Oil from Hogsthorpe, Lincolnshire

May 9, 2024 / Cat Shaw

Today on the blog we are featuring Riley Taylor of R.G Taylor & Sons, a Lincolnshire based farm who produce the 500ml Rapeseed Oil that we sell.

Welcome Riley, thank you for joining us!

Please tell us a little more about yourself, your family farm and how you came to producing rapeseed oil?

Our family runs a mixed farm in Hogsthorpe, Lincolnshire. On the cattle side we run around 120 head of suckler cows, mainly being our native Lincoln Red breed, and on the arable side we grow 350 acres of arable crops, alongside over 100 acres of permanent pasture for the cows to graze in summer. Today on the farm we have three generations working side by side, lead by my 86 year old Grandpa who is still heavily involved in the business. In 2022 I took the plunge into starting a diversification project, I had always wanted to do something extra to look to help the farm progress, and with that I came up with the idea to turn the seeds we grow from the oilseed rape, into cooking oil. My main inspirations came from farms that had done similar in Lincolnshire whether it be making cheeses, setting up farm shops or anything that allows them to sell directly to consumers.

How is rapeseed oil produced?

The cold pressing method of producing rapeseed oil is super simple and is essentially the same meaning as ‘extra virgin’, our seeds are simply pressed once in a machine called a screw press, which gently squeezes the seeds to separate the solids from the liquid. The liquid then passes through a filter to collect out any sediment left in the oil, and there you have it! The solids that were produced from the press are then used as cattle feed, so there is zero waste which we love! Cold pressing allows the oil to retain all the natural health benefits from the oil, and keeps it at the lovely golden colour. Processed rapeseed oil, often labelled as vegetable oil will often be from seeds grown in foreign countries, and will be extracted from the seed using heat and chemicals as it allows big companies to extract more liquid per tonne.

What are its qualities?

Cold pressed rapeseed oil has many benefits, not only does it look and taste great, it has half the saturated fat than that of extra virgin olive oil. It also has a higher smoke point, which means it is safer to cook with at high temperatures (230 Celsius).

A massive benefit of using our oil is its traceability, I can show you the exact field we grew the seeds which went into your bottle. There are also no additives, just the lovely golden oil in its natural form.

How can our customers best use it?

Rapeseed Oil is one of the most versatile cooking oils on offer, it has a subtle nutty flavour, so is brilliant for shallow and deep frying, drizzling, dipping, baking, stir frying and possibly most importantly in our house hold, roasting! It’s also a great base for making dressings, it matches perfectly with balsamic for a tangy salad dressing.

What are your future aspirations for the product or products?

Since setting up our main focus has been spreading the word about our oil and its benefits, we want to make it as accessible as possible to people in Lincolnshire. Our next step is developing flavoured oils such as chilli, garlic and lemon. I see a real potential for them and is usually the step that other producers around the country take when growing there business, so watch this space!!

As a young farmer what advice would you give to others trying to diversify in the farming sector?

For me my biggest issue when looking into how to diversify was funds. A lot of the common routes need big initial investment, which to me seemed very risky and I knew that my family would see it that way too. So my advice would be to try and look for something you can start with smaller investment, work hard to grow and build it up that way. My other piece of advice would be to go down a route you’re genuinely interested in and passionate about, it’s very hard work pushing a business whilst working full time, but if you’re fully invested in what you do it seems much more worth while and enjoyable.