Everything about Mustard Oil totally explained
The term
mustard oil is used for two different oils that are made from
mustard seeds:* a fatty
vegetable oil resulting from pressing the seeds,
- an essential oil resulting from grinding the seeds, mixing them with water, and extracting the resulting volatile oil by distillation.
Mustard oil from pressed seeds
This oil has a strong smell, a little like strong
cabbage, a hot nutty taste, and is much used for cooking in
Orissa,
Bengal,
Bihar and other areas of
India and
Bangladesh. In north India, it's mainly used in frying
fritters. The oil makes up about 30% of the mustard seeds. It can be produced from black mustard (
Brassica nigra), brown Indian mustard (
Brassica juncea), and white mustard (
Brassica hirta).
Mustard oil is composed mostly of the
fatty acids
oleic acid,
linoleic acid and
erucic acid. At 5%, mustard seed oil has the lowest
saturated fat content of the edible oils.
In
India, mustard oil is generally heated almost to smoking before it's used for cooking; this may be an attempt to reduce the content of noxious substances such as erucic acid, and does reduce the strong smell and taste. Mustard oil isn't considered suitable for human consumption in the
United States,
Canada and the
European Union due to the high content of
erucic acid, which is considered noxious, although mustard oil with low erucic acid content is available. To get around the restriction in Western countries, the oil is often sold "for external use only" in stores catering to Indian immigrants, as in
North India, mustard oil is also used for rub-downs and massages (see
ayurveda), thought to improve blood circulation, muscular development and skin texture; the oil is also antibacterial.
In India, the restrictions on mustard oil are viewed as an attempt by foreign multi-national corporations to replace mustard oil with
canola oil, a variety of
rapeseed with a low
erucic acid content, but often from a
genetically modified canola. The East and North Indians have been using it for ages and deny that there's enough evidence for the toxicity of erucic acid, instead maintaining that mustard oil is beneficial to human health because of its low
saturated fat content, ideal ratio of
omega-3 and
omega 6 fatty acids (15g of omega 3 fats per 100g serving), content of
antioxidants and
vitamin E, as well as being cold-pressed (extracted at 45-50 degrees Celsius).
In
northern Italy, it's used in the fruit condiment called
mostarda.
Mustard oil from mixing seeds with water
The pungency of the
condiment mustard results when ground mustard seeds are mixed with
water,
vinegar, or other liquid (or even when chewed). Under these conditions, a chemical reaction between the
enzyme myrosinase and a
glucosinolate known as
sinigrin from the seeds of black mustard (
Brassica nigra) or brown Indian mustard (
Brassica juncea) produces
allyl isothiocyanate. By
distillation one can produce a very sharp-tasting
essential oil, sometimes called
volatile oil of mustard, containing more than 92% allyl isothiocyanate. The pungency of allyl isothiocyanate is due to the activation of the
TRPA1 ion channel in sensory neurons. White mustard
Brassica hirta doesn't yield
allyl isothiocyanate, but a different and milder
isothiocyanate.
Allyl isothiocyanate serves the plant as a defense against
herbivores. Since it's harmful to the plant itself, it's stored in the harmless form of a glucosinolate, separate from the myrosinase enzyme. Once the herbivore chews the plant, the noxious allyl isothiocyanate is produced. Allyl isothiocyanate is also responsible for the pungent taste of
horseradish and
wasabi. It can be produced synthetically, sometimes known as
synthetic mustard oil.
Because of the contained allyl isothiocyanate, this type of mustard oil is toxic and irritates the skin and
mucous membranes. In very small amounts, it's often used by the food industry for flavoring. It is also used to repel cats and dogs. It will also
denature alcohol, making it unfit for human consumption, thus avoiding the
taxes collected on alcoholic beverages.
The
CAS number of this type of mustard oil is 8007-40-7, and the CAS number of pure allyl isothiocyanate is 57-06-7.
Use of mustard oil in North Indian cultural activities
Mustard oil, though not very popular as a cooking oil in North India, still is intricately embedded in the culture, used in these contexts:
It is poured on both sides of threshold when someone important comes home for the first time (for example a newly-wedded couple or a son or daughter when returning after a long absence, or succeeding in an exams or election.
Used as traditional jaggo pot fuel in Punjabi weddings.
Used as part of home-made cosmetics during mayian.Further Information
Get more info on 'Mustard Oil'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://mustard_oil.totallyexplained.com">Mustard oil Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
