Camelina oil from Canada may be the next big thing

Camelina oil is better for us, ideal for chefs looking for that wonder ingredient in the kitchen, and now it is being produced in south-eastern Saskatchewan, and distributed far and wide.

The camelina seed, is new to Canada. Originally from northern Europe, it as an ancient seed, related to the mustard seed.

Growing it in Saskatchewan was the brainchild of Colin Rosengren one of the three neighbouring farmers in Midale,Saskatchewan.  In a ‘Meet the Farmers’ vignette on the company website, Colin, a third-generation farmer on five thousand acres, says, “Stereotypically we were three farmers sitting around the curling rink complaining about the prices.”

He goes on to explain he heard a speaker at a conference in Saskatoon who was singing the health praises of the seed and the oil, and it resonated with him. So he introduced the other two farmers to the seed and eventually two of the Vandenhurk daughters joined in to create the company.

High in omega 3’s, high in vitamin E, tastes delicious and has a really high smoke-point

Natasha Vandenhurk had just graduated with a BA in Economics from the University of Saskatchewan while sister Elysia Vandenhurk, a Red Seal chef, had worked in Toronto, under celebrity chef Susur Lee for a time. They combined their knowledge and experience and Three Farmers, the company was born.

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Elysia Vandenhurk, says the company operates under three values; value-added agriculture, traceable foods and producing natural and wholesome foods.

They started out selling their oil at the Saskatoon Farmers Market, Now it is available in about 1,000 retailers across Canada, as it is still a niche product here. “It’s not a cheap oil, it’s a quality oil”, Elysia says, and it provides great nutritional and culinary value for the price.

“Because camelina had never been consumed before in Canada, in the food industry, we had to actually approach Health Canada for novel food status.” she explained.

One of the unique aspects, Elysia says, is the traceability factor: “We put a batch number on the back of each bottle that allows customers to actually trace right back to the face of their farmer, the GPS location of their crop in Saskatchewan, where it was grown, and all the dates behind when it was seeded and how it was harvested, and basically how your food was made. So sort-of taking that farmers market feel and that farm-to-fork movement to the next level.”

Their camelina oil has been available for five years now and already the company has partners in China. Elysia says “it’s valued in that market to be a Canadian-made food and the traceability, the fact that customers in China can pick up a bottle there and trace right back to their crop and farmer in Saskatchewan is valued by that market.”  Conversations are under way now with people in Japan and South Korea.

Roasted chickpeas are the latest addition to the product-line. “We grow a lot of pulses, so we grow chickpeas, which is actually a new product that we just launched.”

“It’s really important for us to grow pulses here, especially with camelina because what pulses can do is they fix nitrogen in our soils so they put nutrients back in the soils that other plants like camelina need to grow very healthy” Elysia explains.  “And camelina wiill also give back to the soil a lot of what pulses and chickpeas will take.”