Quote:
Originally Posted by jimbop
Not too sure about this. Whilst rapeseed oil only became a human food after WW2 it has been used for industrial purposes like lubrication and as a biofuel (lamps etc) for centuries. I think it could even have been grown widely during the war for precisely these purposes but am not sure about this.
After WW2 the erucic acid was bred down to levels which made rapeseed oil fit for humans. Further refinements including the removal of bitter glucosinolates were done much later in the late 70's/early 80's to generate canola which certainly is a modern crop (and getting more modern with today's much more precise modifications).
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after speaking to several farmers about this who are all local to the area, and that i work for, they all said that rape wasn't grown in kent until well after the war.