Celebrating Northern Irish Meat at Comber Farmers’ Market

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August is #LoveNIMeat month at Comber Farmers’ Market on the 2 August 2018, with BBQing being especially popular in the present Summer heatwave!

Forthill Farm, Kennedy Bacon, Broughgammon Farm and Something Fishy all provide top quality local produce to cook on the grill in the great outdoors.

The perfect accompaniment to the meat on offer comes from a delicious variety of local produce with dairy, baked goods, jams and chutneys, charcuterie, fruit and veg and much more.

The Big Green Egg crew from The Stoveyard in Newtownards will be joining the market, with Chef Jasper Castell demonstrating how to get the very best from your meat when cooking on the BBQ.

As well as having award winning fresh produce from Northern Ireland at the award winning artisan food event, Comber Farmers’ Market is a great morning out where visitors can meet new people and talk to the friendly bunch of traders.

As the popularity of Comber Farmers’ Market grows, the town is quickly becoming a top food destination, ‘The Home of Great Taste’.

Held in St Marys Church car park of Comber Square the first Thursday of every month from 9am to 1pm, Comber Farmers’ Market is well worth a visit.

Car parking is available in nearby public car parks, at Parkway on Killinchy Street and the car park of 1st Comber Presbyterian on High Street.

Find out more about the popular monthly food event at www.combermarket.co.uk or on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

 

–       Comber Farmers’ Market is run by volunteers from the Comber Regeneration Community   Partnership and operates on the first Thursdayof every month

–       Comber Farmers’ Market will celebrated its 4th birthday in July 2018

–       Over 28 local producers attend monthly

–       The market was awarded Best Tourism Event in the 2016 Ards Business Awards

–       The market was awarded Best NI Local Market at the 2016 NI Year of Food and Drink Awards

 

For any further information please contact Kirsty Atkinson, Communications Manager, Downey Birch.

Email: kirsty@downeybirch.com

Mob: 07969197213

NI Water announces intention to lift the hosepipe ban

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NI Water has announced that it intends to lift the Northern Ireland wide hosepipe ban which has been in force since 29 June 2018. The lifting of the ban will take effect from noon tomorrow, Thursday 19 July 2018.

Sara Venning, CEO of NI Water, said, “Thanks to the fantastic response from the public to our appeals to conserve water we have seen demand for water decrease from three quarters of a billion litres per day, (some 30% above average) to near normal levels.

“This means our water treatment works, which were struggling to meet this exceptional demand with large scale water supply interruptions imminent, are now coping comfortably with demand. This allows us to lift the hosepipe ban from noon tomorrow.

“We would stress, however, that a continued focus on water conservation is essential. Ideally we would like to see demand reduced still further or at least maintained at its present level to avoid the prospect of the ban having to be reintroduced. This is achievable if we continue to use water wisely.

“Many customers have adopted new habits and ways to conserve water in everyday life and we hope they will continue with these changes in their daily lives.  Our top ten tips on how to save water are available on the NI Water website.

Raw Water Storage Levels

“While we can all take steps to control our demand, the supply of raw water depends on rainfall.  The levels of raw water storage in our impounding reservoirs are being closely monitored.

“Recent rainfall has been a welcome development and while it has certainly helped our farmers and gardeners, the amount of rain has not been sufficient to have a positive impact on levels in many of our impounding reservoirs. These levels have not yet reached the point which would trigger the need for the imposition of restrictions including a hosepipe ban and does not represent a threat to water supplies in the short term. A continued period without rain will see reservoir levels fall further and may result in the need for additional restrictions.

“Similar to other water companies, NI Water is already taking precautionary measures to protect those reservoirs which are most at risk. These measures include reducing demand on them by reducing the area they supply and bringing in water from other, more plentiful water sources.

“As always, the continuous provision of clean, safe drinking water to all our customers remains our primary objective.  By working together to reduce demand, we will preserve the water in our impounding reservoirs and mitigate the prospect of renewed restrictions having to be imposed until our reservoirs are recharged by the return of normal rainfall levels.”

 

 

Entries now open for Tiptree World Bread Awards

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Roll Call!

Here we dough…Tiptree World Bread Awards with Brook Food are open again – for their sixth year.

The Awards were launched in 2013 and have proved to be the best thing since er…sliced bread! Several new categories were launched last year, Carr’s Flour Baguette, Muntons Malt Bread and Tiptree Patisserie Trainee Baker; in addition, we are delighted to welcome Zeelandia who will sponsor the wholegrain category. KitchenAid will this year be sponsoring the Home Baker Open and the Home Baker Sourdough categories, both offering the chance to win your very own KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer.

In 2017 the Awards attracted almost 600 entries to the Judging Day at Cathedral Hall, Westminster Cathedral, where mountains of malt bread, feasts of flatbread and cascades of ciabatta where delivered throughout the morning, all intent on ticking the boxes on our judges’ score sheets.

The Irish Wheaten Loaf category supported by Andrew ingredients in 2017 was won by Ballycastle based bakery Thyme & Co, owned by husband and wife team Tom and Eimear Mullin. 

For 2018 Northern Ireland-based bakers can arrange delivery of loaves to London for the judging day on Wednesday 26 September 2018 by contacting Christine Cousins at Food NI christine@nigoodfood.com – 07735209299.

The stellar 2018 bread board includes over 100 stars of the bakery world, including the world-renowned French chef and baker Richard Bertinet, Henry Herbert, TV Chef and one half of Channel 4’s Fabulous Baker Brothers, and of course, not forgetting our Master of Judges and Pieminister Extraordinaire Stephen Hallam.

“The Winners’ Harvest Supper gathering at St John’s Hyde Park in October has fast become an important fixture in the bakers’ year,” says Caroline Kenyon, Director of the Awards. “It is a wonderful opportunity to pay tribute to a fantastic industry.”

Tiptree World Bread Awards with Brook Food – open for entries from 8 February 2018 until 5 September 2018.

http://www.worldbreadawards.com

@BreadAwardsUK

For further information and interview requests, please contact: Cat Shaw, email: cat@thefoodawardscompany.co.uk mobile: 07866 6689932

 

 

 

 

 

Two Food NI members shortlisted in Irish manufacturing awards

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Two Food NI member companies have been shortlisted in the second Irish Made Awards by Irish Country Magazine. Shortlisted in the Food category are Harnett’s Oil from Waringstown and Mash Direct of Comber, both based in Co Down.

In addition to its listing for its award winning culinary oils and marinades Harnett’s Oils is included for its Duvillaun Irish Sea Salt, which it processes in Co Down from Atlantic salt harvested from Duvillaun Island in Co Mayo.

Mash Direct is among Northern Ireland’s most successful agri-food businesses and a major supplier of vegetable sides and convenience foods to retailers worldwide.

Both Northern Ireland companies are essentially farm-based family businesses that have developed successfully from farm diversifications. Harnett’s uses oil seed rape and hemp from the farm at Waringstown to produce culinary oils. The family also rears lamb on the Mournes.

The winners will be chosen by public vote closing on 6th August for a gala presentation in September in Dublin.

The shortlist for the various categories was drawn up by a panel of expert judges at this summer’s Bloom festival in Dublin.

Irish Country Magazine editor Jennifer Stevens and deputy editor Klara Heron were joined on the judging panel by director of Guaranteed Irish Brid O’Connell, food writer and editor Ross Golden Bannon, fashion journalist Ruth O’Connor, chief executive of Bord Bia Tara McCarthy and interior designer Roisin Lafferty.

The panel was impressed by the calibre of the entries and spent hours going through over 300 submissions to narrow down the shortlist for the public vote. Branding, design, place in the market and company website were among the criteria taken into account by the judges.

Each of the 10 category winners will feature in a special issue of Irish Country Magazine in September and the overall winner will receive an advertising package from Irish Country Magazine worth €5,000 and a membership and mentorship prize from Guaranteed Irish.

 

Genesis Crafty in line for major UK bakery award

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Food NI member company Genesis Crafty is among over 30 companies shortlisted for the prestigious Bakery Industry Awards 2018.

The awards are scheduled to be announced at a gala occasion in London at the start of September.

Based at Magherafelt, county Derry, Genesis Crafty is the only Northern Ireland bakery among the 31 shortlisted in nine categories in the annual awards. Genesis, a family owned and managed bakery, is in the running for the coveted and hotly contested Craft Bakery of the Year 2018.

The awards showcase the quality and innovation from bakeries, both commercial, from across the United Kingdom.

Genesis, previously known as McErlain’s family bakery, is run by six McErlain brothers, all fully qualified bakers.

They took over the bakery from their parents, Joe and Roberta, who founded the small home bakery in 1968, and have seen it grow to be among the most successful independent bakeries in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

The bakery is now a major supplier of a wide range of bakery items including cakes, biscuits, scones and morning goods, and traditional Irish breads to leading supermarkets in the UK and Ireland.

The company, which works closely with major retailers on new product development, has won a string of UK Great Taste Awards and Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards.

Genesis was the first on the island of Ireland to set up a dedicated bakery academy to address the problem of a staff shortage especially among bakers.

The awards are organised by British Baker publication.

Local Bakery scores big win with Ocado Listing

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Award winning Holmes Bakery based in Craigavon, County Armagh have had 6 lines listed with Online supplier Ocado.

Holmes Bakery sell a wide range of hand crafted traybakes and biscuits throughout Northern Ireland the UK and further afield. Recently the company has seen strong growth in export sales with Hamper companies particularly interested in including their premium range in gift hampers.

This latest listing with Ocado comes at a time of exciting growth for Holmes Bakery which has seen staff numbers grow over the last year. Ocado service a huge range of premium online products to consumers throughout the UK. For Holmes bakery the listing represents the culmination of many months hard work.

Holmes bakery have worked hard to develop an exquisite range of handcrafted biscuits and traybakes. The proof of the pudding is in the eating and Holmes Bakery have been awarded several great taste awards namely for their Butter Shortbread, Flakemeal and Christmas Pudding.

Gillian Castles from Holmes Bakery commented “ We are thrilled to have had 6 lines listed with Ocado and we feel that our premium selection will fit well with their customers. Holmes is more than just a bakery, with us it’s a family tradition. The fact that our hard work and focus on great quality ingredients and traditional methods has paid off just makes the whole family so proud.”

Ocado will be listing – Fifteens, Caramel Fingers, Toffee Crispies, Florentine Slice, Milk Chocolate Rocky Road and Salted Carmel and Pecan nut Slice, all will be available for online purchase from the beginning of July.

https://holmesbakery.com/