Social media helps rapeseed producer strike export gold

Broighter Gold cold-pressed rapeseed oil is now being used in the kitchens of many of the top hotels and restaurants in Ireland including, most recently, the renowned White Sage Restaurant in Adare, Co Limerick. The White Sage is one of just 14 restaurants in Ireland to merit the BIB Gourmand status, one of just five in Munster rand the only one in Limerick.

Established last year, Broighter Gold, an artisan business based on a family farm in Northern Ireland, has embraced social media technology to win its first business in the Republic of Ireland from top chefs. Customers in Northern Ireland already include Cayenne, the Belfast restaurant owned by celebrity chef Paul Rankin, and Belfast Cookery School.

In addition, Broighter Gold has secured the third Artisan/Economusee for Northern Ireland and plans to set up a working museum to offer visitors a unique opportunity to discover the history and methods of growing, harvesting and pressing rapeseed oil direct.

Economusee combines culture, craft and tourism as local crafts people open their doors to visitors to watch them at work and learn about the heritage and traditions of their skills. Norway, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Sweden, Ireland and Northern Ireland are all partners involved in the initiative, which was developed in Quebec, Canada.

Broighter Gold's Leona Kane, who set up the business with husband Richard in 2010, says sales of the company's rapeseed oil are growing steadily, largely as a result of its strategy of using social media to reach potential clients in hotels and restaurants across Ireland and further afield.

"We've had a tremendous response to our oil over the past year and business is booming," she says.

The oil is cold pressed at Broglasco, the Kane's family farm, in Myroe, near Limavady, on the edge of Lough Foyle just above sea level on reclaimed land. The fertile ground grows high yielding crops of wheat, barley, oilseed and potatoes. Ireland's greatest find ofgold artefacts from the Iron Age of the 1st century BC was found on the farm and is now held by the national Museum of Ireland.

The company is unique in growing and processing its own oil seed rape crops. Rapeseed oil is being used increasingly by leading chefs as an alternative to olive oil because of its content on Omega 3,6,9 and Vitamin E and also because of is probably the most versatile cooking oil. Broighter Gold oil also has half the saturated fat of olive oil.