Flax Oil Smells Like Oil Paint

Different flavor from different brands

I just got back from a trip to Tokyo.  While I was there, I was able to meet up with a chef friend of mine, to discuss some uses for flax oil.  Now in Japan, where the diet is already rich in fish and other sources of Omega-3, flax seed oil is an unknown substance.  If the Japanese really need Omega-3, they have a product called “Kanyu-droplets” which is fish-oil, turned into candy.  And this stuff really tastes good, kind of like Skittles.  So the Omega-3 supplement market seems a little saturated.

 But anyway, I needed a bottle to experiment with, so we went searching around.  The drug store’s supplement corner didn’t have any, as expected.  Went to a local supermarket..  tough luck.  We then went to a “fancy” supermarket (like Wholefoods), and found flax seed oil along with other seasoning oils like sesame oil, olive oil, etc.  Which was a little interesting since flax seed oil was sold in a cooking context, and not as a special supplement.  I also found “Egoma Oil” which is a relative of Basil (Perilla frutescens var. frutescens). The leaf is used in Korean food alot, and has a great aroma that is different from basil.

 This egoma oil thing was a curious find, because it actually had more omega-3 than flax oil.  We went back to have a tasting, and had some surprising findings.

 1.  Flax oil didn’t smell like oil paint.  Believe it or not, the one we got didn’t taste half as bad.  A slightly offending first note, but it was close to being tasteless.

2. Egoma oil tasted like flax oil.  I guess it has something to do with these 2 oils being chemically very similar.  Egoma oil tasted very similar, and also had a similar consistency.

 So there..  was this the problem all along?  That I just so happened to have bought a bottle of.. I guess overly well produced flax oil, that retained too much fresh scent?  We tried a series of experiments:

1. Fresh garlic+flax: The garlic definitely took over.  Which wasn’t a bad thing, but it was that specific fresh garlic taste, so it’s not very practical unless you want to scare everyone away.

2. Garlic olive oil (sateed some garlic in low heat)+flax: This blended extremely well, and the sauteed garlic flavor completely masked flax.  Big difference from my previous attempt!

3. Flax on marinated salmon: My chef friend brought over som marinated salmon so we poured some flax on a couple of pieces.  The taste was..  well, I couldn’t taste the flax, but it added some extra oiliness that made the salmon taste much heavier.  The same amount of flax would taste more oily than olive oil, because it’s a much lighter oil and spreads out much quicker.

4. Flax on stir fried beef and vegetables: Again, flax completely disappeared.  Just added a bit of oiliness, and that was it.

So, it seems like this specific brandof flax oil (a Japanese brand) seems to have either successfully removed offending smell, or uses some sort of press technique that releases the aroma during the production phase.  I terms of oil production, I guess this can be seen as a sort of degradation, but taste wise?  It’s awesome! 

Flax vs lemon

Fight oil with oil, I decided the grab some lemon. I put in a tiny slice of lemon, with some of the pulp/meat, but mostly just skin because I wanted the oil from the skin. Smashed it around a bit in flax oil so the oils would blend, hoping I’d at least taste a little lemon.

verdict:

Not bad, but flax still wins. Actually, this was a strange effect. The first note is definitely flax, mixed with some sourness from the lemon juice (not oil), and then you start to get a bit of the lemon aroma from the oil. The end effect resembled having salmon with lemon squeezed on it. So maybe, if you are already having smoked salmon, you might as well throw on some flax oil since it seems like it’ll blend. I’ll have to try that at a later date.

I did see a flax recipe from Japan (I’m half Japanese) where they put flax oil on tuna sashimi.. but who prepares sashimi at home anyway.. do you? I’m Japanese, and I don’t..

But this is progress, because it’s starting to make me think of other foods, and not oil paint.

Flax vs basil+rosemary

The concept was to use it like extra virgin olive oil. Add some basil, threw in some rosemary as backup, and let it sit for a while. Grabbed a bagel…

verdict:

Flax wins hands down. Actually I couldn’t even tast the basil, or rosemary, even though I was chewing on it!

To fiddle with the setup a bit more, I blended flax with extra virgin olive oil that I usually use at about 1:1 ratio…

verdict:

Flax wins hands down, again! Where the heck did the olive oil go? This is going to be tough. This will probably be a battle of transfering oils (sweet basil? citrus?), and also dilluting. You only need about a tablespoon a day, for a male, so if you can sneak a bit of it in, in multiple places, then it shouldn’t be too hard… I think… maybe not.

Flax, the mystery oil

Flax has got to be the most amazingly healthy, and the most horrible tasting oil that I have ever put in my mouth. Flax has 6 times the omega-3 contents compared to fish, and it even contains soluable fiber, which helps get rid of bad cholesterol. Seems too good to be true.

You’re right. The catch is that it tastes like crap. I have no idea how the vega/vegetarian community can use this oil regularly, but the taste is just horrendous. Maybe it’s personal preference? Think again, try sticking oil paint in your mouth. Flax seed oil has a very strong smell. It’s not that it particularly smell bad, it’s just very dense, and strong. Put it in your mouth, and you are taken over by this smell.

This is probably going to be the main obstacle. The strong smell, and also the fact that this oil cannot be heated. These two kind of go hand in hand, because the first thing I thought was, I would just cook a bunch of garlic or scallions in this oil to transfer the flavor.. but I guess I’ll have to look for non-heat solutions.

I did check out some existing recipes, but most of them look too.. hmm.. healthy. The problem with “healthy” recipes is that a lot of them are no more healthier than a meal cooked right, in correct portions, so I don’t find them particularly attractive. (though some are eye openers, I admit) Half the ingredients or specialized in some way, and you can tell by reading the recipe, that it won’t taste good. Actually, a lot of healthy recipes tend to try very hard to follow the stereotype of “raw stuff, just thrown together.. and it’s FRESH!” concept…. which I really think isn’t the only healthy way to cook or eat.

Like there was one with basil, tomato, and flax oil. (raw stuff, thrown together!) Some sort of bruschetta I guess, but judging from how strong the flax smell is, there is no way that mix is going to work. Maybe it’s fine for people who have acquired the taste, but I’m looking for something more appetizing. Something that anyone can eat.

why Omega-3

So why the heck do we need omega-3 fatty acids anyway? Well, I’m no scientist, but the simple reason for me, is that we don’t eat enough fish. Now, as a half Taiwanese dude, I’ve been tought to eat fish.. fish, fish fish. That’s probably because my grandma just loves fish, aside from any sort of tradition. Anyway, coming from that, my fishless diet these days feels a bit.. awkward.

But it’s not just my grandma’s curse. Omega-3 is insanely important in maintaining a healthy circulatory system.. and to think that fish is the only real way to get it, now you get the picture? Yes, we are all lacking this stuff. Seriously.

By the way, fish that have lots of omega-3 are: salmon, herring, mackeral, anchovies, and sardines. I got some salmon recipes, but that’s about it. And also, the problem is that omega-3 is broken down with heat, so that makes things harder.
Can you even eat sardines raw? That’s like, seals at Sea World.

Flax seed for normal people

I was reading up on new findings on choleterol today.. don’t ask me why.. and figured I need to get me some omega-3. Omega-3 usually comes from the oil in fish, and since I’m not much of a fish cook, flux seed oil was the easiest alternative.

So I was at Duane Reade yesterday, and found me a bottle of flax seed oil. Now I’m experimenting with it to see if there are ways that normal people can enjoy this mysterious oil.. that frankly, tastes like oil paint.

I’ll be posting my experiments, along with other projects on this blog.. So, read along.