Rapeseed Oil Suppliers - The Life of a Rapeseed Plant

As rapeseed oil suppliers we feel it's vital that people know exactly where rapeseed oil starts from. Rapeseed (Brassica Napus) comes from the Brassica plant. Surprisingly enough this plant is part of the cabbage family and grows taller than the average person. Many of you in Britain may have spotted rapeseed fields turning our countryside into a wonderful yellow, over the past few years. During this period of flowering the rapeseed plant is only part-way through its cycle.

Larchwood Foods, one of the UK's leading rapeseed oil suppliers, plant their rapeseed (Brassica Napus) around the month of August. This is so that the plant gets a healthy amount of sunshine and rainfall. Thankfully this year due to the "indian summer" rains their crops got off to a healthy start and are at an ideal height. With the Winter months setting in this has resulted in their plants being healthy and strong ready for the tough weather.

Until this point, the Brassica Napus plant continues to grow, then during the winter period will lay dormant until early spring. When the weather begins to warm up again the rapeseed flourishes and quickly starts to grow again. By around April the rapeseed plants will begin to flower. After years and years of experience, rapeseed oil suppliers Larchwood Foods, make sure that they leave just enough room for the entire flower and stem to flourish so that the plants have an even distribution of leaves - this allows the sunlight to reach both the top and further down. This method, garnered from years of experience, guarantees mature, healthy plants.

The Brassica Napus plants then begin to fade to a light brown, losing their bright yellow colour. From here the plants are ready for the rapeseed oil suppliers to harvest, and can then go into storage for pressing, filtering, bottling and to be turned into the wonderful rapeseed oil as we know it best.

For more information about rapeseed oil suppliers, and the entire process involved with producing rapeseed oil, visit - http://www.larchwoodfoods.co.uk

Rapeseed Oil Suppliers: Demand of Rapeseed Oil to grow

Global canola research director David Charne last week stated that the world is currently producing around 58 million tonnes of oilseed brassicas - including canola, rapeseed and oilseed mustards. However demand is expected to hit 90 million tonnes by the end of the decade - a 50 percent increase. Charne said that around 20 percent of the required growth would come from an increased sowing area, but the rest would have to come from better productivity from rapeseed oil suppliers.

David Charne said "That means the growth in yield needs to be about 3 per cent a year." Rapeseed oil suppliers in Australia are producing the biggest crop ever this season at 2.5 million tonnes. However, Australia is actually a small producer globally, only accounting for roughly 4 percent of the estimated 58.3 million tonnes globally. Europe are one of the largest at 20.8 million tonnes produced, with China and North America following with 14 million tonnes each, and India with 7 million.

That said, is a 50 percent growth in production within the next 9 years achievable or sustainable for rapeseed oil suppliers? Dr Charne has stated that we're producing 70 percent more canola today than we were 10 years ago - an impressive number. However most of this growth has been in the area sown, wheras to reach a 90 million tonne crop by 2020 most of the emphasis for rapeseed oil suppliers would be placed on genetic improvement.

Interested in finding out more about rapeseed oil and rapeseed oil suppliers? Visit - http://www.larchwoodfoods.co.uk

Rapeseed Oil Suppliers: Ciabatta Recipe

Rapeseed oil is one of the most versatile vegetable oils available. With it's fantastic nutritional value and light buttery taste, it's ideal for a healthy diet in variety of different recipes. Although most people know it as being used as a salad dressing it can also be used in cakes, breads, spreads, sauces, pastries and more. As one of the UK's leading rapeseed oil suppliers we take great pride in our oil and love giving our readers new recipes to enjoy it in. For today's post we've got a very simple tasty ciabatta with rapeseed oil recipe.

Ingredients:

1. 350ml of lukewarm water
2. 500g Wright's Ciabatta Bread mix
3. 1tbsp of Mr Hugh's Rapeseed Oil

Method:

1. Put ciabatta mix into the bowl, add the water and mix together for 5 minutes until you form a ball of dough.
2. Add Mr Hugh's rapeseed oil and mix for 1 minute.
3. Place the dough on a floured surface and press-out to a 30 x 15cm rectangle and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
4. Split the dough into 2 parts, length-ways, and place on a greased baking tray. Dust the tops with flour and cover with a damp cloth or clingfilm. Leave to rise in a warm place for 25-30 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size.
5. Preheat the oven to 230'c (450'f) for fan assisted ovens of Gas Mark 8.
6. Uncover and bake in the oven for around 25 minutes (for 2 loaves), until golden brown. Turn out to cool on a wire rack.

We hope you enjoy the recipe and look forward to hearing your feedback. If you've got any recipes of your own be sure to let us know in the comments below. If you'd like to know more about rapeseed oil suppliers visit - http://www.larchwoodfoods.co.uk