What exactly is Canola?

[GRLMGC]

I see corn oil, olive oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil. What the hell is canola?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. I asked at my healthfood store

They told me it was made from rapeseed, and we all know that "rapeseed oil" would never be a commercially viable name.

Hence, canola.

[GRLMGC]

4. Ahh, I see

Thanks!

[bif]

2. It's from the Canoodle plant

Just kidding! It's from rapeseed.

[BiggJawn]

3. Rapeseed oil.

They figured Murkans wouldn't buy something with "Rape" in the name ("I tellenya, Elvira, I cudda KNOWED thet boy was gonna git in trouble, what with you feed'im thet rapist oil and all...")
So they did some brainstorming and came up with the name Canola, which is a cross-eyed hack job on the phrase "Canadian Oil"...

[greendog]

5. It's grown here in NW Montana...

...green plant w/ yellow flower. Some of the fields are marked with a sign "canola".

[achtung_circus]

6. Canola does differ form rape.

Rape naturally contains high levels of eurycic acid which make it unpalatable. Rape was selected for low levels and by selective breeding it became something quite different, as far as eurycic acid is concerned and suitabvle for use as edible oil.

Plus it sounds better. A town in Manitoba (Brandon?) used to have a sign billing it as "The Land Of Rape and Honey" Not great for tourism.