If you live in Asia and spend time in the kitchen, there's a good chance you're familiar with mustard oil. There's a lot to admire about this common ingredient. With a high smoke point, it's ideal for frying foods.
Being produced from mustard seeds — it's also sometimes called mustard seed oil — it has a unique flavor, as well as an undeniable heat that's been likened to another member of the mustard family: wasabi. Mustard oil is particularly prized in Indian cooking, and especially in the northern part of the country. In states like Bengal, it's often used to make tadka — the flavorful infused oil is drizzled over dishes before serving — and can be a component of the spicy, oily Indian-style pickles known as achars.
And yet, if you go into an Indian grocery in the U.S. and look for mustard oil, you'll likely come across a bottle labeled "for external use only.
" The oil is popular as a massage oil, as it's said to improve circulation. With a few exceptions, mustard oil is banned for edible consumption in this country. That's owing to its high concentration of one type of fatty acid, called erucic acid, which has been linked to heart disease, causing the Food and Drug Administration to look askance at the product.
Still, the debate on this one isn't totally settled — and it's not time to write mustard oil off just yet. Here are the ins and outs of this contested cooking oil. What is mustard oil and why is it banned? Mustard oil is produced by pressing the seeds of t.