Vegetable oil

“ Vegetable oils are extracted from the ground-nut, the oil-berry and the castor plant. The ground-nut oils are used by the natives for lights, the extract of the oil-berry is used for cooking, while the castor-oils are used as medicine, just as with civilized people. ”

“ Whenever vegetable oils and fats contain any especial quantity of linoleic acid, or any other fatty acid which has drying properties, they are rendered more or less unfit for human consumption. The number of drying oils is very great, but the most important are linseed oil, hempseed oil, and poppyseed oil. Other vegetable oils have, to a certain degree, drying [392] properties, and among those which are most marked in this particular may be mentioned cottonseed oil, sesamé oil, maize or corn oil, and rapeseed oil. ”

“ So important are vegetable oils deemed, that the Society of Arts, in its prize list for 1851, offered gold medals for the importation or introduction into this country of any new plants or trees from China, India, or elsewhere, producing oils or fatty substances, such as can be used as food, or are applicable to manufacturing purposes; and also to the person who shall manufacture and import the finest specimen of oil, not less than ten gallons, the produce of olives grown in any British colony in Africa or Australasia. ”

“ When pure and fresh they usually have little or no taste or smell; but, when exposed to the air, they become darker in color, have a disagreeable taste and smell, and are called rancid. As examples of vegetable oils we have cottonseed-oil, linseed-oil, olive-oil, almond-oil and cocoa-butter. Linseed is brought largely from Russia and India; Africa supplies palm-oil; India and the Pacific islands cocoanut-oil; while the best olive-oil is brought from Italy. In animal oils the principal ones are butter, lard, tallow, neatsfoot-oil and sperm-oil. ”

“ It seems quite certain that the use of vegetable oils and fats will be greatly increased in this country. All hygienists grant that they are at least equally as wholesome as the animal fat and oil. They are certainly less open to suspicion as having been derived from diseased sources. As a rule, they are carefully expressed and properly refined, free from rancidity and from any mechanical or chemical constituents which render them [77] unpalatable or unwholesome. They are generally much cheaper, perhaps the only exception being that of olive oil. ”

“ But just as the texture of linen is infinitely finer and more beautiful than that of broadcloth or flannel, so is vegetable oil clearer and more inodorous than animal oil, for which reasons the former, instead of the latter, is almost invariably used by perfumers in concocting what is sold by them as "hair oil," which, when extracted from almonds, olives, or any other vegetable substance, is, although highly scented, exactly as injurious to hair as it would be to harness ”

“ Palm oil is a pure vegetable oil derived from the fruit of palm trees, which grow in certain parts of Africa, and has about the consistence of pure butter. Palm oil consists almost entirely of palmatine and olein, which are the chief constituents of pure butter. Palm oil is perfectly wholesome, is readily digested, and has long been used as an article of food in countries where it is produced. Palm oil was successfully employed in oleomargarine prior to May, 1902, and is a proper constituent of oleomargarine. ”

“ The vegetable oils and animal fats, capable of saponification, are very numerous; but those most commonly employed in the manufacture of the soaps of commerce, are olive-oil, whale-oil, tallow, lard, palm-oil, and rosin; and the alkalies with which these are most frequently combined, are soda, the ley of ashes, or its residuum, potash. ”

“ The oil is violently agitated along with 11⁄2 to 2% of concentrated sulphuric acid, when it assumes a greenish colour, and, after about a fortnight’s repose, deposits much colouring matter, becomes paler, and burns with greater brilliancy, particularly if well washed with steam or hot water, and clarified by subsequent repose or by filtration. This answers well for most of the recently expressed vegetable oils. It also greatly improves most of the fish oils. ”

“ Manufacturing businesses dealing with vegetable substances are often offensive, but rarely give out disgusting effluvia. The most offensive vegetable effluvia are probably those thrown off during the heating of vegetable oils, as in the boiling of linseed oil, the manufacture of palmitic acid from cotton oil or palm oil, the manufacture of some kinds of121 varnish, the drying of fabrics coated with such varnishes, and the burning of painted articles, such as disused meat-tins. ”

“ By far the most important of edible oils, both on account of its abundance and of its palatability, is olive oil. Olive oil has been used from the earliest historical times and probably was the first vegetable oil that was manufactured to any considerable extent in the early history of civilization. ”

“ Enquiries should be directed to the specific gravity, the boiling point, the per centage of pure oil in the seeds, and the means of obtaining a regular supply. The demand for vegetable oils in European commerce has been steadily on the increase for several years past, and the quantities consumed are now so large that the oleaginous products of India and the colonies must sooner or later have a considerable commercial importance, from the value which they are likely to acquire. ”

“ Fat from soup and drippings need only be clarified before using for cooking; suet and other uncooked fat of meat must be first tried out.
(e) Vegetable Oils.—The oil from cottonseed, corn, and peanut is prepared for table use and sold under various trade names. Oil is also extracted from the olive. This is an extremely expensive oil. Its food value is no greater than that of other vegetable oils; only "olive flavor" is secured for the greater price. Refined cottonseed and corn oils are bland in flavor. Peanut has a characteristic flavor pleasing to most persons. ”

“ Vegetable substances yield a very great quantity and variety of oils: for there is not a plant, or part of a plant, that does not contain one or more sorts thereof, generally peculiar to itself, and different from all others.
By expression only, that is, by bruising and squeezing vegetable substances, particularly certain fruits and seeds, a sort of oil is obtained which has scarce any smell or taste. ”

“ This is a wholesome oil with a fragrant odour and pleasant taste, which is largely used as a salad oil in certain parts of Europe. It is one of the few vegetable oils that can be detected by means of a special colour reaction; for on treating the oil with a particular reagent it gives a bright rose colour, and the test is so sensitive that it will detect the presence of even a small percentage of sesame oil in other fats.
A compulsory addition of a small amount of sesame oil to all margarine, therefore, affords an absolutely certain means of recognising the margarine subsequently. ”

“ Shanghae oil, from Brassica Chinensis. Illiepie oil, from Bassia longifolia, which is used for frying cakes, &c., in Madras; and Muohwa oil, from another species of the same genus in Bengal, B. latifolia. Oil is expressed from the seeds of Cæsalpina oleosperma, a native of the East. The neem tree seeds afford a very clear or bitter oil, used for burning.
Wood oil is a remarkable substance, obtained from several species of Dipterocarpus, by simply tapping the tree.
The horse-eyes and cacoons of Jamaica (Fevillea scandens) yield a considerable quantity of oil or fat, as white and hard as tallow. ”

“ Now that the reconstructive properties of cottonseed oil are better appreciated by the profession, the advantages that follow the administration of a palatable emulsion of this strengthening and fattening food product are being demonstrated in hundreds of cases where formerly reliance would have been placed in cod liver oil.... A recent writer says that pure cottonseed oil is the greatest and purest vegetable oil known to chemistry, and will do much toward revolutionizing the treatment of the GREAT WHITE PLAGUE.... ”

“ We have every reason to believe that the oils which are found in plants are produced there as the results of certain processes which are proceeding within the plant, and there is no evidence to show that any part of it is ever absorbed in the state of oil by the roots when they are presented to them. ”

“ Other vegetable oils may be employed besides castor oil, and the quantity of unsaponified oil present may be increased by stirring the prepared liquid with a fresh quantity of castor or other vegetable oil. The product is slightly alkaline, but wool fiber is not injured, as the oiling may be done in the cold. The solution is clear and limpid, and will not separate out on standing like an emulsion. This product in spinning gives a 10 per cent better utilization of the raw material owing to the greater evenness and regularity with which the fibers are oiled; in weaving less oiling is required. ”

“ Oil can also be extracted from the kernel, and this last, though more difficult to be obtained, is of a superior quality than that taken from the pulp of the rind.
Nothing in the vegetable world can be more beautiful than a full-grown specimen of the oil-palm, with its cluster of ripe fruit, their bright-yellow colour contrasting finely with the deep-green of its long curling fronds, that seem intended, as it were, to protect the rich bunches from the too powerful rays of a tropic sun. ”

“ In dry seasons the oil is both more abundant and better than in damp seasons. The produce of oil, compared with that of the poppy, is equal; with colza, as 32 to 28; with linseed, 32 to 21; with the olive, 32 to 16.
The leaves and stems of this plant are rejected by cattle; but the oil-cake, which always contains a considerable portion of the oil, forms a nutritive food, of which they are very fond. The oil expressed without heat is transparent, of a golden yellow color, inodorous, rather fatter than the oil of rape or olives, and of a soft, agreeable, nutty taste. ”

“ On the other hand, the oils are extremely inert substances, and undergo chemical changes very slowly; so that there is no likelihood of their being converted into carbonic acid, or any other substance which may be useful to the plant; and as they contain no nitrogen, and consist only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, they can yield only those elements of which the plant can easily obtain an unlimited supply. I can conceive cases in which the oil might possibly produce some mechanical effect on the soil, but none in which it could act as a manure, in the proper sense of the term. ”

“ Nearly all the edible vegetable oils have the light amber tint which is characteristic of many grades of olive oil, and the difference between the color of the olive oil and other edible oils is not greater than the difference between the tints of the various olive oils themselves. ”

“ The best oil is obtained by expression from the seeds without heat, and is hence called "cold drawn oil." A large quantity of oil may be produced by boiling the seeds, but it is less sweet and more apt to become rancid than that procured by expression.
The Palma Christi grows continuously for about four years, and becomes a large tree in constant bearing, ripening its rich clusters of beans in such profusion, that 100 bushels may be obtained annually from an acre, and their product of oil two gallons per bushel.
There are several species, all of which yield oil of an equally good quality. ”

“ Peanut oil is highly prized as a salad oil either alone or mixed with other oil, notably olive oil and sesamé. The oil is purified by a large settle and by filtration and by the processes usually practiced with other oils of vegetable origin. The oil is easily and completely digested and furnishes an abundant source of heat and energy to the system. The number of calories produced by the combustion of one gram of oil, either by ordinary burning or by oxidation in the body is about 9,300. ”

“ The corn steeped for several days with sulfurous acid is disintegrated and on being ground the germs are floated off, the gluten or nitrogenous portion washed out, the starch grains settled down and the residue pressed together as oil cake fodder. The refined oil from the germ is marketed as a table or cooking oil under the name of "Mazola" and comes into competition with olive, peanut and cottonseed oil in the making of vegetable substitutes for lard and butter. Inferior grades may be used for soaps or for glycerin and perhaps nitroglycerin. A bushel of corn yields a pound or more of oil. ”

“ Inasmuch as oil is not the name of any individual product but of a large class of products, including that of both animal and vegetable origin, it is generally held that the term “oil” is not a sufficient indication of the character of the oil used. In all cases the packages should designate the special kind of oil used in the preparation. The addition of chemical preservatives to sardines in so far as the author knows, is not practiced, at least not to any appreciable extent. ”

“ The late war has brought many good vegetable oils upon the market that are ideal for cooking purposes and are preferable to the animal fats for all cooking. They not only hold a high temperature without burning, but also they may be [pg 215] used repeatedly if they are strained each time after using. ”

“ The oil obtained from this seed is inferior to good olive oil, but is better adapted for the manufacture of soap.
This plant is not unlike hemp, but the stalk is cleaner and semi-transparent. The flower also is so gaudy, that a field in blossom looks like a bed of florist's flowers, and its aromatic fragrance does not aid to dispel such delusion. It flourishes most upon land which is light and fertile. The fragrance of the oil is perceptibly weaker when obtained from seed produced on wet, tenacious soils. A gallon of seed seems to be the usual quantity sown upon an acre. ”