Since last time I walked this way, the fields have turned yellow with the new oilseed rape crop.
I realised I knew nothing about oilseed rape, so I made it this Sunday's mission to find out more.
Here are ten oilseed rape facts:
- The word "rape" comes from the Latin word for turnip, rapa or rapum
- Oilseed rape is useful as a"break crop" in farm rotations as it keeps back the weeds
- Rape belongs to the Mustard family, Brassica. That person who informed me rape is "the same as mustard" is wrong: oilseed rape is Brassica napus, whereas English powdered mustard is made from Brassica juncea
- Rape seeds are 45% oil
- Oilseed rape is the third leading source of vegetable oil after palm and soya.
- The oil is good for you as it is low in saturated fat and high in omega-3.
- There is a growing market for "posh" rapeseed oils (especially in the Cotswolds!)
- Rapeseed meal, a byproduct of oil production, is used for animal feed.
- Rapeseed oil is also used for biodiesel.
- Wood pigeons just love rape! (They eat the leaves.) Rape crops have apparently made wood pigeons one of the commonest birds in the English countryside.