Growing your own veg oil

[mrscoyote]

Hi, I came across this article and wanted to know if anyone has experience doing this.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Grow-Your-Own-Cooking-Oil/?ALLSTEPS

 

[Denim Deb]

Never even thought about making my own oil, but it looks interesting.

 

[sumi]

That's pretty cool, but the extractor's pricey!

 

[Britesea]

I'd love to do that- I already have the oil extractor. But with all the deer we have wandering through, I have to fence off everything, and we just don't have the space or the money to fence off a space large enough to grow that many sunflowers. There's a lot next door to us that is 1/2 acre with a broke down old house on it (every year we expect it to finally tumble to the ground). Maybe someday we'll be able to buy it from the absentee owners.

 

[mrscoyote]

I am also wondering if another kind of oil might be a better alternative. Like corn oil or something.

 

[Britesea]

Corn oil requires further refining. I think you could press other seeds, perhaps olives, and nuts for oil with that type of expeller.

 

[goatgurl]

hmmm. interesting

 

[Britesea]

The cost of the sunflower seeds would make those gallons of oil really expensive if you bought the bag and expressed it, like in the article. Growing the sunflowers and saving seed would make it reasonable though

 

[sumi]

But how many sunflowers do you need to grow to produce enough oil to make it worth it. And then there's the labour... I think it's a great idea, to grow and press your own, but I always add up space, time and labour and add it to the return.

 

[Britesea]

well, it sounded like you need about 40 lbs of sunflower seeds for a decent 1 year supply... only trouble is, I have NO idea how many sunflowers that adds up to