So - what's the goal? What do you want all of that sunflower oil for?
If this is in a sustainablility/self sufficiency context then here's the thing - unless you REALLY like sunflower oil, there are many much easier ways to produce enough fat for your diet than pressing grains.
A couple dairy animals and/or pigs would be a lot less trouble and effort and less susceptible be being devastated by a few deer or squirrels.
Animal fats have gotten a very unfair rap. Blame the cereal lobby for this - it was desired that people should buy cereal instead of eating their own farm-raised eggs for breakfast, so cholesterol and saturated fats were demonized. More and more data is showing that there is no correlation between animal fats and coronary vascular disease. There is no correlation between dietary cholesterol intake and blood cholesterol levels. There is a huge correlation between partially hydrogenated fats (trans-fats_ and CVD though, which ironically is exactly what the cereal lobby then started to feed us after convincing us that eggs and butter would make us die of heart attacks.
Bacon good, Margarine bad.
Also, the animal fats will keep better than your sunflower oil, or most other oils that are low in saturated fats. Unless you add a preservative to it, various components of the oil extracted from most sunflower varieties will oxidize fairly quickly, leaving you with rancid oil.
Ah, excellent points. I remember when I was actually able to stick to the atkins diet my blood pressure and cholesterol went down. While I am just starting to get my head around the animal vs vegetable fat health debate, this much I know: I do not want to milk an animal. Or kill one I raised, for that matter. That eliminates most sustainable sources of animal fat, and Olive oil comes from very far away.
The long-term storage of fresh vegetable oil does pose a challenge, though. If I only had to press oil once a year I have to think that will be less work than trying to milk a goat every morning...
Since you seem willing to put a lot of effort into oil processing, I would suggest as an alternative that you build a solar powered/wood heated greenhouse for your olive trees. You can also then grow kiwis, lemons, pomegranates, bananas.... year round tomatoes and berries... The possibilities are endless!
You don't have to milk every morning. Good goats can make up to 2 gallons of milk per day. Milk just a coupl goats and you can have a hundred gallons of milk in just a couple weeks. That's 800 pounds of milk at 4% milkfat = >32 pounds of butter. Take what you need for the year, make cheese, butter, ice cream, and then let em dry up. Sell the kids to someone else... Move on to cider making and honey harvesting. Repeat annually.
So - what's the goal? What do you want all of that sunflower oil for?
ReplyDeleteIf this is in a sustainablility/self sufficiency context then here's the thing - unless you REALLY like sunflower oil, there are many much easier ways to produce enough fat for your diet than pressing grains.
A couple dairy animals and/or pigs would be a lot less trouble and effort and less susceptible be being devastated by a few deer or squirrels.
Animal fats have gotten a very unfair rap. Blame the cereal lobby for this - it was desired that people should buy cereal instead of eating their own farm-raised eggs for breakfast, so cholesterol and saturated fats were demonized. More and more data is showing that there is no correlation between animal fats and coronary vascular disease. There is no correlation between dietary cholesterol intake and blood cholesterol levels. There is a huge correlation between partially hydrogenated fats (trans-fats_ and CVD though, which ironically is exactly what the cereal lobby then started to feed us after convincing us that eggs and butter would make us die of heart attacks.
Bacon good, Margarine bad.
Also, the animal fats will keep better than your sunflower oil, or most other oils that are low in saturated fats. Unless you add a preservative to it, various components of the oil extracted from most sunflower varieties will oxidize fairly quickly, leaving you with rancid oil.
Ah, excellent points. I remember when I was actually able to stick to the atkins diet my blood pressure and cholesterol went down. While I am just starting to get my head around the animal vs vegetable fat health debate, this much I know: I do not want to milk an animal. Or kill one I raised, for that matter. That eliminates most sustainable sources of animal fat, and Olive oil comes from very far away.
ReplyDeleteThe long-term storage of fresh vegetable oil does pose a challenge, though. If I only had to press oil once a year I have to think that will be less work than trying to milk a goat every morning...
Since you seem willing to put a lot of effort into oil processing, I would suggest as an alternative that you build a solar powered/wood heated greenhouse for your olive trees. You can also then grow kiwis, lemons, pomegranates, bananas.... year round tomatoes and berries... The possibilities are endless!
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to milk every morning. Good goats can make up to 2 gallons of milk per day. Milk just a coupl goats and you can have a hundred gallons of milk in just a couple weeks. That's 800 pounds of milk at 4% milkfat = >32 pounds of butter. Take what you need for the year, make cheese, butter, ice cream, and then let em dry up. Sell the kids to someone else... Move on to cider making and honey harvesting. Repeat annually.
Thats funny this came up again just last nite but Kelly won't let me sell the kids.
ReplyDeleteI am gonna wait for you to try it first to see how bad it is.
Just like butchering chickens. ;)