Christmas 2020 will be a smaller Christmas gathering, with families being able to spend more time together, with more of a focus on convenient, festive, and healthy dishes for them to enjoy together.

Local vegetable side-dish producer, Mash Direct has launched their seasonal products to cater for all your festive needs and take the stress out of Christmas, allowing you to spend more time with family, with the added convenience of delivery, direct to your door!

Mash Direct’s diverse Christmas range is sure to bring plenty of variety to the festive table, whilst still focusing on traditional tastes.  Ranging from Red Cabbage and Beetroot to Honey Glazed Parsnips as well as Stuffing Bites, there is guaranteed to be something for everyone to enjoy this festive period.  This Christmas range offers the convenience of little preparation and quick cooking times with added Christmas flavours, set to be a hit for all festive occasions.

Lance Hamilton, Sales Director at Mash Direct, said: “It is now more important than ever to experience togetherness at Christmas and create some festive sparkle.  Our award-winning vegetable accompaniments take the hassle out of Christmas due to their convenience and versatility, meaning you can spend more time with family and enjoy the festive period.”

To take the stress out of Christmas food shopping this year and with a real focus being on local food companies offering delivery services, Mash Direct’s products are available for delivery across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland fresh from the family farm.  This service provides convenience to busy customers and their families, as well as those who may be isolating as a result of Covid-19.  There are a wide range of tailored box selections available which can be ordered through the Mash Direct website (www.mashdirect.com/shop).

Mash Direct’s seasonal range is available in major retail multiples, convenience stores and independents throughout NI.

Their Christmas Box (£25) is available to pre-order until the 20th of December to ensure Christmas delivery.  This festive box contains many farm-fresh, nutritious, healthy, fun and innovative Christmas products, such as, 2 x Honey Glazed Parsnips, 2 x Brussels Sprouts with Bacon & a Butter Glaze, Roast Potatoes x 2, Red Cabbage & Beetroot, Mashed Potato x 2, Carrot & Parsnip x 2 and Stuffing Bites.

Mash Direct produces over 50 products that are 100% Gluten-Free and free from artificial colourings and flavourings and are available throughout the UK and Ireland.   The innovative farming enterprise, now boasts 23 Great Taste Awards, ranging from Mashed Potato to Cauliflower Bites.  

Local food producer, Mash Direct is teaming up withAction Mental Health to promote the charity’s ‘Elfie’ day, that will take place on Friday the 11th of December.  

Action Mental Health and Mash Direct are encouraging you to host your very own Elfie Day.  As well as connecting with others and keeping active, you’ll be giving your time and energy, as well as helping to raise vital funds to support Action Mental Health’s services for local people.  

By taking part and raising funds, you can help to build a mentally ‘Elfie’ society for all.  Action Mental Health will be sharing lots of hints and tips throughout December on ways that you can look after your mental health.

Jonathan Smyth, Fundraising & Communications Manager at Action Mental Health added, “We know how tough 2020 has been for so many people and we hope that Elfie Day will help to spread a bit of fun and positivity, as well as a timely reminder for people that they can take simple steps each day to help look after their mental health. We also want people to know that support is there and if they are struggling to cope they should speak to someone. There are lots of sources of help and support listed on our website. We are delighted that the team at Mash Direct are supporting Elfie Day and we look forward to seeing lots of creative Elfie Selfies on the day!”

Action Mental Health delivers a range of services across Northern Ireland including the provision of recovery services for adults as well as resilience and emotional well-being training in schools alongside counselling for people of all ages. In response to the pandemic, they have adapted these services for online and remote delivery as well as delivering face to face support where possible.

Action Mental Health will supply you with a festive fundraising pack giving you tips, props, and ideas to help you get that perfect ‘Elfie’ and add some Christmas sparkle to your event!

Clare Forster, Head of Marketing at Mash Directcomments, “Mash Direct are excited to be involved in Action Mental Health’s Elfie Day, it is a fantastic initiative to bring people together whilst staying apart in such strange times, and what a fun way to do it! For those who may be experiencing mental health issues, it ismore important than ever to provide support and services to look after your mental health. AMH are providing plenty of tips throughout December to help you with this.”

You can register for your very own Elfie day by visiting the Action Mental Health website (https://tinyurl.com/y39djxln) here you can find information regarding the event and also a link to download your ‘Elfie Selfie’ props as well as a fundraising pack.

If you would like to Donate to Action Mental Health you can do so by heading over to https://www.amh.org.uk/fundraising/donations/make-a-donation/.

A unique limited edition premium chocolate bar has been created in a collaboration between two craft enterprises located in Northern Ireland’s iconic Mourne Mountains.

The two companies behind the novel chocolate are Killowen Distillery and NearyNógs Chocolate Makers, both located near Newry in county Down.
NearyNógs is Northern Ireland’s only producer of bean to bar stoneground fine chocolate, while Killowen is a producer of Irish whiskey blends finished in rare casks sourced from across the world.

The chocolate, which is already being enjoyed in Denmark and Norway, uses whiskey matured in Solara Dark Rum by Killowen’s Master Distiller Brendan Carty for the Rum and Raisin flavour.

The premium chocolate, a 68 per cent cacao from growers in Peru’s Ucayali region, which links with the Amazon, was sourced by Shane Neary, who founded NearyNógs with wife Dorothy in 2011. They handcrafted the fine chocolate from the Peruvian beans.

Shane Neary explaining the collaboration with Killowen, says: We are both neighbours in the Mournes and had been talking about linking up to produce something quite different for some considerable time. Brendan suggested we could produce a limited edition bar using Killowen’s recently launched whiskey from the dark rum cask.

“This led me to start researching a suitable supplier of premium cacao beans from our network of contacts in South America. I settled on the Peruvian beans because of their fine and flowery flavour which I reckoned would blend perfectly with Killowen’s rum cask whiskey.

“We expect further collaborations on innovative product development in both short and long-terms,” he adds.

Brendan Carty adds: “The new whiskey chocolate is an example of the clustering between smaller producers which I am convinced is the way forward for the industry in the Mournes.

“It is a demonstration of how two craft businesses can work together to create innovative products that could also help in drawing more tourists to this important and scenic part of the island,” adds Brendan

The collaboration was also influenced by Killowen’s role as a brand ambassador for the Visit Mournes Destination with Tourism Northern Ireland and Tourism Ireland, a relationship which has now helped us reach out to tourism contacts in Copenhagen and Oslo.”

Brendan established Killowen Small Batch Irish Distillery in 2017 to help in reviving legal distilling in the Mournes. The distillery has since developed a range of premium Irish whiskey blends as well as gin and poitin. A collaboration with Two Stacks Irish Whiskey in Newry, a business which is reviving the tradition of independent blending and bottling, has led to export sales in the US.

NearyNógs is now Northern Ireland’s most successful and widely respected producers of fine chocolate with customers in many global markets. The small batch producer recently worked with Fortnum and Mason store in London on the development of its unique zero emissions Sailboat Chocolate slab.

The outstanding contribution of Helen Mulholland, Master Blender at Old Bushmills, has been recognised in an important industry award from Drinks Ireland and the Irish Whiskey Association.

She has gained the Chairman’s Award in a special virtual ceremony held recently in Dublin and was among six to be described as “legends of Irish whiskey”.

Drinks Ireland is the representative association for the Irish whiskey industry. The association’s Chairman’s Awards take place biennially and were awarded this year by outgoing Chairman David Stapleton, founder of The Connacht Whiskey Company.

The awards recognise the people, distilleries and industry partners that have made an outstanding contribution to the development of the Irish whiskey industry and category.

David Stapleton said: “I am honoured to present the Chairman’s Awards to such a talented and tenacious group of people who have contributed significantly to the revival of the Irish whiskey industry. The awardees represent the dynamism and ingenuity which is central to our industry.”

Noel Sweeney, Master Distiller, Powerscourt Distillery, said: “Since I started in the industry, Irish whiskey has been turned on its head. As a Master Distiller, I am proud to be part of an innovative wave that moved Irish whiskey beyond just triple distilled, non-peated expressions. We have since seen a rapid and exciting increase in new releases of interesting, high quality Irish whiskey, with much more to follow. Our industry is one of great resilience, ingenuity confidence, and creativity, and I look forward to a bright future for Irish whiskey.”

Mr Stapleton added: “2020 has been a tough year for everyone – including the Irish whiskey industry. However, the industry has proven itself to be resilient in the past – and will do so again. After decades of decline in the 20th century, we have experienced a remarkable recovery. I am confident we will bounce back and see Irish whiskey distilleries across the country grow from strength to strength in 2021.”

Helen Mulholland has been working at Bushmills for almost 30 years and has shaped a series of successful whiskeys in the distillery’s impressive luxury portfolio of single malts and premium blends during her time as Master Blender through her careful selection of casks that produce different flavour profiles and aromas. She’s skilfully created original and winning recipes from the traditional ingredients of water, malted barley and yeast, lovingly and skilfully distilled and matured over the years at Bushmills.

This expertise and remarkable track record led to Helen being justifiably named by the influential Whisky Magazine as the first woman in its Hall of Fame, in 2018.

A longstanding focus on innovation and quality have led to Bushmills become among Northern Ireland’s leading exporters and most revered global brands.

“Creating new products has become vitally important because of the growing popularity, particularly in the US, of Irish whiskey and the emergence of a raft of smaller distilleries throughout the island. Irish whiskey is now the fastest growing brown spirit. We are determined to play our part in ensuring its continuing growth. Bushmills is a premium Irish whiskey and we aim to maintain that standing and to produce something that anyone can enjoy,” she says.

“Exploring different cask formulations, different woods, and new recipes every day makes Bushmills a hugely exciting place to be at the moment,” she adds. She recently introduced the acclaimed Causeway Collection from Bushmills.

The UK’s best mince pies are officially available at SPAR in Northern Ireland.

Beating competition from supermarkets across the UK, judges of the BBC Good Food magazine have hailed SPAR Luxury Mince Pies as winners of the mince pie category for the first time in the 2020 BBC Good Food Christmas Taste Awards.

 The judges said: “These have a lovely golden colour and crumbly, buttery pastry. The filling is sweet and jammy, with nice big chunks of plump, soaked fruit and a good hit of citrus from the candied peel.”

 Myles Mersh, SPAR UK brand manager, said: “This is a great achievement for SPAR and in particular for our SPAR own label range. Our SPAR Luxury Mince Pies are exceptional quality and we are delighted that the judges of the BBC Good Food magazine were able to taste that. At only £2 for a pack of six, we hope they will bring some joy to thousands of homes in the run up to Christmas.”

Christine Hayes, BBC Good Food magazine Editor-in-Chief, added: “Getting the most for your money will be more important than ever this Christmas so be sure to check our winners before planning your big shop. It’s good to see some great value wins in this year’s taste test, all blind-tested.”

The accolade follows SPAR NI’s own brand Desserts by The Kitchen picking up six Great Taste Awards in the past two years. The sticky toffee pudding and bread and butter pudding were awarded two stars, with the chocolate sponge pudding, Bramley apple crumble and the rhubarb crumble awarded one star in 2019. This year, the chocolate brownie pudding picked up one star.

Neal Kelly, Fresh Foods director at Henderson Wholesale, owner of the SPAR brand in Northern Ireland said these accolades further heighten their famous for fresh award-winning food credentials; “It is fantastic to see the hard work of our fresh team come to life and be acknowledged by the top palettes in the UK. We are very proud to offer locally made desserts for the festive season, alongside our SPAR UK mince pies providing a tasty end to Christmas dinner for all.” SPAR Luxury Mince Pies are available in SPAR NI for £2.00.

 Judges said: “These pies have a lovely golden colour and crumbly, buttery pastry. The filling is sweet and jammy, with chunky pieces of plump, soaked fruit and a good hit of citrus from the candied peel.”

Five new bottled cocktails have been launched by Shortcross Gin in a new development for the innovation-led and multi-award craft distillery in Northern Ireland. The luxury cocktails have been created to be enjoyed at home.

The cocktails are based on those made for visitors to the company’s Rademon Estate distillery at Crossgar in county Down, Fiona Boyd Armstrong, Shortcross Gin managing director, explains.

“Making Shortcross Gin Cocktails has always been a big part of what we do at the distillery’” she says. We’ve been makingand tasting Shortcross cocktails over many months but since lockdown all tours at the distillery have stopped. They’ve always been very well received by those on our tours and many people have asked if they could buy them. There was clearly a market for bottled cocktails.

“These requests with comments from friends and family led us to decide to develop and make bottled cocktails readily  available through our website and our international network of distributors.

The five cocktails feature unique recipes created by Fiona and husband David Boyd Armstrong, the Master Distiller, from Shotcross Gin are: Bramble; Gin Old Fashioned; Modern Martinez; Classic Aviation; and Elderflower Negroni. 

The novel cocktails, the first produced by a Northern Ireland distillery, were developed over a period of three months involving extensive tastings and market research.

“Our choice of flavours is based on the cocktails which we like and those especially popular with visitors to the distillery,” Fiona continues. “While I love the Bramble, David’s favourite is the Elderflower Negroni. Our objective was to create original and luxury cocktails that could be enjoyed at home as well as in bars. Each bottle contains two serves,” adds Fiona.

Shortcross Gin was the first craft gin produced in Northern Ireland in more than a century when it was launched in 2012. The distillery has since won over 30 high-profile industry awards including UK Great Taste, the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and the International Gin Awards.Shortcross Gin is now exported to more than 30 markets worldwide. The company also produced a pink gin and is developing a new single malt Irish whiskey.