Not to be confused with tea tree oil.

Tea seed oil (also known as tea oil or camellia oil) is an edible, pale amber-green fixed oil with a sweet, herbal aroma. It is cold-pressed mainly from the seeds of Camellia oleifera but also from Camellia sinensis or Camellia japonica.

[edit] Cautions

Tea seed oil should not be confused with Tea tree oil (melaleuca oil), an inedible essential oil extracted from the leaves of the paperbark Melaleuca alternifolia and used for medicinal purposes.

[edit] Culinary uses

With its high smoke point (485°F.), tea seed oil is the main cooking oil in some of the southern provinces of China, such as Hunan—roughly one-seventh of the country's population. In Japan tea seed oil is derived from Camellia japonica, mainly from Gotō Islands of Nagasaki Prefecture and Izu Islands of Tokyo Prefecture.

Tea seed oil resembles olive oil and grape seed oil in its excellent storage qualities and low content of saturated fat. Monounsaturated oleic acid may comprise up to 88 percent of the fatty acids. It is high in vitamin E and other antioxidants and contains no natural trans fats.

Tea seed oil is used in salad dressings, dips, marinades and sauces, for sautéing, stir frying and frying and in margarine production.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Additional uses

Tea seed oil is used to manufacture soap, hair oil, lubricants, paint and a rustproofing oil as well as in synthesis of other high molecular weight compounds. Soapmaking tables list it as one of the comparatively few oils that produce high-lather soap.^[1] Japanese tea seed oil is used for setting the hair of Sumo wrestlers and for tempura. Camellia oil is also used as rust protection for a variety of woodworking hand tools such as chisels and planes.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ruter, John M. (2002). "Nursery production of tea oil camellia under different light". in J.Janick and A.Whipkey (eds.). Trends in new crops and new uses. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Horticultural Science Press. pp. 222–224. OCLC 51677926. http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/v5-222.html. 
• Benefits of Tea Seed Oil
• Natural Camellia Oil Products for skincare.