It might surprise many of our foreign guests that we produce excellent Rapeseed oil. There are two producers that sell the oil in many grocery stores. So if you are looking for an healthy option go for the Icelandic rapeseed oil sold in many of our grocery stores.

Rapeseed oil has a mild taste, it is a healthy and heat-resistant oil and is there for good for frying and deep-frying. Rapeseed oil has the lowest proportion of saturated fat of all cooking oils. It is believed that a good rapeseed oil is even healthier than olive oil because it has more positive effects on the quantity of cholesterol in the blood, combination of fat acids are better in rapeseed oil where it is a high proportion of monounsaturated fat acids and it is one of the few of vegetable oil which contains polyunsaturated which are named n-3. It is the same kind of fat acids as in fish oil (so called omega-3 fat acids). Because of the polyunsaturated fat acids in the rapeseed oil it remains a liquid in the refrigerator. Most types of vegetable oil which contain polyunsaturated fat acids have acids of the n-6 type. It applies for example sunflower oil, oil from grape core and corn oil. Rapeseed oil has therefor a unique position among the nutrients as a source for the n-3 fat acids.

Photo Áslaug Snorradóttir.  Courtesy of Vallanes