Canola Royale by Anne Suche
Western Living, April 1998

When Tony Marshall and his wife, Penny, switched to organic growing eight years ago, they returned to farming methods used on the same land by Tony’s great-grandfather. At Highwood Crossing, south of Calgary, they have added canola and flax to the traditional mix of oats, wheat, rye and barley. Ironically, their mission- to better the land and produce healthful, chemical-free foods- would have been considered standard operating procedure three generations ago.

Canola has the unfortunate rep as the Al Gore of cooking oils (more work-manlike than gourmet), but that’s only because it’s often heavily refined, its nutrients lost in the bleaching and heating processes. The Marshalls’ cold-pressed virgin canola oil, by contrast, is about as pure and salutary a product as you can get. Ordered on Monday, pressed on Tuesday, bottled on Wednesday and delivered by Friday, it’s truly a designer oil: way low in saturated fat, rich and nutty in taste, perfect for drizzling over new potatoes or greens.