Oil's energy contribution has declined by about 12% since 1999. The world's economies have also declined by about 12%. (Using conventional metrics, which are time delayed determinations, this will only be seen in hind sight). The massive destruction of asset values now occurring testifies to it happening.
Peak is well behind us, world economies have peaked and will continue to decline.
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:32 pm Post subject: Vegetable oil---what's your plan?
I like to fry stuff. Everything in fact. If it ain't fried, it ain't worth eating. So I use a lot of vegetable oil. Been weening myself off imported olive oil, and am now mostly using organic canola oil (US-grown as far as I know), supplemented with some conventional California olive oil for hummous, salad dressing, and the like. My ideal is to grow or gather >50% of my calories. The rest I'd like to obtain locally.
So is there any feasible way for the home gardener / very small-scale market gardener to make their own vegetable oil? Haven't done a ton of research yet as I've been offline for the last 9 months, but I have been perusing the articles about veggie oil production in the CD3WD collection. Doesn't seem impossible. Anyone tried it? I live in zone 8-9, so growing my own olives isn't really feasible, but there have to be other options. Sunflowers? They grow great around here..... _________________ "A little stored food and Bob's your uncle." --TT
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 10:34 pm Post subject: Re: Vegetable oil---what's your plan?
Don't forget chicken cracklin's and lard
Oh, right, you were looking for plant oils. Hmmm. I'll have to look into that for this area (I'm in the same zone as you).
cynthia
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject: Re: Vegetable oil---what's your plan?
This website is interesting, may give you a jumping-off point.
Quote:
In 1992 the Kenyan government removed price controls on essential commodities and the price of cooking oil almost tripled in a few weeks. KickStart realized that the small-scale production and sale of cooking oil could be a very profitable small business opportunity if only the right technology was available to local entrepreneurs.
FWIW, in speaking to a local farmer, he indicated that he would only use foods that are locally sustainable, which to him (obviously, as he farms) meant animal products. Butter and animal fats are the natural choice here in the NW. There are local sources for lard, which many people swear by. However, I found the sunflower angle, along with other seeds, intriguing. You, or someone else, would have to grow a hell of a lot, though.
It's moderated very well by the guy who runs Journey to Forever. One word of advice - check the archives before posting! _________________ All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become. - Buddha
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 11:12 pm Post subject: Re: Vegetable oil---what's your plan?
Unless you want to go to an awful lots of effort buying and maintaining an expeller press, pigs are gonna be the thing. _________________ "We were standing on the edges
Of a thousand burning bridges
Sifting through the ashes every day
What we thought would never end
Now is nothing more than a memory
The way things were before
I lost my way" - OCMS
Yeah, it can be done. For my money, rendering some pig lard seems a heck of a lot easier. _________________ "We were standing on the edges
Of a thousand burning bridges
Sifting through the ashes every day
What we thought would never end
Now is nothing more than a memory
The way things were before
I lost my way" - OCMS
Yeah, it can be done. For my money, rendering some pig lard seems a heck of a lot easier.
Granted, it's easier, but you'd need far more land for an equivalent amount of lipids.
From the link:
Quote:
Rapeseed (Brassica napus), or canola, produces about 2,000 pounds of seed per acre, yielding about 100 gallons of vegetable oil for fuel, as well as 1,200 pounds of high-protein meal (seedcake) which can be used for livestock feed, or composted, or added to a biogas digester to produce methane for cooking and heating, or used to make ethanol.
Yields from soybeans are about 60 gallons per acre, from coconuts more than 200 gallons per acre, and from oil palms more than 500 gallons per acre. (See Vegetable oil yields.)
On the small scale, one bushel of rapeseed (canola) produces about 3 gallons of biodiesel.
You'd need a lot of pig to rival that. _________________ All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become. - Buddha
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 11:41 pm Post subject: Re: Vegetable oil---what's your plan?
davep wrote:
You'd need a lot of pig to rival that.
Don't need that much oil. Between rape seed mash or bacon, I'll take bacon as a byproduct any day. _________________ "We were standing on the edges
Of a thousand burning bridges
Sifting through the ashes every day
What we thought would never end
Now is nothing more than a memory
The way things were before
I lost my way" - OCMS
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 11:43 pm Post subject: Re: Vegetable oil---what's your plan?
smallpoxgirl wrote:
davep wrote:
You'd need a lot of pig to rival that.
Don't need that much oil. Between rape seed mash or bacon, I'll take bacon as a byproduct any day.
You can feed the pigs on the leftover cake and some beets! But I agree, pork scratchings are heavenly _________________ All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become. - Buddha
Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 12:52 am Post subject: Re: Vegetable oil---what's your plan?
Just a word of advice here for those of you frying using olive oil - BE CAREFUL.
My sister who is a bit of a foodie expert was horrified when she saw me frying with olive oil due to the free radicals that are induced by heating olive oil to a high temperature.
Most commercial producers list their pure olive smoke points in the range of 425-450°F while "light" olive oil products (which have undergone more processing) are listed at 468°F. Manufacturers of extra virgin oil list their smoke points in a range that starts "just under 200°F" and that extends all the way up to 406°F. Again, the variability here is great, and most likely reflects differences in the degree of processing.
Practical tips
In principle, organic, unrefined, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil should have the lowest smoke point of all forms of olive oil since this form of the oil is the least refined, most nutrient dense and contains the largest concentration of fragile nutritive components. Based upon this, I cannot imagine exposing this type of olive oil to high heat, anymore than I can imagine exposing fresh organic flax oil or evening primrose oil. For a natural, very high-quality extra virgin olive oil, I believe the 200-250°F range reflects the most likely upper limit for heating without excessive damage. In other words, this would allow the use of extra virgin olive oil for making sauces, but not for 350°F baking or higher temperature cooking. It is best to add it to your dishes after they have been cooked to enjoy the wonderful flavor and nutritional value of olive oil.
Joined: Apr 06, 2006 Posts: 3626 Location: 3 miles NW of Champoeg, Republic of Cascadia
Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 1:22 am Post subject: Re: Vegetable oil---what's your plan?
Thanks for the headsup, MP. I've been frying with olive oil for years, ack!
I've a filbert orchard a short walk away - dunno if the oil would make a suitable frying medium, but they're in every other field 'round here. _________________ Cogito, ergo non satis bibivi
C'mon man, who're you gonna believe?
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