In 1896, a hoard of artefacts known as Broighter Gold was discovered on a farm in Limavady, Co Derry. Over 100 years later, Leona and Richard Kane have struck gold on the land again, but this time it’s of the liquid variety. The Kanes are the couple behind Broighter Gold Rapeseed Oil and, like the gold found on their fields, their discovery was made by accident.

“It was 2006. Richard had been pressing our rapeseed for biodiesel for quite some time,” explains Leona.

“I ran out of olive oil in the kitchen one night and he gave me a bottle of unfiltered rapeseed oil to use instead. I cooked steaks that night and they turned out lovely. Richard said they were the best I’d ever cooked – we were married for four years at that stage, so that was saying something. It was the smell of the oil that got me. It was crisp and didn’t overpower the food.”

Planted a seed

Although Leona, who was working in the local farmers’ union office, initially had no intention of selling the oil for consumption, that night planted a seed in her mind.

“At the time it seemed like a daft idea. I didn’t know anything about rapeseed oil,” she says.

“I knew a bit about the nutritional benefits, but once I started Googling it the benefits really knocked me for six. Rapeseed oil is a good source of Omega three, six and nine and has less saturated fat than olive oil. It can also withstand heat of up to 220°C.”

Leona started to become more invested in the idea, especially after learning it could be produced entirely on their 1,000-acre farm, where, in addition to rapeseed, they grow wheat, barley and potatoes.

In between the arrival of their two children (Jacob in 2009 and Emily in 2011), the business started to get off the ground with some help from Invest Northern Ireland.

“We started selling in April 2010,” recalls Leona. “I know this because I did a charity jump for Foyle Hospital around the same time. I thought I was sick with nerves, but afterwards I found out I was pregnant with Emily.

“I struggled with confidence, but think my children gave me the strength to say: ‘Stuff it, I’m doing this,’” she says.

After the birth of Emily, Leona was hands-on in the running of the business, from designing their own website (“I was as cranky as anyone making that website”) to labelling up to 500 bottles per week.

“I was really fussy, especially with the branding,” says Leona.

“I loved the Broighter Gold story and I wanted there to be a connection, which is why the torc – which was part of the hoard – is used in the logo. I also wanted the bottle to be attractive enough to sit in someone’s kitchen.

“Twitter is fantastic for promotion,” she adds. “When you’re a small company, you can’t afford to pay anyone to do marketing for you. We have to define why we’re different and get out there and promote ourselves.”

Reaping rewards

The perseverance has paid off – Broighter Gold is stocked in almost 150 shops north and south of the border and is used in approximately 100 restaurants, including Avoca and Brown Thomas.

“I got a call from a chef who said our oil was really good and we should try selling it to restaurants. I thought there was no way a chef would want our oil when they were used to using olive oil. I tweeted a chef, who then asked me for a sample, and that’s how it started,” says Leona.

“I cried the first time I saw our oil in three places on a menu … a lady even asked if I was OK. You have no idea how thrilled I was.”

In 2010, Richard and Leona, who also run tours on their farm, were asked to take part in the Économusée initiative.

“It’s a Canadian concept aimed at keeping craft and trade alive all over the world and there’s only 69 [businesses involved], with five based in Ireland,” explains Leona. “It’s lovely to be a part of it.”

The oil has claimed almost every food award going, including gold stars (naturally) at the Great Taste Awards and IFEX Product of the Year in 2012, where the relatively new company was up against 100 products. The Kanes were also one of the families to feature on UTV’s Rare Breeds, which focused on the year of farming families from Northern Ireland. Part of the secret behind their success seems to be the close relationship that Leona and Richard share.

“It’s lovely working together,” says Leona.

“I wouldn’t say we were worried in the beginning, but you’d hear about other couples who don’t get along when working together. Our relationship is strong and we have good banter.

“We met in our local bar. Richard was out with two friends I knew. They joked that Richard would be a good man for me and I thought: ‘No way!’ But I liked his eyes and I gave him my number. We were married within one year.”

Though it remains to be seen if Jacob and Emily will take over the farm in the future, Leona is happy to see them make the connection between land and food.

“When we’re walking through the fields Jacob will ask me what is edible. That’s important to me,” she concludes.

The past four years have been a hard slog, but Leona is glad they found their Broighter Gold.

“We weren’t thinking: ‘We need to diversify and how do we do it?’ It just happened, but we’re glad we did it,” she says.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. When Rare Breeds was on UTV, people were tweeting saying that my marketing skills were great, but I don’t have a degree in it. You can have all the stuff on paper, but if you don’t have common sense you’re not going to get on.”

For more information on stockists and recipes visit www.broightergold.co.uk