ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the various oil crops. It includes nomenclature; origin, distribution and production; pests, diseases and weeds; family and releated species; harvest; uses of oil palm, coconut palm, rape and mustard, sesame, soya bean, groundnut. The major use of the edible vegetable oils is the manufacture of margarine, cooking fats. Extraction of oil from fruits with oleaginous pulp (oil palm and olive) is always carried out locally as soon as possible after harvesting, to avoid the formation of free fatty acids (FFA) in oil. The FFA content is a quality indicator. Aldehydes and ketones cause the rancid taste and smell which may develop in vegetable oils. When an oil becomes oxidized it first develops odorless and tasteless hydroperoxides, which break down to aldehydes. Ketones are the result of hydrolysis. An important physical property, the melting point, increases with the length of the carbon chain of the fatty acid and, for a given length, with the degree of saturation.
