Rapeseed? What's that yellow field for?

Fields all over the rural South East are a brilliant yellow this month. But why?

 

 

Like many farmers Robert and Hamish needed to diversify to make a profit. Adding value to their rape seed crop seemed like a good idea when they could see that their carefully grown crop was being crushed and mixed with chemical solvents to extract the oil. These solvents extracted more oil, but were difficult to remove leaving a contaminated oil.

By pressing the seed on the farm and filtering the oil they were left with a clean, virgin, quality oil, and a pulp to sell as animal feed. Hamish and Robert have now been selling their oil for over 5 years and even run their delivery van on old oil from restaurant fryers.

Scientific test show that rape seed oil is lower in saturated fat and has more omega 3 and 6, than olive oil. It is therefore no surprise that there are now a number of farmers around the UK pressing their own rape seed and trying to build a local market. We are starting to see more on supermarket shelves but there is a perception that olive oil is the best.

To combat this Hamish and Robert offer their oil at a price significantly lower than Olive oil to encourage consumers to try it. In my case we buy a case of two 5L cans every month and share it round the family. We all use it for cooking and dressings and make a big saving. And are doing our bit by cutting imports and food miles!

You can click to buy from Campbells R-Oil in the BigBarn MarketPlace

23.05.10

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Link

• Big Barn Marketplace