nigella lawson Archives - Farrington Oils

10 years of cold pressed rapeseed oil. From a leading actress and a butcher to Michelin star chefs and business leaders; all part of this modern farmer’s story.

Celebrating 10 years, Farmer Duncan Farrington thanks the people who supported his British culinary oil with the first 10, new look bottles off the production line.

Farrington’s Mellow Yellow cold pressed rapeseed oil celebrates its 10th anniversary with a redesign and fresh look. The success of this British brand of culinary oil has been achieved through lots of hard work, as well as support from a wide variety of people. Duncan started selling bottles of Mellow Yellow cold pressed rapeseed oil to independent retailers from the boot of his car in 2005, including his first stop at the local butcher, H Johnson & Sons in Thrapston. Mr. Johnson agreed to give it a try on a sale or return basis and within a fortnight had placed his second order having completely sold out.

In 2003 Duncan became a LEAF Demonstration Farmer, as part of a network of farmers who talk to the public about their environmentally friendly farming practices. Actress Tamsin Greig launched the Farrington family farm as a demonstration farm. Tamsin was playing Debbie Aldridge in the Archers at the time, where the character had just completed her LEAF audit on the show. Duncan invited Tamsin and her family to the farm where she planted an owl box to mark the occasion. Later with LEAF Marque accreditation for his rapeseed, Duncan began producing Farrington’s Mellow Yellow rapeseed oil to the highest environmental standards and raised the bar of British produced culinary oils.

Cold pressed rapeseed oil continues to grow in popularity and is much loved by chefs and home cooks alike, who appreciate its culinary and health properties. Leading chefs to discover Farrington’s early on included Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson. Duncan introduced himself to Jamie at a consumer show in 2006, and since then has produced one of Jamie’s brands of rapeseed oil as well as being on the menu at his Union Jacks restaurant. Nigella was an early fan too, naming Farrington’s Mellow Yellow as her rapeseed oil of choice in her book ‘Kitchen’. More recently, the company was chosen by Michel Roux Jr’s Cookery School to become a partner. The school contacted Farrington’s because their chefs have been using the oil since the school opened in 2013.

Duncan also acknowledges other people who support British agriculture and who have, in one way or another, been advocates and mentors. Duncan says, “Our success has been achieved not only with a great product but also through working with great people who believed in what I was trying to achieve right from the start. From the food writers and independent shops to the national retailers and Michelin-starred chefs, all of whom I’ve enjoyed working with and who have supported us on our journey from humble beginnings”.

The ten people to receive bottles of Farrington’s Mellow Yellow cold pressed rapeseed oil are Judith Batchelar, Graham Cassie, Sheila Dillon, Tamsin Greig, Adam Gray, Nigel Johnson, Nigella Lawson, James Martin, Jamie Oliver and Michel Roux Jr.

Thank you for 10 years of cold pressed rapeseed oil, here’s to 10 more!

We’re pleased to announce that Farrington’s Mellow Yellow has just won Silver in the Best UK Food category of the Daily Telegraph’s 2007 Taste of Britain awards.

Duncan and Eli collected the award last week at a ceremony held at Highgrove, The Prince of Wales’ family home. They were treated to a splendid buffet lunch featuring many of the award winners, and Duncan particularly liked the Doddington dairy heather honey ice cream.

The salad dressings arrive shortly…

The first 1,000 bottles of our award winning salad dressing (Farrington’s Mellow Yellow Blackberry Vinegar Dressing and Farrington’s Mellow Yellow Blackberry Vinegar Dressing) will be available by the end of October. We are now taking orders! Each dressing comes in a 250 ml bottle, 6 to a case, and the minimum order will be for two cases (which could be one of each dressing). Prices are:

Trade price £2.63 per bottle, which is £15.78 per case. This price includes delivery. The recommended retail price is £3.50 per bottle.

Please note that the salad dressings are currently only available from us at present!

Nigella Lawson. Our latest convert?

An observant viewer of BBC 2’s ‘Nigella Express’, (who was, unusually, not interested in either the presenter or the recipe) spotted a bottle of Mellow Yellow in Nigella Lawson’s kitchen recently. This sighting has since been confirmed by other viewers.

We assume she uses Mellow Yellow, and it’s not just there for decorative effect.

Farrington Oils on TV…

A few weeks ago a film crew visited us here at Bottom Farm and spent a couple of days filming the production process and some of the personalities. The programme is part of the ‘Country Lives’ series on ITV Central and will be shown on Thursday 25 October at 7.30pm. We understand that it will be repeated at a later date.