Golden Rapeseed & Hiatus

A thing to look forward in May is definitely rapeseed field! :) And it is the time!

I posted a blog post about rapeseed last two years, you can check it H E R E.

Somehow, I am still confuse the differences between canola and rapeseed. They are both plant-based cooking oils that are originated from the same breed with slightly different chemical properties. From what I read, canola is created from rapeseed after removing two undesirable components via genetic breeding. 

The 'flower' of rapeseed.

In Czech, among Malaysians we don't call these bright yellow plants as canola, but more to rapeseed. Canola is more famous in USA & Canada, even canola is combination of "Canadian" and "Oil Low Acid" - CanOLA.

Interesting!

Last Thursday (11/5/2017), some of us decided to have a walk along the river. Studying can be tiring so much when we literally do revision all day long except walking to the toilet and daily prayers. Since the weather was nice that day, why not to have a photo shoot sessions with the rapeseed. Hehe.

Unfortunately, I am not photogenic so, you can't expect any model poses from me :p 

The girls :D

Do you guys know what is the main product of rapeseed?

Yes, the oil.

I think, palm oil is very limited here (I can't see any palm plantation anyway), but rapeseed oil is one of the most famous one used by Czechs, other than sunflower oil. 

Here I would like to share a video on how the rapeseed oil is made. Hmm actually, I can't find the one for rapeseed but since canola is quite similar to rapeseed, I guess the steps are almost the same :)

For those who don't want to watch the video hehe but want to know how it is produced, I compiled here the steps. Honestly, I never knew that we can get many other products from these plants other than oil. Thanks to the video, I learned some new information :)

Rapeseed and sunset

Steps:

1. The seeds are cleaned in vibrating sieves.
2. At the same time, foreign materials like plant pieces are filtered out.
3. These plant pieces can be further processed as animal feeds.
4. The seeds are then passed through a magnet - to remove any metals.
5. The seeds are passing through a roller mill - to crush into thin flakes.
6. The thin flakes are then squeezed with high pressure to get the oil (40% of canola seeds are oil).
7. The remaining of flakes are once again processed to get the oil.
8. Flakes are then formed into animal feeds, again.
9. Oil is then centrifuged (spin) to clean and remove any natural impurities. The natural impurities are sent to soap manufacturers (maybe to make soaps?).
10. The oil is cooled to 5 degree Celsius to thicken the waxes. (Canola oil is originally clear, but it may contain natural waxes that make it looks cloudy).
11. Waxes then can be filtered out and can be used to produce vegetable shortening.
12. After the canola odor is removed, the oil is finally refined and ready for bottling.

9 days left T_T palpitations. 

A thing I can reflect from the rapeseed is a lot of components of rapeseed can be useful for human and animals. That's a thing we need to do as a human being - to be beneficial to others. Physically, mentally, spiritually and with our knowledge :)

A reminder to myself, it is very encouraged to help people but please check our priorities. If we are in situation that will not allow us to help with that specific thing, don't. Learn to say no, politely.

Check our priorities. Lesson learned.
Take care of our own heart, if not us to take care of it, who else?

p/s - sorry, I am on hiatus. Will be back soon.

HK, Czech

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