![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mustard seed oil
The Indian grocery store had several brands of mustard seed oil for sale, on the same shelf as the other vegetable oils. I was about to get one, thinking it would give stir fries extra zing. But the label said that it was "for external use only". The other brands all had the same warning. So I didn't buy it.
I had a vague memory of having used mustard seed oil for cooking in the past. I can't picture the bottle or remember anything I cooked with it. A bottle of oil would normally last me a long time. So I suspect the vague memory is false. (Although I have cooked with black mustard seeds themselves, and still have a jar of them.) But still, I wanted to know more about that warning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_oil
https://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Mustard-Oil-Statement.html
https://agardenerstable.com/2013/12/29/mustard-oil-for-external-use-only/
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/dining/american-chefs-discover-mustard-oil.html
In short, mustard seed oil is high in erucic acid. Animal tests showed adverse effects. It's been used for cooking in Asia for a long time. Human studies have had conflicting results; one study showed mustard oil had a protective effect. In reading the report on the latter, so many variables were involved that I'm not very convinced. But I'm not convinced that ingesting mustard seed oil is dangerous either.
I had a vague memory of having used mustard seed oil for cooking in the past. I can't picture the bottle or remember anything I cooked with it. A bottle of oil would normally last me a long time. So I suspect the vague memory is false. (Although I have cooked with black mustard seeds themselves, and still have a jar of them.) But still, I wanted to know more about that warning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_oil
https://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Mustard-Oil-Statement.html
https://agardenerstable.com/2013/12/29/mustard-oil-for-external-use-only/
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/dining/american-chefs-discover-mustard-oil.html
In short, mustard seed oil is high in erucic acid. Animal tests showed adverse effects. It's been used for cooking in Asia for a long time. Human studies have had conflicting results; one study showed mustard oil had a protective effect. In reading the report on the latter, so many variables were involved that I'm not very convinced. But I'm not convinced that ingesting mustard seed oil is dangerous either.