canola oil, vegetable oil made from the pressed seeds of rapeseed (Brassica napus variety napus), a relative of turnips and cabbage in the mustard family.
Rapeseed oil has long been used in industry as a lubricant for engines and other machine parts, but, because of its high level of potentially harmful erucic acid, it was not considered safe for human consumption (though it was sometimes added to animal feed). It was not until the 1970s, scientists developed a hybrid that contained a very low level of erucic acid, that experimentation began to place rapeseed oil among the vegetable oils available for use in cooking.
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