Northern Ireland’s leading independent bakery Irwin’s has revealed a new packaging design for Nutty Krust bread to celebrate the brand’s 60^th anniversary.

To accompany the makeover, a range of commemorative merchandise will be available via the Irwin’s website. The celebrations will also include 60 days of competitions and recipes shared across the baker’s social media channels throughout the summer.

Food NI member Irwin’s will be partnering with retailers and other brands from Northern Ireland to give away Nutty Krust merchandise, hampers, ‘staycation’ competition prizes and in-store promotional offers.

Nutty Krust was first sold by Irwin’s in Northern Ireland on 30 August 1961. The bread involves an 18-hour fermentation and slow baking process on the sole of the oven which gives the bread a ‘distinctive and unique’ flavour.

Figures suggest the brand remains popular among consumers, with IRI data showing sales of Nutty Krust increased by 22 percent in the 52 weeks to 21 March 2021.

“It’s enjoyed and recognised as a comforting taste of home by people of all ages – so much so that we get regular requests for overseas deliveries for people who have moved away from home and miss a good old slice of Nutty Krust,” said Brian Irwin, chairman of Irwin’s Bakery.

“Whilst the birthday isn’t officially until the end of August, we’re launching the celebrations early and will be keeping the party going right through until autumn,” he added.

“We want to say a big thank you to everyone in Northern Ireland who keeps supporting Nutty Krust – and we hope to make its seventh decade the best yet.”

A top hotel chain in Ireland has teamed up with a drinks giant to unveil one of the world’s largest bottles of gin – a 73cm bottle containing a staggering 32 litres.

Nearly 1,000 measures of the spirit are included in the Jawbox Giant’s Edition – the star attraction of a new G & Tea afternoon tea offering in the Hastings-owned Grand Central Hotel in Belfast. 

Holding almost 46 standard bottles of gin, the huge bottle weighs more than 50kg.

The G & Tea experience in Ireland’s tallest cocktail bar, The Observatory in the Grand Central, is supported by Tourism Northern Ireland and the ‘Embrace a Giant Spirit’ promotional campaign.

It takes its name and inspiration from Jonathan Swift’s well-known tale, Gulliver’s Travels, in which the writer was said to have been inspired by the sight of the Belfast Hills, which he felt resembled a sleeping giant safeguarding the city. 

“We are delighted to mark our reopening by embracing our giant spirit, in partnership with Jawbox and Tourism NI, by showcasing one of the world’s largest bottles of gin,” said Stephen Meldrum, general manager of the Grand Central.

“We have created a truly unique visitor experience for our guests who can enjoy our new G & Tea and find out more about one of our most famous local legends.

”Northern Ireland is rich in stories and myths and we are excited to bring part of this to life as we celebrate the reawakening of the giant that is our very own tourism and hospitality industry.” 

Founder of Jawbox Small Batch Gin, Gerry White, added: “We are thrilled to launch the Jawbox Giant’s Edition in collaboration with Hastings Hotels. The Grand Central Hotel is the perfect home for the bottle, with stunning views overlooking the Belfast Hills that inspired the story behind our Giant’s Edition Gin and from which one of our key botanicals, Black Mountain Heather, is carefully gathered.”

The Jawbox G & Tea, including delicate sandwiches, scones and sweet treats, is served daily from 1pm – 5pm and is priced at £40 or £50 to include the exclusive Jonathan’s Twist Cocktail.

NeighbourFood was established in Cork in 2018 and in just under 3 years has grown to 50 collection points in ROI and has also gained a foothold in the UK with 20 markets in England and Scotland. NeighbourFood is the brainchild of founders Jack Crotty and Martin Poucher, who designed it to give small producers a direct route to market via an online platform. It works just like a farmers’ market but instead of customers heading to their local market, they can shop with the same producers with a few clicks of a mouse. 

Recently earning the prestigious accolade of “Outstanding Organisation” in the Irish Food Writer’s Guild 2021 awards for its support of Irish producers, Jack Crotty explains how the NeighbourFood business model works: 

“Our food producers set their own prices and get a fair price for every product sold. They keep 80% of sales for every product, compared to 15-50% through supermarkets. The remaining 20% is split equally between the market host and NeighbourFood. Our vision when we set up NeighbourFood was to enable even small communities to create a self-sustainable food network. We see this as a means to building strong local economies, providing a new and more profitable route to market for small scale farmers and producers. The dividends for local communities and the environment are substantial in that it provides better quality, fresher food for customers while also reducing unnecessary food waste as you buy just what you need for the week.”

Each NeighbourFood has a local flavour which is what makes each market distinctly of its place. A local market host brings together small farmers’ and food producers to create a weekly online farmers’ market. It is a click and collect model with an accessible collection point where producers drop their customers’ weekly orders for collection.

NeighbourFood Newry was the first stepping-stone into Northern Ireland when it was launched by Elaine Quinn in January this year. Over the 4 months since launch, it has grown steadily to a consistent 50 – 60 customers each week. The NeighbourFood EastSide collection point at Portview Trade Centre is due to launch this month and there are plans afoot for new collection points across Northern Ireland. The reception from local producers has been very positive, both from those already trading on the Newry market and those signed up to for the EastSide collection point at Portview Trade Centre in Belfast. Just a few of the highly regarded local producers that will be trading at the NeighbourFood EastSide market include Mike’s Fancy Cheese, Castlescreen Farm, Bara Bakehouse, Sea Source. Hahu Organics, The Curious Farmer and Deli Muru.

NeighbourFood customers benefit from the convenience of planning their weekly shop at home, filling their fridge with the best of local food available in their area, ensuring that their weekly shopping spend is spent in their local community. The icing on the cake is the time saved with a collection that takes just minutes.

To shop at the first NeighbourFood market in Belfast, sign up at www.neighbourfood.co.uk/eastside and note that you can shop weekly or as often as suits your needs.

Neary Nógs, the Northern Ireland producer of bean-to-bar chocolate, has won the prestigious Mott Green Award from the influential Academy of Chocolate in London for its commitment to sustainability, eco packaging and support for cacao farmers and their communities.

Based near Newry in county Down, Neary NógsChocolate Makers, a family owned business run by husband and wife team Shane and Dot Neary, has developed into a world leader in artisanal chocolates and a leading supplier to top retailers such as Fortnum and Mason in London.

The Mott Green Award was among a series of special awards made by the Academy of Chocolate to artisan chocolate makers.

Shane Neary, commenting on the Mott Green Award, says: “We are over the moon to have been recognised for our sustainability practices. It’s a tremendous endorsement of our business practices by our industry.”

The award celebrates the achievements and contribution to the chocolate industry of American businessman Doug Friedman, better known as Mott Green, founder of the Grenada Chocolate Company in 1999.

Mr Green, who died in 2013, studied chocolate production in San Francisco before moving to Grenada to revolutionise the chocolate industry throughenvironmental preservation and sustainable manufacturing.

Neary Nógs worked with the Grenada Chocolate company in the development of the unique Sailboat Chocolate for Fortnum and Mason, chocolate produced, shipped and manufactured without use fossil fuels.

Neary Nógs uses solar panels to power its production operation and has also introduced eco-packaging and other environmental preservation measures. The small business was formed by Shane and Dot Neary in 2011 and has since won a series of awards for quality, taste and innovation.

Five products from three Northern Ireland companies have been shortlisted in the annual FreeFrom Food Awards, the UK’s only award for free from food and drink.

The three Northern Ireland companies in the running for top awards are:

Kestrel Foods, Craigavon, county Armagh for two branded products – Forest Feast Raspberry, Pecan and Apple Toppers in the Breakfast category and Forest Feast Slow Roasted Nut Mix with Sea Salt and Crushed Black Peppercorn and Acti-Snack branded Keto Crunch and Apple Cider Vinegar, both in the Savoury Snack and Cracker category.

Mash Direct, Comber, county Down in Ready Meals for Green Cabbage Bake

Kestrel Foods and Mash Direct are both Food NI members.

Otzibrew, Belfast in the Innovation category for Organic Chicory and Cordyceps Coffee Alternative and also for the same product in Best Packaging for a FreeFrom product

The awards, the winners of which will be announced on 27 May, celebrate the very best in freefrom food and drink. The distinctive logo assures that a product has been rigorously taste tested and has compliant/good labelling. 

Food and drinks that win the awards are seen as benchmarks in the business; small producers and supermarkets compete on a level playing field for one of our coveted awards.

Since 2008 over 5,000 freefrom products have been blind tasted by specialist judging panels. Featuring over a hundred chefs, manufacturers, dieticians and allergy reactors, many of the judges are well-known figures in the food and allergy worlds. Feedback from the panels has proved invaluable to manufacturers in encouraging development and innovation in the freefrom market.

I welcome the decision by ministers Diane Dodds and Edwin Poots to establish an independent strategic review into the future of our crucially important agri-food industry. I do so on behalf the Food NI team and especially our 450 food and drink member companies.

We all look forward to working closely with Sir Peter Kendall, the chair, and the other members tasked by the two ministers to address the challenges facing the industry especially in the post-pandemic era. 

We will do everything we can to assist the new strategy group to achieve the objective set by the ministers of unlocking “the new opportunities ahead to build a thriving, more sustainable, resilient and profitable agri-food sector”. 

It’s essential that the undoubted potential of the industry to drive economic recovery post pandemic is effectively harnessed and as quickly as practicable. It is, after all, a £5 billion industry which exports a wide range of products to around 60 global markets and employs upwards of 100,000 people across a vast supply chain.

There is clearly a very strong case to review the current state and future of the agri-food sector against the background of the past year which has seen the sector rise impressively to the unprecedented challenges it has faced due to the awful pandemic.

In particular, the lockdowns in hospitality had a profound impact on food and drink processing, requiring many processors which had depended on supplying restaurants, cafes and hotels to pivot towards a greater engagement in retailing. I’ve been very favourably impressed by how many companies of all sizes and sectors responded in terms of revised marketing techniques and the introduction of innovative food experiences for consumers here and further afield. 

We saw smaller enterprises pitching for – and winning – listings with major supermarkets in Britain and the Republic of Ireland. And more local products from smaller producers are now listed by online retailers Amazon and Ocado. 

We were able to help many of these companies through our engagement with our colleagues in Invest NI which deployed significant resources to help companies win new business in Britain, the Republic of Ireland and beyond especially the US. 

Other substantial changes in the business environment faced by our companies flowed from Brexit and the subsequent Irish Sea Protocol from Northern Ireland remaining within the EU. There is a pressing need to help our companies, especially smaller enterprises, prosper in these different and sometimes perplexing trading arrangements.

 “The group is also charged to provide “a sharp, focused review with recommendations for both the industry and Executive departments informing decision making and policy development”. 

I am confident the group realises how important it is to engage with the industry on a collaborative basis to come up with effective measures to improve productivity; enhancing economic and environmental sustainability, including carbon footprint; reducing access to migrant labour; Increasing the levels of innovation and R&D; addressing changing market demands for food products and opportunities; a possible regional branding; and the development of an independent UK Trade policy. 

This is quite an action list for the experts to tackle, but the industry deserves the best possible outcomes to allow it to unlock future potential.