Specially bred mustard varieties can produce reasonably high oil yields, and have the added benefit that the meal leftover after the oil has been pressed out can act as an effective and biodegradable pesticide.

• The Mustard Project - Goals of the Mustard Project: 1. Produce at least 6 billion gallons of mustard oil biodiesel, 2. Mustard oil biodiesel total production costs <$1.00/gallon of pure biodiesel, 3. Displace synthetic pesticide chemicals with safer organic

compounds March 2002. The Problem:

1. If crop oils are available at 10 cents per pound or less, biodiesel could be made for $1.00 per gallon of B100 (pure

biodiesel).

2. To get the value of the oil down below market prices, the oil must be inedible for humans as well as animals.

3. For the oil seed crusher to make money when the oil is nearly worthless, the meal must have a higher value than animal feed.

4. There must be a large industrial market for the meal that drives demand for the crop to produce enough oil to make a national

impact on oil supply.

Read more about the Mustard Project from here (PDF)

• Bio-diesel from Yellow Mustard Oil – University of Idaho
• Mustard Hybrids for Low-cost Biodiesel (PDF)
• Biodiesel Cost Issues – from Oregon Biofuels
• Industrial Mustard Crops for Biodiesel & Biopesticides (PDF)
• Experiments with Biodiesel from Yellow Mustard

• Experiments with Biodiesel from Yellow-Mustard - September 23, 2003 - The goal of this project was to evaluate locally developed yellow mustard cultivars to determine their suitability as a low cost feedstock for biodiesel. Rapeseed, Canola, and Yellow Mustard are particularly well-adapted alternative crops for the Palouse of northern Idaho and eastern Washington. In addition, genetic modifications of these oils to produce a feedstock which has particularly advantageous properties for biodiesel is entirely possible. One of these varieties, Ida Gold, was selected based on the characteristics of the plant and upon the recommendations of the plant breeder. Read more from this report @ Grease Works

The term mustard oil is used for two different oils that are made from mustard seeds:

a fatty vegetable oil resulting from pressing the seeds, an essential oil resulting from grinding the seeds, mixing them with water, and extracting the resulting volatile oil by distillation.

This oil has a strong smell, a little like strong cabbage, a hot nutty taste, and is much used for cooking in Bengal, Bihar and other areas of India and Bangladesh. The oil makes up about 30% of the mustard seeds. It can be produced from black mustard (Brassica nigra), brown Indian mustard (Brassica juncea), and white mustard (Brassica hirta).

There are several uses and benefits of mustard. Mustard seed can be added to food to make it more spicy. Mustard oil has inherent pungent flavour which is used for cooking food, body massage and as hair oil. All over India, mustard oil is used is most households for its flavour and taste. Body massage with mustard oil helps in better blood circulation, muscular development and good texture to human skin. It is also helpful in preventing dengue and fungal infection as it is antibacterial.

A recent study by Harvard school of medicine, AIIMS and St. Johns Hospital, Banglore concluded that chances of heart disease drop by nearly 70% on use of mustard oil as cooking medium. Mustard oil has lowest amount of saturated fats (which causes heart problems) and high amount s of mono unsaturated (MUFA) and polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids (which are good for heart). Mustard oil has ideal ratio of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids which are considered good for human health. Mustard oil is an excellent source of natural antioxidants found in the form of Vitamin E which is important for normal growth and development of human beings.

World wide there is a preference for using oil extracted at a low temperature (called cold pressed oil). This process retains essential nutrients. Mustard oil is extracted at 45 – 50 degrees C which retains the natural properties of mustard seed. Also no chemicals are added during the process of its extraction which makes it pure and natural. On the other hand refined vegetable oils are heated to 250 C and are chemically processed. At such high temperature refined oils may lose some essential nutrient components.

Mustard oil is composed mostly of the fatty acids oleic acid, linoleic acid and erucic acid. At 5%, mustard seed oil has the lowest saturated fat content of the edible oils.

Due to its high content of erucic acid, which is considered noxious, mustard oil is not considered suitable for human consumption in the United States, Canada and the European Union, although mustard oil with a low content of erucic acid is available. In India, mustard oil is generally heated almost to smoking before it is used for cooking; this may be an attempt to reduce the content of noxious substances, and does reduce the strong smell and taste.

In North India, mustard oil is also used for rub-downs and massages (see ayurveda). To get around the restriction in Western countries, the oil is often sold “for external use only” in stores catering to Indian immigrants.

In India the restrictions on mustard oil are viewed as an attempt by foreign multi-national corporations to replace mustard oil with canola oil, a variety of rapeseed with a low erucic acid content. But for North Indians, mustard oil is not just a cooking medium but it is very much intricately interwoven with their culture. They have been using it for ages and dispute that there is enough evidence for the toxicity of erucic acid.

Mustard oil from mixing seeds with water

The pungent taste of the mustard condiment results when ground mustard seeds are mixed with water, vinegar, or other liquids (or when they are chewed). Under these conditions, a chemical reaction between the enzyme myrosinase and a glucosinolate known as sinigrin from the seeds of black mustard (Brassica nigra) or brown Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) leads to the production of allyl isothiocyanate. By distillation one can produce a very sharp tasting essential oil, sometimes called volatile oil of mustard, that contains more than 92% of allyl isothiocyanate. The white mustard Brassica hirta does not give allyl isothiocyanate, but a different and milder isothiocyanate.

Allyl isothiocyanate serves the plant as a defense against herbivores. Since it is harmful to the plant itself, it is stored in the harmless form of a glucosinolate, separate from the myrosinase enzyme. Once the herbivore chews the plant, the noxious allyl isothiocyanate is produced. Allyl isothiocyanate is also responsible for the pungent taste of horseradish and wasabi. It can be produced synthetically, and is sometimes known as synthetic mustard oil.

Because of the contained allyl isothiocyanate, this type of mustard oil is toxic and irritates the skin and mucous membranes. In very small amounts, it is often used by the food industry for flavoring. It is also used to repel cats and dogs, and to denature alcohol, making it unfit for human consumption to avoid the extra taxes collected on alcoholic beverages.

The CAS number of this type of mustard oil is 8007-40-7, and the CAS number of pure allyl isothiocyanate is 57-06-7.

End of Wikipedia content