North Coast Smokehouse in Ballycastle has launched an original smoked rapeseed oil for a range of culinary applications.

 

The rapeseed is smoked by the small company, which is owned and managed by

Ruairidh Morrison, near the Co Antrim town.

 

The family-owned and run business is best known for its award winning organic hot smoked salmon which is supplied to leading restaurants as well as retailed at markets around the Causeway and Glens council area especially at the monthly Coleraine market. The company, a Food NI member, also produces condiments such as black pepper and sea salt.

 

“The new rapeseed oil is the outcome of work over a number of years to develop a smoky flavour, which is on-trend at the moment, for adding to dishes,” Ruairidh says. “it’s ideal for both professional chefs and home cooks wishing to introduce a distinctively different flavour.”

 

“The new culinary oil is based on my experience of smoking organic salmon in small batches to ensure consistent quality in both taste and texture. It’s essentially a handcrafted product using my own recipe and hot smoking technique in our own small kiln in which we burn beech wood for a distinctive aroma and flavour.

“Our smoke is produced the old fashioned way, by simply burning small quantities of wood. We don’t use liquid-smokes, paints or dyes,” he adds.

“I decided to start smoking dulse seaweed because it is plentiful around the coasts of Northern Ireland and is now widely recognised as being a very nutritious food that’s a very rich source of minerals and vitamins. It contains all the trace elements, such as iron, sodium and potassium, needed by humans and has a high protein content,” he adds.

 

 

Natural Umber, the award winning apple cider vinegar from Northern Ireland has just launched with Tree of Life, the UK’s largest wholesaler of healthy, natural and organic products.

Based at Dungannon in county Tyrone, Natural Umber won the UK Great Taste Golden Fork for Northern Ireland and three gold stars this year for its apple cider vinegar, which was launched earlier in 2018.

Fermented differently to other apple cider vinegars, Natural Umber retains the natural sweetness of apples and tastes absolutely delicious.

Natural Umber managing director Michael Mackle says: “We are absolutely thrilled to launch on the UK’s largest distributor wholesaler platform for healthy, natural and organic products. Tree of Life is synonymous with exceptionally high quality health food products and we believe Natural Umber is a perfect fit.”

Natural Umber apple cider vinegar was developed by Mackle Apple, one of the UK’s leading growers and processors of apples.

The launch of Natural Umber with Tree of Life is a massive boost for Mackle Apple, which has over 50 years’ experience, growing and producing apple products.

Established in 2002, Tree of Life supplies over 1,200 independent retailers across the UK on a daily basis and is the major ambient supplier for organic supermarkets including Whole Foods Market.

As the healthy and natural foods market has grown its appeal into the mainstream market, Tree of Life has developed key supply partnerships with major grocery retailers including Ocado and Morrison’s.

Buyer Nigel Briggs adds: “We’re seeing strong sales of fermented foods and drinks, especially apple cider vinegars, so we’re excited to be launching Natural Umber into this growing category”

Natural Umber is available to buy in January from Tree of Life in packs of 10 x 500ml glass bottles.

 

Fane Valley, one of Northern Ireland’s leading agricultural companies has given three local schools the opportunity of working together to design their business calendar for 2019, in a creative educational project in association with Arts & Business NI and in conjunction with Arts Care.

Fane Valley, a Food NI member, relocated its head office to Moira in 2016 is now a significant employer within the greater Craigavon/Lisburn Borough. As part of a new strategic ‘Reach Out’ project with the objective to engage with their local schools, the farming cooperative secured the services of Arts Care artists Grainne Kielty and Lucy Turner to deliver several screen-printing workshops, interacting with over 100 GCSE pupils from St Ronan’s College, Lismore Comprehensive and Friend’s School, Lisburn with an educational focus on their business interests, history and the ever increasing wider group career opportunities, while discussing the Northern Ireland agricultural sector in a creative and colourful way.

Trevor Lockhart, Fane Valley Group, chief executive, said: “This specific ‘Reach Out’ project in conjunction with Arts & Business NI, and Arts Care is a first for Fane Valley and one we have thoroughly enjoyed. Our brief was simply to reach out to our new communities in which we are operating and to engage with future generations through art, while telling our story.

“We invited the schools to work together to design our company calendar and the results have been very impressive. They demonstrated a collaborative and sharing approach during this activity, which actually was very inspirational. There was real evidence of collective responsibility and joined up ownership for the project. The calendar initiative is one of three arts related projects planned for our wider ‘Reach Out’ programme.”

Mary Nagele, Arts & Business NI chief executive, added: “We are delighted to see Fane Valley activate their Arts & Business NI membership so effectively. They embraced our suggestion of partnering with Arts Care to deliver key CSR and staff engagement projects. It is highly impressive to see them embed creativity within their corporate strategy so effectively, enabling Fane Valley to creatively connect with the local community around the new headquarters in Moira. We look forward to seeing the next stage take shape where they have exciting plans to use the Arts as a tool to creatively engage their staff.”

Dr Jenny Elliott, Arts Care chief executive continued: “Arts Care have really embraced the partnership with Fane Valley and Arts & Business NI for this innovative Arts & Well-being project that has outreached into local schools in the Moira and surrounding area.

“The pupils from three schools worked with our Arts Care’s professional artists to create a stunning set of contemporary art works contributing to the Fane Valley 2019 Calendar. What has been outstanding about this first phase of the project has been the education value for the pupils who through arts participation have learnt through their creativity and imagination about a vital local business established over 100 years ago. Our artists are now looking forward to the next phase of this creative partnership project with more exciting outcomes anticipated for the young participants.”

 

French Village Bakery, a Food NI member, has invested £850,000 to expand its current operations and develop its catering division.

The Belfast-based business opened in 1981 as a producer of artisan breads, cakes and buns. In 2014, production moved to a purpose-built bake house, where the business was able to diversify into the catering industry.

Now, the family-owned bakery is to develop this area with the help of an £850,000 investment sum, supported by Danske Bank. The move will create 10 new jobs.

“We feel there has been a natural progression from when the business supplied sandwiches and catered small events to catering for large corporate events and weddings,” said French Village Bakery director Ashley French.

“With the catering division being located at our bake house, we can also use the skill set we have in the bakery to assist with products required for catering events, from fresh bread to wedding cakes,”

“The support of Danske Bank has allowed us to expand our catering kitchen and equip it with top-of-the-range equipment, such as new ovens. We’ve also been able to break into new markets and that has really helped us get a foothold in the larger catering market.”

French added that the business would continue to develop its product range and expand its operations.

 

 

The Company..

The producer of the Dart Mountain range of artisan cheeses, has launched a series of beer and cider flavoured jelly spread.

 

The company, which is run by husband and wife team Kevin and Julie Hickey is based at Dungiven in Co Derry. It has developed the four-strong range of jellies using locally sourced artisan beers and cider under the ‘Wee Crafty” brand.

 

The novel spreads have been created by Mr Hickey, an experienced caterer, to accompany cheeses especially Dart Mountain’s successful range that now includes a goat’s milk product.

 

The small company has also developed a popular range of cereal products which have won a number of awards for quality and outstanding taste.

The Products..

The four spreads from the Food NI member, are:

 

Armagh Craft Cider using Long Meadow Cider from Loughgall in Co Armagh. This is best paired with Dart’s Sperrin Blue and Carraig Ban goat’s cheese.

 

Derry IPA using an India Pale Ale from Heaney Brewery, a beer with a hint of spice and a full malty body. This flavour is great with any of Dart Mountain’s cheeses.

 

Irish Kolsch using beer from Northbound Brewery in Derry, a sweet and fruity ale honey for cheese or to glaze any meat, vegetables or added to stews.

 

Dark Ale from Lacada Brewery in Portrush, a sweet and malty ale for glazing roasts and vegetables or with cheese.

 

The spreads are all available in 100g jars.

 

Mr Hickey, who founded Tamlagh Foods in 2012 with wife Julie, says:

“Creating the new range of jelly spreads made business sense because of our longstanding knowledge gained producing a range of six artisan cheeses. We wanted to develop products using beers and cider from other local producers. The new spreads are also based on the success we’ve enjoyed, especially in competitions such as UK Great Taste, with our relishes and chutneys,” he adds.

 

 

 

 

Deane’s EIPIC and OX restaurants in Belfast have been named among the world’s very best.

 

The two restaurants, Northern Ireland’s only Michelin star eateries, are named in the latest issue of La Liste of the top 1,000 at a gala event in Paris.

 

La Liste focuses on restaurants providing “outstand excellence and universal appeal in world gastronomy”.

 

Michele Shirlow, Food NI chief executive, congratulating the two restaurant owners, said: “This is a marvellous endorsement of the restaurants and also of Northern Ireland’s culinary excellence. It is a very timely listing that follows Northern Ireland’s recent recognition as the “World’s Best Food Destination’ in the prestigious World Travel and Tourism Awards in London.

 

La Liste is based on “the compilation of hundreds of guidebooks and millions of online reviews” and features “an impressive set of 16,000 top-rated establishments in 165 countries”.

 

The list is shaped by the opinions of an panel of international of food experts led by founder Philippe Faure. The listing is based on an impartial and objective process involving the latest technology that cross references almost 600 food publications to calculate an annual score that sets a ranking for each restaurant.

 

The latest listing also includes restaurants run by two other Northern Ireland chefs – Clare Smyth, from Bushmills in Co Antrim, the chef/owner of Core in London, and Antrim’s Mark Abbott, the head chef at Midsummer House in Cambridge. Both restaurants have also won Michelin stars