Canola Oil

In the 1970s, a Canadian doctor named Richard Keith Downey together with University of Manitoba researcher Baldur Stefansson created an edible version of rapeseed (a toxic member of the mustard family). Because it was cheaper to grow than other oil crops, it was soon high demand. In 1978 scientists at the Rapeseed Association of Canada changed the name from fairly unpalatable “rapeseed oil or “rape oil” to “canola” (a blend of “Canada” and “oil”).