spicyness in Mustard seeds thus it can't really be selected by tasting the seeds. Glucosinolates are also toxic in high concentrations, these break down into compounds that taste spicy/pungent. Sometimes Glucosinolates don't break down into Spicy/Pungent compounds as is the case for Heatless Yellow Mustard (Sinapis alba) but they may still irritate the digestive system as evident by the "Weird Stomach Feel" I got from them despite being heatless.
This means I can eliminate all Glucosinolates (Even Heatless Glucosinolates) By selecting seeds that are both heatless & don't give me a weird stomach feel. However this only eliminates Glucosinolates, Erucic Acid may still be present as it isn't really detectable by Eating the seeds directly so I can't properly weed out high Erucic Acid Seeds by Taste alone.
The only way to "Taste" select for Erucic Acid is by tasting the oil quality it makes. Mustard seeds can derive their oil content from Erucic Acid or Oleic Acid. Rapeseed cultivars (I know the worst possible Common name for a plant) are bred to be very low in Erucic Acid, mostly making up their oil content in Oleic Acid.
Erucic & Oleic Acid are both oily but have different texture/mouth feel, Erucic Acid taste bitter with Harsh Aftertaste, Gritty with a Waxy Texture or Coating Sensation vs Olecic acid is much milder, smooth light texture without the bitter or Gritty traits. I've never personally experienced this so I have no Baseline to judge it accordingly but the idea is you'd save seeds that made good tasting oil without Harsh aftertaste & Waxy texture. Of course the most ideal way is to get it Chemically Tested for Erucic Acid with Specialized Lab Equipment, typically quantified though Gas Chromotgraphy (GC).
As for making mustard Oil, you can grind up mustard seeds, boil the mixture, wait for oils & water to seperate & Scoop off the oil. This is know as hot Press but Cold Pressing Mustard oil aparently preserves more nutrients.
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As for Cold Pressing Mustard oil, Both of these are great options for small-scale home-use.
- A Piteba Manual Oil Press (Requires dedicated space work bench & a lot of Grunt Work)
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- or an Automatic Oil Press Machine (Which can do both Hot & Cold Press & Press continuously for 24 hours).
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I've also learned you can make mustard sauce with Canola but if you remove all the glucosinolates entirely, you'll loose the traditional spicy pungent mustard kick. Is it still considered mustard sauce? Maybe Heatless Mustard sauce is a new culinary trait to explore!
Mustard sauce is easy to make right? It's just Crushed Mustard seeds, Vinegar & other juices/flavors/spices to taste?
Here's what Forager Samuel Thayer said about Making Mustard with Brassica nigra. I haven't tried it yet.
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Might it be easier to explore other Mustard family species? I really enjoy the flavor of Garlic Mustard Seeds (Allaria petiolata), could it make good mustard sauce or Seed oil?
What about Camelina (Camelina sativa), was historically used to make a very high quality seed oil but was it edible too or only for non-edible utilitary purposes like for lamps?
What about the Phylogenically Sister Genus to Camelina, Shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris)? Does it also have potential to make high quality oil? What about a higher quality mustard sauce?
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From a Study I learned Shepards-Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) can show les than 1% erucic acid & less than 6 µmol/g of glucosinolates in the seeds (Makes sense cuz high quality Camalina sativa is phylogenically sister to Capsella), seveal chromosonal fragments were successfully introgressed into B. napus & B. rapa. Oh!?
https://trueleafmarket.com/products/rapeseed-canola-dwarf-essex
Canola as a crop has been around longer than the genetic modifications to the crop. It would require some research, but it doesn't seem impossible to find out what varieties were available before genetic modifications and patents and then obtain samples of those varieties. Then as long as you live in an area where GMO Canola is not produced and roadside populations aren't contaminated it would be pretty straightforward to start growing it as an oilseed crop. I don't know of an open-source variety but there are likely lots of non-gmo patent free varieties available for organic farming such as the dwarf essex I linked above.
You wonder about other mustard family oil seeds. However, I see no reason why a search for a source of dietary oils needs to stop at a plant family or even at plants. Sunflowers, safflower, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, other tree nuts, butter, and lard are also reasonable sources of dietary fats and oils. I recently noticed and shared Alik Pelman's video on his cropping system where he manages to grow his own food as a professor and he uses olives as his oil crop. Sunflower might make the most sense to me personally where I live and with my gardening experiences. Your bio says Maryland which strikes me as likely in the eastern hardwood forest biome. Samuel Thayer writes about using nut trees for oil production in that biome- which would be very sustainable when done in the proper habitats.
Are you sure Dwraf Sussex is okay? I asked if TLM knew the Erucic Acid Levels in that listing, sadly they didn't know or have that kind of info. :'(
Is it safe to assume? I don't have the Lab Set up for testing Erucic Acid Levels, meaning I will have to submit samples to a lab to get tested, no?
Even if the GMO Canola pollinates my non-gmo wild Canola, will I get sued? :-[
I've read Sam Thayer's chapter on making Bitternut Hickory Oil, Seems like another great alternative! It might be the better route to get my Oil Needs met in my climate, but what do you do about Canola or Camelina oil-seed potential? Ignore & forget? Why can't both be good?
I really want to try eating Canola Greens & Flower shoots like Broccoli! Plus I want to Make Mustard Sauce with Canola seeds & Broccoli Seeds, will Bitternut Hickory be good for Mustard Sauce? I know Maple Syrup x Mustard is the BEST Sauce ever! Hickories (Carya spp.) can also be tapped for syrup but takes more boiling than Sugar maple. Does Bitternut Hickory at least make good tasting water to drink?
I am not sure. More research needed. Not going to do it though. I'm gonna run with peanuts for 2025. John Sherck recommends them and he's tried some of the mustards. Peanuts might not do well but I'll test it this year.
Might grab some of Pascal Bauder's books on foraging or follow him on social media. He forages for mustard seeds, greens, and flowers. He makes mustard sauce from either seeds or flowers depending on what's available. Mustard family plants tend to be pretty invasive and thus widely available. For minor amounts of something foraging might be the way to go.
Problem is finding the right spot where mustard grows abundantly! If not, make them abundant, sow baby sow!