Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil: What It Is, Why It's Better & How to Use It

If you've only ever reached for olive oil or a supermarket vegetable oil, cold pressed rapeseed oil might just change how you cook. Increasingly popular with home cooks and chefs alike, it's one of Britain's most versatile and nutritious cooking oils — and it's about time it got the attention it deserves.

What Does "Cold Pressed" Actually Mean?

Cold pressing is a method of extracting oil without using heat. The seeds are simply crushed and the oil runs free — nothing added, nothing stripped away. Compare that to refined oils, which are processed at high temperatures and often involve chemical solvents, and you start to understand why cold pressed makes a difference.

The result is an oil that retains its natural flavour, colour, and nutritional profile. You'll notice it immediately — a beautiful golden colour and a clean, slightly nutty taste that refined oils simply can't match.

Why Rapeseed, and Why British?

Rapeseed has been grown in the UK for centuries, and those bright yellow fields you see across the countryside every spring? That's it. What many people don't realise is that British cold pressed rapeseed oil is exceptionally high quality — and far more sustainable than imported alternatives, with a fraction of the food miles.

Nutritionally it punches well above its weight too. Rapeseed oil contains half the saturated fat of olive oil, is rich in Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, and has a high natural Vitamin E content. It also has a higher smoke point than extra virgin olive oil, which makes it genuinely useful across all kinds of cooking — not just drizzling.

How to Use Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil

This is where it really earns its place in your kitchen:

Everyday cooking — its high smoke point makes it ideal for roasting, frying, and sautéing without the oil breaking down or smoking.

Salad dressings — the clean, nutty flavour shines in a simple vinaigrette. Try it with wholegrain mustard and cider vinegar.

Dipping — pour into a small bowl with a pinch of sea salt and crusty bread. Simple and impressive.

Baking — swap butter for rapeseed oil in cakes and traybakes for a lighter result with added nutritional benefit.

Taking It Further: Flavoured Rapeseed Oils

Once you've fallen for the original, the flavoured varieties open up a whole new world of easy, impressive cooking. Yorkshire Rapeseed's range includes basil, chilli, garlic, and lemon, garlic, oregano and thyme — each one cold pressed with the same quality base oil.

A drizzle of the chilli oil over a pizza straight from the oven. The garlic oil tossed through roasted new potatoes. The basil oil spooned over burrata. The lemon, garlic, oregano and thyme variety over a whole roasted chicken. These aren't complicated ideas — they're just good ingredients doing the work for you.

Where to Find Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil

We stock Yorkshire Rapeseed oil here at Delicacy Wholefoods — extra virgin and all five flavoured oils, delivered to your door across the UK.

https://delicacywholefoods.co.uk/collections/oils-vinegars

If you've not tried cold pressed rapeseed oil before, the extra virgin is the perfect place to start. We think once it's in your kitchen, it won't leave.