Broglasco Farm, home of Northern Ireland’s award-winning Broighter Gold Rapeseed Oil, has recently diversified in growing and processing carrots.

The farm, which is owned by husband and wife team Richard and Leona Kane and is located near Limavady in County Londonderry, has bought a local carrot planting and processing machinery outfit, which was based in County Londonderry. The landscape of Magilligan and the Roe Valleyis widely recognised as one of the best for growing carrots in Northern Ireland.

Leona Kane, who runs the highly successful cold pressedBroighter Gold Rapeseed Oil, explains “If we were passing the farm, we would always have called in and bought some carrots and vegetables on our way past, and we just thought they are the best carrots around. They’ve always been very tasty and have a great colour, both of which are the result of the great soil in which they are grown.

“We reckoned with carrots having so many health benefits that it would fit in well with our rapeseed oil business, which is full of Omega 3, 6 and 9, and also another locally product. We subsequently acquired the plant and machinery as part of the investment and are committed to continue the development of the business as a producer of quality carrots,” she adds.

Broglasco Farm will be planting around 20 acres this year of carrots. Fergus Cooke who has 30 years of experience growing and harvesting carrots has joined our team here at the farm.  We will learn a lot from all his knowledge in the field!

Mrs Kane continues: “We have handpicked five varieties of carrots, two of which are popular bulking varieties, and three for shoppers based on taste, colour and other consumer preferences. Our aim is to develop products which will offer consumers something deliciously different and in line with market requirements.

“The main carrots were the standard Eskimo and Nairobi varieties and these will continue.  Three more varieties are being introduced.” adds Mrs Kane.

Broglasco intends to sell the carrots to vegetable distributors in Northern Ireland to process and market them. The farm, in addition, plans to wash, pack and bag carrots on-site for local sale.

“We have other ideas for the carrots and we will develop these as the business grows.  For instance, distributors of our rapeseed oils have expressed an interest in selling carrots, rather than having to depend on carrots from Spain and Israel.”

The first carrot harvest is expected in July – depending on the weather. The 700- acre arable farm already grows oilseed, wheat, and barley along with some spring crops.

Broighter Gold Rapeseed Oil was launched in 2011 using around 120 acres on the farm and has proved to be among the most successful culinary oils in the UK, winning a string of UK Great Taste, Blas na hEireann awards for quality and outstanding taste. The 11-strong range of cold pressed oilshave become the preferred choice of top chefs in the UK and Ireland.

The family run business also sells its Liquid Gold rapeseed oils in Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland, France and the United Arab Emirates.

Mrs Kane adds: “While it’s an immensely challenging time especially, our retail outlets that are still open is continuing to grow. Foodservice, of course, has largely stopped, some are now operating a take away service. However, social media and online orders are growing strongly.”

Boatyard distillery, an award winning Northern Irish distillery, has developed a gin infused dark chocolate.

The novel chocolate is made from 68 percent dark chocolate sourced from Tanzania by The Proper Chocolate Company, Ireland’s bean-to-bar producer, and features spent botanicals from the distillery, based near Enniskillen in county Fermanagh, a producer of award winning double gin as well as vodka.

Boatyard founder and managing director Joe McGirr, explaining the decision to develop a delicious dark chocolate, says: “We have a lot of spent gin botanicals otherwise known as waste.  This waste carries a huge amount of flavour – too good to discard.

“Then we found The Proper Chocolate Company, one of a select few bean-to-bar chocolate producers in this part of the world.  The perfect partnership sees us combine our own organic waste with the finest, ethically sourced Tanzanian cocoa and married into an 80g bar.  It can be enjoyed on its own, with neat gin or with a gin and tonic,” he adds.

Other ingredients in the novel chocolate, which sells for £6 a bar, are organic cocoa beans, organic un-refined cane sugar and cocoa butter

The organic cocoa beans are from Kokoa Kamili in Tanzania’s Kilombery Valley.

Boatyard double gin features a unique botanical, Sweet Gale, which is foraged from the McGirr family bog and the wheat used for its vodka can be traced from the bottle back to the very field it came from.

Mr McGirr has a successful background in spirits and whiskey knowledge used to build his dream of the first legal distillery in Fermanagh in over 130 years.

The Proper Chocolate Company, founded by Patrick and Kelli Marjolet in May 2016, makes bean-to-bar chocolate in micro-batches in Dublin.

 

Taste Causeway has released its own online video channel “Cook around the Causeway” through the Taste Causeway digital platform www.tastecauseway.com/videos

The first series of videos, featuring local celebrity Chef Paula Mc Intyre, showcases a host of local recipes featuring local food and drink, all sourced from the Causeway Coast and Glens.  Recipes are available to download from the platform, as well as information on where to buy the ingredients through the Taste Causeway e-shop at www.tastecauseway.com/shops

For further information contact

Sharon Scott

Mob: 07827 321492

Email info@tastecauseway.com

What a challenging time it’s been for the food, grocery and hospitality sectors over the past month. And it looks inevitable that further challenges face us over the weeks and monthsahead.

There are worrying signs too that farming is now facing severe difficulties from a combination of factors including falling beef and milk prices, a situation exacerbated by some supermarkets importing minced beef from Poland. Urgent funding from Government is essential to ensure the survival of many farms here. I know that Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots is aware of the looming threat and is keen to do whatever he can to help.

We’ve seen the food industry here rising to ‘Feed the Nation’ and the bigger processors in particular offering hundreds of job opportunities at a time when unemployment is rising sharply and the local economy under greater threat than at any time since the 2008 recession. It’s our fervent hope that the companies will be able to retain as many of those additional jobs as practicable.

Our member companies, including processors and smaller retailers and delis, are certainly doing their utmost to assist people here, especially the elderly and vulnerable. I commend their responsiveness and enterprise. Bigger processors are focusing on specific products demanded by the community such as mince and chicken breast fillets.

Artisan and smaller enterprises and retailers have responded quickly to the needs of people staying at home by introducing delivery services that can be accessed by phone and over the internet. And it may well be that these companies will decide to continue to provide the personalised services they’ve launched after the virus has gone.

In Food NI, we have been active in doing whatever we can to help the industry by pressing retailers to source as much as possible from local suppliers and, especially, to create opportunities for artisan and smaller producers to help plug gaps on their shelves.

In another important support initiative, we set up an extensive list of our companies now offering customers, especially the elderly and vulnerable, doorstep delivery services paid for by card, thereby avoiding any breach of social distancing requirements. And many of our members are now offering deliveries of a broad range of products. I’ve also been immensely encouraged by smaller companies offering to include products from other businesses in the food they are delivering.

They have been quick to address the critical threat of a collapse in cash flow arising in particular from the closure offarmers’ markets. Our hope is that these will return but only when it’s safe for them to do so.

We have included information about support measures including grants and loans from the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to combat Covid-19 on our website.

We’ve been active in the drive to help safeguard smaller businesses and the self-employed firms which have fallen in the cracks between the various schemes and urged banks to provide support.

Another important issue we are addressing is the problem companies are now experienced in terms of access to support from decisions on industrial de-rating in the past.

There’s an extensive Covid-19 section on our website that’s packed with essential information for companies and smaller retailers about the virus and support readily available to enable them survive the outbreak.

Our companies, furthermore, have continued to pursue opportunities for their produce in Britain and the Republic of Ireland. We’ve promoted a number of recent successes….and hope to showcase further successes in the months.

What is also apparent is that our industry is changing and likely to continue to do so. Companies are doing business differently, especially in how they interface with customers.

And the retail environment is also being reshaped by shoppers who now appear to be appreciating the commitment of smaller stores, store groups and delis to their local communities. Processors previously focused on foodservice are seeking to rebalance their business by exploring retail.

It’s hard to predict, at this stage, how these and other changes currently underway will pan out beyond the virus. Food NI will proactively support and promote the industry in whatever lies ahead.

 

Mash Direct, the award-winning ‘field to fork’ convenience vegetable accompaniments brand, has launched a farm to door delivery service of fresh, nutritious, healthy and wholesome vegetable products.

The local vegetables are available for delivery across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland from the family farm in Co Down.

.Jack Hamilton, chief operations officer at Mash Direct, says: “We are a sixth-generation family farm and our heritage was delivering vegetable boxes to the doors of our customers.

“We are simply going back to our roots to do home deliveries and combining that with the modern e-commerce shop on our website. This way we can deliver fresh local vegetables to everyone’s doorsteps. We are also very happy that we have lots of delivery slots available and are aiming to ramp up this service to be able to carry out daily deliveries if needed.”

Each box retails at £20 (with a £3.50 delivery charge to the Republic of Ireland or free delivery on orders of over £75).

Tailored box selections include:

The Spring Box (perfect for dining in at home)

Roast Potatoes x 2, Mashed Potato x 2, Carrot and Parsnip x 2, Mashed Turnip, Champ, Red Cabbage, Green Cabbage, Potato Cakes, Cauliflower Cheese Gratin.

The Healthy Box

Carrot & Parsnip × 2, Beer Battered Chips × 2, Champ, Chilli Baby Bakes × 2, Green Cabbage, Carrot & Parsnip For One × 2.

The Roast Box

Mashed Potato × 2, Carrot & Parsnip × 2, Red Cabbage & Beetroot, Roast Potatoes × 2, Green Cabbage, Cauliflower Cheese Gratin × 2, Mashed Turnip and Champ.

The Party Box (containing eight delicious products)

Beer Battered Chips, Potato Croquettes × 2, Sweet Potato Fries × 2, Carrot & Parsnip Fries, Chilli Baby Bakes and Beer Battered Onion Rings.

Alternatively, you can purchase a ‘Mix & Match’ box which can be tailored to include your Mash Direct personal favourites at £22.50.

Mash Direct is also offering a ‘Feed the Heroes Box’ which can be delivered to any hospital in Northern Ireland or Ireland for Healthcare Staff and Key Workers who are working tirelessly to combat Covid-19. These boxes can be purchased for £12.50.

Utilising six generations of the Hamilton family’s farming expertise, Mash Direct vegetables are gently steam cooked immediately after harvesting, guaranteeing an unrivalled freshness of flavour with no compromise on either the nutritional benefits or natural texture of the vegetable.

The campaign aims to ensure there is no disruption in supply so supermarkets can remain stocked and the NHS can be supplied with food while the United Kingdom sees an unparalleled rise in demand. The initiative will also enable those looking for work in the current climate to gain employment in the food and drink industry.

Moy Park, Northern Ireland’s biggest food processor, with help from several other businesses, is cooking thousands of meals for vulnerable members of local communities.

Moy Park’s culinary team in Craigavon, Co Armagh has turned its new product development kitchen into a production line, and is creating 1,000 healthy, nutritious meals a week to be distributed by The Resource Centre Derry (RCD) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local companies who have also donated produce for the meals include Kerry Foods Portadown, Wilson’s Country, The Flavour Works, Irwin’s Bakery and Daily Fresh. JMC Packaging Ltd has also donated all the food containers and installed a special tray-sealing machine at Moy Park to ensure all meals arrive safe and fresh.

 The RCD provides vital services and advice to people in the North West including welfare support, financial hardship advice as well as training and day-care. The group also provides a ‘Meals on Wheels’ service and operates a Community Shop which has seen demand more than double due to ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

 Moy Park’s Head of Culinary, Aaron Dixon says: “We are keen to do all that we can to help those in need, so we approached our food charity partner FareShare to see who we could link in with locally.

“RCD provides invaluable help to the local community and has seen demand for its food services skyrocket beyond their capacity. With incredibly generous contributions from food and packaging companies in the area, we’re delighted to prepare and donate these meals to help RCD reach those people most in need of support. The meals we are providing can all be quickly heated up at home and have been made fresh by our culinary team on-site. I can’t describe the sense of pride the team here and all the suppliers feel by helping such a worthwhile cause in this difficult time.”

 Paddy McCarron, Senior Manager, The Resource Centre Derry adds; “On behalf of the RCS Board of Directors and management, I extend my gratitude to the hard work of the Moy Park team who are helping us provide an essential service to those in need.

“The reaction from the local community to the additional meals has been incredible and we have extended our opening hours and delivery services to meet demand.  It great to see everyone – from local businesses to our own volunteers – going the extra mile to support and protect our vulnerable people.”