Ispini Charcuterie, a Food NI member company, has been successful in the prestigious British Cured Meat Awards in London.

The Aughnacloy artisan producer had three innovative products listed for the final stages last weekend and gained runner up awards for two of them – Best Salami and Best Muscle Meat categories. The successful salami was garlic and black pepper. Best Muscle was paprika coppa.

The small company, run by brother and sister Jonny and Janice Cuddy and based on the family farm in Tyrone, previously won medals, including two golds for products at an earlier stage in the highly influential event. The company has also won UK Great Taste Awards.

Jonny Cuddy, commenting on the awards, says: “It’s a fantastic achievement which raises the profile of our handcrafted charcuterie in Britain.”

The British Cured Meats Awards celebrate the remarkable growth in UK charcuterie over the past five years and is supported by the Guild of Fine Food and meat specialists Cannon and Cannon.

Every producer of cured meats in the UK was invited to submit their finest cuts to be judged by the expert panel of judges for the awards and the unique Cured Meats Festival in June. The products have also won UK Great Taste Awards.

Jonny Cuddy has been rearing pigs for many years on the family farm. He started developing charcuterie to “increase the return from our pigs,” and established Ispini Charcuterie, a small food business, in August 2016. He now looks after 300 sows on the family farm near the border with the Republic of Ireland.

All the meat is sourced from Northern Irish farms which share Jonny’s values of provenance, welfare and taste.

The Ispini range is handmade in small batches, from cutting, blending, curing to hanging – a truly artisan experience.

Erne Larder Preserves in Enniskillen has won a series of orders from customers outside Northern Ireland for its handcrafted ketchup, jam and chutneys.

The company, owned and managed by chef Declan O’Donoghue, is now supplying its Irish Black Bacon Ketchup, Irish Bacon Jam and chutneys to London, Dublin, Sligo and Galway.

The orders have been placed through Erne Larder’s e-commerce site. Those in the Republic are also the result of a successful listing by Lidl of its ketchup and jam, both made using iconic Old Fermanagh Irish Black Bacon, an award winning product developed by Enniskillen butcher and deli owner Pat O’Doherty.

“The orders especially in Britain are immensely important,” says Mr O’Donoghue. “The business from the Republic is also very encouraging because it’s such an accessible market from Enniskillen. I want to expand a network of retail outlets there for my products. We are seeing orders increasingly through our website,” he adds.

Mr O’Donoghue, a native of Enniskillen, began training to be chef at the age of 16 and spent the next 16 years honing his skills in hotels and restaurants in Ireland in various roles, including head chef, before deciding to “step away from mainstream cookery”. That was in 2016.

As well as the bacon jam and ketchup, he has also created other jams and sauces including a lemon curd based on a recipe from his grandmother, pesto and a fiery jalapeño sauce.

Armagh Cider Company has won the Authentic Northern Ireland Experience of the Year Award for its visitor tours at this year’s Northern Ireland Tourism Awards ceremony.

The award, sponsored by Diageo NI, was presented to Helen Troughton from the family-run business at a special black tie dinner event at the Palace Demesne, Armagh.

This was the first time the annual ceremony was held in Armagh, with a wide range of local tourism providers attending. The awards ‘recognise and celebrate the industry’s excellence and innovation’ and were hosted by BBC presenter, Jo Scott, with a special Georgian themed marquee erected in the grounds. “We’re absolutely delighted to receive this award,” said Helen Troughton, who launched the business with her husband Philip, back in 2006. “It was wonderful just to be shortlisted alongside the other businesses in our category, so winning is the icing on the cake.

“We take great pride in making our tours the very best they can be, giving visitors a true flavour of what we do here at Armagh Cider Company. That’s why we describe our tour as being ‘from blossom to bottle’. We take visitors on a journey from the very start of the cider making process, in the orchard, right through to the final stages in the ‘cidery’ and bottling hall. We do everything ourselves on our family farm and are so pleased that people enjoy the touring experience.”

The award-winning Tours of Armagh Cider take place on the family farm at Ballinteggart, based just outside Portadown in Co Armagh, where the Troughton family has lived since 1898. Built in 1766, Ballinteggart House is rich with history and many of its stories are woven into the tour to enhance visitors’ overall experience. Mark Troughton, director at Armagh Cider Company, said the award was another great achievement for the family-run business, which recently branched out into mixers. The Troughton’s Raising Spirits range was launched successfully at this year’s Balmoral Show.

“We work hard at Armagh Cider Company to create handcrafted products our customers will love and we put the same amount of work into making our tours informative and enjoyable,” he said. “So, it’s great to get this seal of approval of our tours from Tourism Northern Ireland.”

Application Form

Set in the grounds of the stunning Clandeboye Estate, we are delighted to be able to offer this opportunity for local food and drink companies to showcase and sell their products at this event.

Business name: _____________________________
Contact Person: _____________________________
Mobile Number: _____________________________
Email contact: ______________________________

The costs are as follows;

Food and drink producers – one day cost – £ 50 , two days costs – £80
Food to go – one day costs – £ 100 , two days costs £150

The hours are as follows –

Saturday 31st – 11am to 6pm
Sunday 1st September – 11am to 5pm

Stand fees will be non-refundable should you decide to withdraw from the event after 31st July 2019.

Do you require electricity?
Yes                 No

If YES please list all electrical appliances to be used on the stand and the required Wattage/Kw: As stated there may be an extra charge for this.
____________________________________________

Information to be sent with this application form: Applications will not be considered without this information, without exception.

1. Description of your product(s)

2. Insurance Policy Copy (£5m Public Liability, £10m Employers Liability, Product Liability – if relevant).

3. Risk assessment for the event.

4. Food hygiene rating and food hygiene certs for producers attending.

Notes:

• All traders must carry sufficient first aid cover to meet the risk applicable to their stand.
• All trade stands must be open and manned by a company employee familiar with the product for the duration of the event.
• Places on the stand will be allocated to ensure the best variety is offered and a good representation of products from NI are shown. Once the application/selection process has been completed we will ask for payment. Payment – Please make cheques payable to Clandeboye Estate – Bank details are available on request from (christine@nigoodfood.com). Payment will be required to hold your space. If this is not received within a week of being requested the space will be offered to another company. Please do not make cheques out to Food NI.

PLEASE SIGN HERE
Name: _________________________
Position: ________________________

I wish to apply for a trade space at Clandeboye Foodie Festival, 2019 & agree to adhere to the terms and conditions below.

The criteria that each company must meet and sign up to before being considered is outlined below:

1. Adherence to opening hours.
2. Traders must comply with all relevant food safety, health and safety regulations and fire regulations.
3. Traders must supply their own equipment.
4. Traders must produce, or add value to, everything they are selling.
5. A company employee familiar with all products must be on site throughout the event. This would preferably be the producer him/herself.
6. Electrical appliances to be used MUST be specified on the application form and cannot change without notification to the organisers, at least one week before the event. All electrical appliances need to be PAT tested, this is a legal requirement.
7. Places at the event will be allocated by the organisers in the overall best interests of the market. Please note that the organisers’ decision is final.
8. The organisers reserve the right to restrict the number of stallholders in any particular product category in order to ensure that a wide variety of food is on offer at the event. This is in the interest of all traders, and will ensure adequate trade for all; a wide variety of foods will also make the event more appealing to the public.
9. All exhibitors are asked to provide small samples of their product for the public to taste.
10. All decisions regarding participation in this event are entirely at the organisers’ discretion.

For any further enquiries please contact:
(Christine@nigoodfood.com) or alternatively ring 02890249449
Thank you.

 

Download – Clandeboye Foodie Festival – Application Form