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  • From: Michael Pilarski <friendsofthetrees@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Edible Oilseeds
  • Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:15:42 -0800 (PST)

Hi y'all,

I have noticed the many posts on oilseeds and thought I would share a list of
oilseeds I put together for my county which ranges from hardiness zone 5 to
zone 3. 

Michael Pilarski

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Oil-seed crops for the Okanogan
Friends of the Trees Society
A list of some possible food oil crops adapted to the
Okanogan climate. Hardiness zones 3 to 5.

 

Mustard seed oil. When I was in Nepal, I noted that the
grassroots populace relied a lot on mustard seed oil which they grew and
processed themselves, so it could not have been very high tech and must have
yielded a reasonable amount of oil for their efforts.  Subsistence farmers
are very good at determining
cost-benefits.

 

Canola (also called rape seed). It is not highly regarded as
a human food in some quarters. But it might be one of our best bets for
growing
our fuel oil.  A friend of mine
grew 100 acres of canola oil for a fuel crop in the Columbia Basin this year
and had good yields.

 

Apricot oil. This is from sweet-pit apricots developed in
central Asia and produced by subsistence farmers as a byproduct of the fruit
crop.  Most apricot cultivars in
the Okanogan have bitter pits and are not suited to human consumption in much
quantity.

 

Pumpkin seed oil. 
Supposed to be very healthful. It can be a byproduct of  food cultivars, but
cultivars are grown
specifically for oil.  I imagine
that the pumpkin/squash flesh of these would make good animal feed. 

 

Sunflower seed. One of our best bets.  I grew a big sunflower patch this 2008
season outside of Tonasket and noted that it was heavily infested with a seed
larvae. Possibly the native sunflower seed moth which attacks balsamroot and
Lomatium seed.  This brings up the
point that whatever oil seed crop we grow here has to be feasible with organic
pest-control methods and/or not have any pests when grown at commercial
levels.
Other people in the Okanogan have grown sunflower seed and had good yields and
no problems with pests

 

Safflower seed. 
Safflower gives good yields per acre in zone 5. I think it is a
mid-range food oil crop in terms of its health qualities.  This is a type of
thistle. My previous
research led me to think it was adapted to the warmer parts of the Columbia
Basin but I grew a few plants near Twisp a few years back and was heartened by
the results.  WSU says that they
are experimenting with fall-planted cultivars to get better yields. It is also
a well-known dye plant. 

 

Olives, True olives that is. I have not seen any indication
that olives would grow and produce in the Okanogan. Try California. Zone 7.

 

Flax seed or linseed. Hardy to zone 3. Easily turns rancid.
Usually not used in cooking.

 

Camelina sativa. Related to
Canola.  I ran across someone
selling this at the Montana barter fair and they were promoting it as a food
oil. Theirs was grown and produced in Montana. It is regarded as a low
maintenance crop in Europe and appears adapted to low fertility situations.
The
relatively small seeds (approx.1000 per gram) contain up to 40% oil. The oil
contains around 34 % Omega 3 fatty acids (Canola ca 9%) making it a very rich
plant source of this essential fatty acid.

 

Hemp seed. 
Great oil food, but currently illegal.

 

Grape seed oil. Good quality oil. Byproduct of large-scale
grape production.

 

Soybean oil. 
There are cultivars which could be grown for seed crops in the Okanogan,
but my understanding is that soybean oil is not very good for the human body.

 

Corn oil.  I
assume high technology to extract.

 

Walnut oil. 
High value edible oil. Is it worth extracting though?  Eating walnuts is
certainly one of the
best ways we can get our needed oil intake into our diet. Most nuts have a
high
oil content with the exception of chestnuts which is a carbohydrate crop.

 

Borage seed oil. 
Borage seed oil is regarded as one of the best sources of GLA. Gamma
linolenic acid (?).

I assume it would be low yield per acre.  I have grown borage for years, as
probably many of us have. It is easy to grow.  Very prolific of biomass.  The
seed is indeterminate ripening and shatters as it
ripens. The plant has many hairs which when processed after drying are very
tough on the lungs, so workers would have to wear good respiratory
protection.

 

Black currant seed oil.  A by-product of European black currants processed for
jellies, wine, etc. this would take huge areas of black currants and technical
machinery. A very high value oil for medicine.

 

Evening primrose oil. 
Another medicinal oil.  Easy
to grow. Needs mechanical harvesting and threshing. It is a weedy species and
would most likely naturalize to some extent or another.

 

Perilla seed oil. In the mint family. Small seeds,

 

Crambe. Its main commercial
growing center is in North Dakota USA. Non-edible. Bio-fuel oil.

 

Beech nut seed oil. 
Relatively rare, but was produced in beech tree forest areas.

 

Madia species. 
Annual plant with many species native to the west US. Seeds used as food
by Indians. May be source of oil.

 

The seed cake left over after oil pressing is always/almost
always? a high-value livestock feed.

 

Which oil crops have I missed mentioning?

 

Some sources for further info:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vegetable_oils#Major_oils

 

http://www.rirdc.gov.au/reports/NPP/03-045sum.html

RIRDC project UWA47 commencing in
July 1998 to terminate Dec 2002, had as its initial focus; a) the leguminous
oilseed Morama bean (Tylosema esculentum), native of Botswana, b) Niger or
Noog
(Guizotia abyssinica) the subtropical favored food oilseed of Ethiopia, and c)
Crambe (Crambe abyssinica) also a native of Ethiopia, commercially produced in
USA for use as an industrial lubricant. In the second year of the project the
potential value of oilseeds rich in essential fatty acids: Stock (Matthiola
incana), Borage (Borago officinalis) and Camelina sativa (Gold of pleasure),
were included. As part of the essential fatty acid research a survey of the
gamma linolenic acid content of locally adapted evening primrose (Oenothera
spp.) relatives was initiated after discussion with the RIRDC Research
Manager.
.Control. species were expanded from canola to include condiment oil seeds:
Indian mustard (Brassica juncea), Ethiopian mustard Brassica carinata and
later
linseed (Linum usitatissimum).

 

http://triplebio.wsu.edu/Research/biodiesel/oilseeds.html







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