At this time of the year, we like to go north of Poznan about 15-20 km to view the yellow fields of rzepak. It is really a magnificent site to see and smell the sweet aroma emitting from the flowers. Our favorite is to rive between two fields, turn off the car, and then sit and smell the air. It's like liquified honey flowing within the wind. Beautiful. That is what we did today. It was our only plan for the day.
It’s widely grown in countries like Poland and has a few key uses:
- 🌼 Oil production – its seeds are used to make rapeseed oil (often called canola oil when specially bred), commonly used for cooking
- 🐄 Animal feed – leftover seed material (meal) is used as livestock feed
- ⛽ Biofuel – it’s also used to produce biodiesel
In spring, fields of rzepak are easy to recognize because they turn a vivid yellow when the plant is in bloom.
If you’ve seen large yellow fields around Poland in April–May, that’s almost certainly rzepak.
