On Tue, 11 Jan 2000, Hans Kylberg wrote:

> At 10:19 2000-01-11 -0500, Todd wrote:
> >greens for sale.  In
> >four different piles, with handwritten signs on cardboard, were
> >kale, mustard, turnip, and rape.
> ..
> >it does at least indicate that the rape
> >plant is edible.
> >
> They did not happen to have some cheese or grains for sale also?  :-)
> I think it only indicates that they *think* rape is edible.

The difference is that cheese and grains require processing to be
edible; rape does not.  That was the main question in my mind.
Although I was satisfied that many other members of the Brassica
family are edible raw (e.g., broccoli), I had not seen anything
to indicate that rape itself, under that name, was in that
category.

What I'm trying to do is think of the possible *objections* to
canola oil.  One objection is that it is not the product of a
plant that is edible by humans.  I now know that is false.
Another objection is that the oil is the product of a hybrid.
That is true, but it is true of just about everything else in the
supermarket produce section as well.  Another objection is that
it contains small amounts of erucic acid, which is believed to
have deleterious effects.  That is true, but it is also true of
other paleo foods.  I haven't yet found any major red flags in
clinical studies of canola, but I haven't been looking that long
yet, so they may be there...

Todd Moody
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