Supernature Oils

Image courtesy Supernature.uk.com

One of the things I love about the Sunday Stockbridge market is that you never quite know what the vendors are going to offer up, or even what vendors are going to be there. There are certainly some that are there every week (we got some outstanding scallops from the fish vendor, for instance) but others swap in every once in a while. This week, we discovered a (to us) newcomer: Supernature cold-pressed rapeseed oil. The unfortunately named stuff is big over here (and, for those who are curious, takes its name from the Latin for turnip: rapa or rapum) and having tasted it, I can see why. It's got a wonderful clean flavor, and apparently it's not too shabby on the health side, containing those omega-3s everyone says we should be eating.

Supernature grows, processes, and bottles their oils at Carrington Barns Farm, a family-run farm located in Midlothian just eight miles from the city. It doesn't get much more fresh and local than that. For those concerned about chemicals, they don't use any herbicides or fungicides on their plants.

You can buy plain oil from them, or try one of their excellent flavored oils: garlic, ginger, lemon, and chili. We picked up garlic and chili and I've been using them ever since in our dinners--chili has an excellent slow burn that managed to stand up to the fairly aggressive flavors in last night's stir fry--not something I can say about many supposedly "hot chili" oils. Garlic is great drizzled over potatoes or a homemade pizza, or in a salad. We tried all of them at the market and I have to say, as much as I love olive oil, I really preferred these flavored oils to any flavored olive oil I've ever had. The olive-y flavor of OO is always going to get in the way of any flavoring, but this oil just delivered a nice, clean flavor burst.

Supernature oils are available at various farmers' markets throughout Scotland or online at realfoods.co.uk.