where does linseed oil come from

Linseed oil comes from the seeds of the flax plant, a crop traditionally grown in temperate regions around the world.

What linseed oil is

• Linseed oil is a vegetable oil pressed from the dried, ripened seeds of the flax plant Linum usitatissimum.

• In food and nutrition contexts it is often called flaxseed oil, but it is the same basic oil, just processed to edible standards.

How it’s made

• The seeds are cleaned and then mechanically pressed; cold-pressing is used for food-grade flaxseed oil, while industrial linseed oil may also use heat and solvent extraction to maximize yield.

• After pressing, the oil can be refined, bleached, or otherwise treated depending on whether it is destined for paint, wood finishing, linoleum, or nutritional use.

Where the flax is grown

• Flax, the plant that provides both linen fiber and linseed oil, has been cultivated since at least the Neolithic era in Europe and Asia.

• Today it is grown in many temperate countries, with significant production in places such as China, Russia, Canada, the United States, and parts of Europe and Central Asia.

TL;DR: Linseed oil is simply oil pressed from flax seeds, from the flax plant grown in temperate farm regions worldwide, then processed differently depending on whether it is for food, art, or industry.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.