MUSTARD SEEDS

A wide range of oil mill machinery are used to process mustard seed into refined edible oil. Mustard seed has a yellowish color and contains 38% to 45% of oil content. These small seeds are widely used in various countries as spices. Mustard seeds are obtained from the bush like mustard plant that belongs to the same genus as the plant of Rapeseed. Mustard seeds are used for the production of mustard seed oil and oil cake. This oil is yellow in color and is obtained after the crushing of the seed. In the marketplace, mustard oil is not differentiated from the rape oil as both belong to same species and have similar properties.

When the mustard seeds are processed into oil, a by-product is produced which is seed's pressed cakes that have little amount of oil content in them. Oil cakes are made from these cakes from the process of distillation and these are used as animal feed. The production process yields 37% of oil and remaining is the oil cake.

Throughout the globe, the production of mustard seed is on rise. World's overall production of mustard seed was at 36.54 million tones in the year 2001-02, and with each passing year it is increasing at a rapid pace. Amongst the list of mustard seed producing countries, European Union holds the top position. When it comes to exporting of mustard seed, then Canada is the leading exporter. Canada is followed Australia in the seed production. So far as primary seed importing countries are concerned, Japan, Mexico, and United States leads the list.

Cultivation of Mustard Seed

The cultivation of mustard seed is done throughout the globe. This seed is generally a winter crop and to prosper, it demands a temperature climate. In India, the planting or sowing season is during October-November, which is also known as the Rabi season. The mustard plant (from which mustard seed is extracted) starts to flower during the period of November to February. In the months of February and March, it is the harvesting period. For perfect prosper, the mustard plant required a specific amount of rainfall, which is provided by the monsoon. In fact, the mustard crop provides a very good soil cover in winter.