I learnt something today...yesterday I was driving to Sezanne to do my shop and noticed with glee that the fields of, what I thought was Rapeseed, were all turning yellow and starting to create those gorgeous patchwork vistas we all associate with the country panorama's...
I stopped and snapped pic's all the way to Sezanne and with a plan to launch into a piece about Rapeseed oil
'Canola Oil' and the health benefits of using it in cooking etc. When at the supermarket I looked for a bottle of rapeseed oil wondering what the French name for it was...discovered a bottle of Colza Oil with a picture of the distinct yellow flowers and went home thinking that the mystery was solved...
BUT upon 'wikipediaing' Colza Oil I have discovered that is indeed a completely different, although similar looking, plant to Rapeseed...
Colza oil is, and I quote Wikipedia...'
Colza is extensively cultivated in France, Belgium, the United States, the Netherlands and Germany. In France, especially, the extraction of the oil is an important industry.
Colza oil is extensively used as a lubricant for machinery.
Colza oil was used extensively in European domestic lighting before the advent of coal (city) gas or kerosene. Colza oil was used in Gombault's Caustic Balsam,[2] a popular horse and human liniment at the turn of the 20th century.
Among the more unusual applications of colza oil is the calming of choppy seas, where the oil modifies the surface tension of the water and rapidly smooths the surface. Rescue and recovery operations have been made far less risky in this way.[3]
More recently, colza has been cultivated in Europe as an ingredient for bio diesel fuels.'
SO having lived surrounded by fields of Colza for the past few years it is interesting to know what it is all grown for...and that one day our kids may even drive a car fueled by the products of these gorgeous yellow fields that give me so much pleasure...so symbolic of the beginning of Spring....
So no food related comments today....luminations, lubricants and liniments instead. Off to cook 'Confit de Canard' and cherry sauce...Oh and for dessert...this fantastic Nigel Slater Mascarpone Strawberry Tart....a simple perfect finish to the palate after the heavy duck....
Bon Weekend...the sun will shine...Liliana 'Carnival' today...we are expecting her to visit the house at any moment...on mass with her classmates dressed like a cat!!
1 comment:
Oh I remember the fields of yellow as we flew over England.. a glorious sight. Your photos are fabulous.
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