The term mustard oil is used for two different oils that are made from mustard seeds: Mustard seeds are small, about 1mm in diameter. ...

• 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.

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with cooking oil. ... An essential oil is a concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aromatic compounds extracted from plants. ... Laboratory distillation set-up using, without a fractionating column 1: Heat source 2: Still pot 3: Still head 4: Thermometer/Boiling point temperature 5: Condenser 6: Cooling water in 7: Cooling water out 8: Distillate/receiving flask 9: Vacuum/gas inlet 10: Still receiver 11: Heat control 12: Stirrer speed...

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 Bengal, Bihar and other areas of India and Bangladesh. 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). Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ... Bengal, known as Bôngo (Bengali: বঙ্গ), Bangla (বাংলা), Bôngodesh (বঙ্গদেশ), or Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ) in the Bengali language, is a region in the northeast of South Asia. ... Bihar (Hindi: बिहार, Urdu: بہار, IPA: ,  ) is a state of the Indian union situated in the eastern part of the country. ... Binomial name Brassica nigra L. Black mustard (Brassica nigra) is an annual weedy plant cultivated for its seeds, which are commonly used as a spice. ... Binomial name Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. ... Binomial name Sinapis alba White mustard (Sinapis alba) is an annual plant of the family Cruciferae. ...

There are several uses and benefits of mustard. Mustard seed can be added to food to make it more spicy. Mustard oil has inherent pungent flavour which is used for cooking food, body massage and as hair oil. All over India, mustard oil is used is most households for its flavour and taste. Body massage with mustard oil helps in better blood circulation, muscular development and good texture to human skin. It is also helpful in preventing dengue and fungal infection as it is antibacterial.

A recent study by Harvard school of medicine, AIIMS and St. Johns Hospital, Banglore concluded that chances of heart disease drop by nearly 70% on use of mustard oil as cooking medium. Mustard oil has lowest amount of saturated fats (which causes heart problems) and high amount s of mono unsaturated (MUFA) and polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids (which are good for heart). Mustard oil has ideal ratio of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids which are considered good for human health. Mustard oil is an excellent source of natural antioxidants found in the form of Vitamin E which is important for normal growth and development of human beings.

World wide there is a preference for using oil extracted at a low temperature (called cold pressed oil). This process retains essential nutrients. Mustard oil is extracted at 45 – 50 degrees C which retains the natural properties of mustard seed. Also no chemicals are added during the process of its extraction which makes it pure and natural. On the other hand refined vegetable oils are heated to 250 C and are chemically processed. At such high temperature refined oils may lose some essential nutrient components.

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 chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid often with a long unbranched aliphatic tail (chain), which is either saturated or unsaturated. ... Oleic acid is a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid found in various animal and vegetable sources. ... The chemical strucuture of linoleic acid showing physiological numbering (red) and chemical numbering (blue) conventions. ... Erucic acid Erucic acid is a fatty acid found in rapeseed, wallflower seed, and mustard seed, making up 40 to 50 percent of their oil. ... Saturated fat is fat that consists of triglycerides containing only saturated fatty acids. ...

Due to its high content of erucic acid, which is considered noxious, mustard oil is not considered suitable for human consumption in the United States, Canada and the European Union, although mustard oil with a low content of erucic acid is available. In India, mustard oil is generally heated almost to smoking before it is used for cooking; this may be an attempt to reduce the content of noxious substances, and does reduce the strong smell and taste.

In North India, mustard oil is also used for rub-downs and massages (see ayurveda). To get around the restriction in Western countries, the oil is often sold "for external use only" in stores catering to Indian immigrants. Dark green region marks the approximate extent of northern India while the regions marked as light green lies within the sphere of north Indian influence. ... Shirodhara, one of the techniques of Ayurveda Ayurveda (Devanagari: ) or Ayurvedic medicine is a practice in use primarily in the Indian subcontinent, which advocates argue assists with health and healing. ...

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 for North Indians, mustard oil is not just a cooking medium but it is very much intricately interwoven with their culture. They have been using it for ages and dispute that there is enough evidence for the toxicity of erucic acid. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with rapeseed. ... Binomial name Brassica napus L. Rapeseed (Brassica napus), also known as Rape, Oilseed Rape, Rapa, Rapaseed and (one particular cultivar) Canola, is a bright yellow flowering member (related to mustard) of the family Brassicaceae. ... Erucic acid Erucic acid is a fatty acid found in rapeseed, wallflower seed, and mustard seed, making up 40 to 50 percent of their oil. ...

Mustard oil from mixing seeds with water

The pungent taste of the mustard condiment results when ground mustard seeds are mixed with water, vinegar, or other liquids (or when they are 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) leads to the production of allyl isothiocyanate. By distillation one can produce a very sharp tasting essential oil, sometimes called volatile oil of mustard, that contains more than 92% of allyl isothiocyanate. The white mustard Brassica hirta does not give allyl isothiocyanate, but a different and milder isothiocyanate. Mustard being spread on bread. ... Impact of a drop of water. ... Vinegar is sometimes infused with spices or herbs—as here, with oregano. ... Ribbon diagram of the enzyme TIM, surrounded by the space-filling model of the protein. ... Myrosinase ( Synonym: thioglucoside glucohydrolase) is not just a single enzyme but is a family or group of enzymes. ... The glucosinolates are a class of organic compounds that contain sulfur, nitrogen and a group derived from glucose. ... Sinigrin is a glucoside found in the seeds of black mustard (Brassica nigra). ... Binomial name Brassica nigra L. Black mustard (Brassica nigra) is an annual weedy plant cultivated for its seeds, which are commonly used as a spice. ... Binomial name Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. ... Allyl isothiocyanate is the chemical compound responsible for the pungent taste of mustard, horseradish and wasabi. ... Laboratory distillation set-up using, without a fractionating column 1: Heat source 2: Still pot 3: Still head 4: Thermometer/Boiling point temperature 5: Condenser 6: Cooling water in 7: Cooling water out 8: Distillate/receiving flask 9: Vacuum/gas inlet 10: Still receiver 11: Heat control 12: Stirrer speed... An essential oil is a concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aromatic compounds extracted from plants. ... Binomial name Sinapis alba White mustard (Sinapis alba) is an annual plant of the family Cruciferae. ... Isothiocyanate is the chemical group -N=C=S, formed by substituting sulfur for oxygen in the isocyanate group. ...

Allyl isothiocyanate serves the plant as a defense against herbivores. Since it is harmful to the plant itself, it is 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, and is sometimes known as synthetic mustard oil. A deer and two fawns feeding on some foliage A herbivore is often defined as any organism that eats only plants[1]. By that definition, many fungi, some bacteria, many animals, about 1% of flowering plants and some protists can be considered herbivores. ... Binomial name Armoracia rusticana P.G. Gaertn. ... Binomial name Wasabia japonica Matsum. ...

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 is often used by the food industry for flavoring. It is also used to repel cats and dogs, and to denature alcohol, making it unfit for human consumption to avoid the extra taxes collected on alcoholic beverages. The mucous membranes (or mucosae; singular: mucosa) are linings of mostly endodermal origin, covered in epithelium, and are involved in absorption and secretion. ... Denatured alcohol is ethanol with added adulterants that make it useless for consumption as an intoxicating beverage by rendering it toxic or extremely distasteful to drink, but still useful for industrial processes or as a household chemical. ... Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol, is a flammable, colorless, slightly toxic chemical compound with a distinctive perfume-like odor, and is the alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. ... This article is the current Taxation Collaboration of the Month. ...

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. CAS registry numbers are unique numerical identifiers for chemical compounds, polymers, biological sequences and alloys. ...

External links

• Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• Isolation of Erucic Acid from Mustard Seed Oil by Candida rugosa lipase
• The Mustard Seed Conspiracy by Vandana Shiva in The Ecologist, July 2001

^ Tanuja Rastogi (2004) Diet and risk of ischemic heart disease in India. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 79, No. 4, 582-592, April 2004. Retrieved 2007-01-29