How We Make Our Rapeseed Oil

You may have noticed that our rapeseed oil now comes in a variety of flavours. We are hoping that we have something for everyone in there to encourage as many people as possible to make the switch to this healthy oil. We are aware of the many health benefits of consumers switching to rapeseed oil rather than regular vegetable oil and with ours coming in so many delicious flavours, there is really no excuse. Our flavoured rapeseed oil range consists of basil, chilli, smoked, lemon, natural and garlic. All of our flavours offer versatility in the kitchen without comprising on nutrition.

The process of how our rapeseed oils are made is of interest to many of our lovely customers and so we thought we would let you know a little more about it.

We are incredibly proud of the process that our rapeseed oil goes through. From crop to bottle every part of the process is handled by us at our purpose built premises in Ashford in the Water, Derbyshire. Our oilseed rape crop is grown on our family farm and we are Chatsworth tenant farmers.

This means that every bottle of oil that you buy from Brock and Morten has the lowest possible food mileage. Any bottles purchased online are sent to you straight from the farm, therefore the only miles your rapeseed oil will travel, will be from us to you via online orders or the distance to an event if you pick one up face to face.

Rapeseed oil is made by pressing the seeds from the plant, oilseed rape.  Contrary to popular belief oilseed rape is not a new crop; its use in Britain can be dated back to when the Romans brought it to England to be used to burn in oil lamps. Oilseed rape is easily recognised by its bright yellow flowers, which blossom in May and June. 

We share consumers concerns about the use of glyphosphates such as roundup, and because of this we never use them on our standing crops of oilseed rape. Some farmers use them to speed up the maturing of the crop so that it dries quicker meaning they can harvest earlier. We don't agree with this method, so we use a Swathing machine, which is essentially a mower which cuts the crop and leaves it in rows (swaths) which then dry out naturally. Once the crop has reached the optimum moisture level we then “pick up” the crop with a combine harvester.

To extract the rapeseed oil, we use a process called cold pressing. Cold pressing is the simple and traditional method of producing oil. The seed is simply pressed (or squeezed) at a low temperature, which means that the oils natural rich golden colour and nutrients are preserved. Once the oil has settled, it is filtered and then bottled. It really is as simple as that. No heat, no chemicals just pure and healthy homegrown oil. We only press our seed once, this ensures that we only produce the highest quality, undiluted cold pressed rapeseed oil.

We are very proud of our family's farming heritage and are happy to continue with this important British industry. 

If you have any other questions about any of our products, please do not hesitate to contact us.