Sam Butler looks at the success at Cavanagh Free-Range Eggs in today’s News Letter.

Cavanagh Free-Range Eggs in Fermanagh, winner of the Best Artisan/Micro Food Producer in the News Letter’s popular GrowMakeEatDrink Awards, is enjoying strong growth in sales from major Northern Ireland retailers Asda and Tesco. Their success comes at a time when major retailers and restaurants are increasingly demanded eggs from cage-free birds.

“Winning a GrowMakeEatDrink award has helped in raising awareness of our free-range eggs throughout Northern Ireland,” says Eileen Hall, who runs Cavanagh Free-Range Eggs with husband John on their farm near Newtownbutler in Co. Fermanagh. “The publicity highlighted our commitment to free-range egg production has encouraged us to push ahead with our work to grow the business.

“We are also seeing greater interest in free-range eggs in Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Republic of Ireland,” she adds. John and Eileen both have a background in agriculture and had been keen to run their own farm.

“What sets our eggs apart is the deep yellow yolks and firm whites which don’t disintegrate in the pan,” continues Eileen, who hails from Westmeath. “This gives the eggs a consistently rich flavour. We’re fundamentally a family business with total control over all aspects of egg production. Chefs are impressed by the provenance of our eggs and tell us they have an amazing flavour. They find our eggs easy to work with especially when making delicate desserts,” she adds.

Among high-profile chefs featuring the farm’s free-range eggs for breakfast and other meals are the Merchant Hotel in Belfast, Lough Erne Resort in Enniskillen and La Mon House at Castlereagh. Cavanagh eggs were also used in meals for the G8 world leaders, including Barack Obama and David Cameron, during the summit at Lough Erne Estate, near Enniskillen, in 2013.

As well as major retailers Asda and Tesco, Cavanagh branded free-range eggs are also to be found at high-end delis in Northern Ireland, in shops along the border counties of Northern Ireland and the Republic and, most recently, in Scotland.

The outstanding taste of the farm’s eggs was endorsed by high profile judges in last year’s influential Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards in Dublin, an annual event for suppliers and supermarkets in Northern Ireland and the Republic. This success led Asda to approach the Halls to become suppliers.

The affable couple, who have two young boys, farm 100 acres and have flocks totalling more than 40,000 Lohmann Classic hens, a robust bird laying brown eggs with excellent shell colour and strength.

John and Eileen started farming soon after marriage in 2000 and have since grown the egg business into a thriving and award winning enterprise. Other recognition has included UK Great Taste Awards. The couple started to build their first free-range hen house in September 2001 and the first flock of birds was housed the following January.

After a period supplying eggs to a Monaghan company, the couple decided to develop their own brand and business network. That was in March 2012. The Cavanagh Free-Range brand is named after the remote townland in which the farm is located.

The farm’s 42,000 hens have free run of the farm and are fed a rich diet, a high corn feed that’s packed with a range of vitamins and trace elements. The flock of happy hens have the run of the farm and produce upwards of 13 million eggs a year.

“Our aim this year is to build on the important and immensely encouraging deals with Asda and Tesco by turning a number of other interesting approaches in Britain into firm business. And it all looks very promising,” John, originally from Monaghan, adds.

“We firmly believe that contented hens lay great quality eggs. The welfare of the birds is a key concern for us. Our hens are all free to roam the farm’s pastures. And we are dedicated to creating the best possible environment for them.

“Eggs are not only tasty but full of nutrition too, having a high protein content, with naturally occurring vitamins, minerals and trace elements such A, B and D vitamins, Folic Acid, Iron, and Calcium. They are also low in calories and have justifiably earned superfood rating,” he continues.

As part of its traceability system, all the farm’s eggs are stamped with the unique farm ID code and with a ‘best-before’ date on the packs.

The husband and wife team has developed Cavanagh Free-Range Eggs into one of Northern Ireland’s most successful artisan business with a fine track record for consistently high-quality eggs and excellent customer service.

Two of the nine gold medals in the prestigious World Steak Challenge 2016 were won by Hannan Meats of Northern Ireland for its premium quality beef. Hannan Meats also collected a bronze medal in the annual challenge, one of the global industry’s most important and influential events.

Based at Moira in county Down, Hannan Meats, a business founded and owned by Peter Hannan, was awarded gold for: Aberdeen Angus beef from a grass-fed animal and dry-aged for a minimum of 28 days in the world’s biggest Himalayan Salt Chamber; and Glenarm Shorthorn Beef also from a grass-fed animal and dry-aged in a Himalayan Salt Chamber for a minimum of 42 days.

The Northern Ireland producer also gained a bronze medal for its Shorthorn Beef from a grass-fed animal and aged for a minimum of 28 days.

Hannan’s steaks were among 83 entries from meat processors in 17 different countries worldwide. The Northern Ireland company was the only entrant to win two golds. It was also the only gold winner from the island of Ireland.
The World Steak Challenge medals follow the Northern Ireland company’s outstanding success in the recent UK Great Taste Awards, which saw it win the Supreme Champion Award – for the second time – for its Glenarm Shorthorn Four Rib Roast.

Hannan Meats is the only company to have won the Supreme Champion title twice. The Northern Ireland processor gained a record number of gold awards in the competition.
Other gold winners came from Australia, Poland, Scotland, Wales.

Commenting on the gold awards, Peter Hannan say: “The awards are a tremendous endorsement of the quality, texture, appearance and outstanding taste of our steaks by the global industry. We are delighted to have won two gold stars in what is a hugely important and influential competition.” Medals were awarded on the basis of appearance, quality, taste and tenderness.

Rod Addy, editor of GlobalMeatNews, says: “The high quality of entries this year is a testament to the hard work put in by producers around the world.”
A judge, Jeff Wood, formerly of the University of Bristol, adds: “The competition was stiff this year. This was my second year judging the World Steak Challenge and the standard was as high this year. All the steaks were tender and tasted great, making it a tough competition to judge.”

The World Steak Challenge is an initiative by William Reed, the international trade publisher and event organiser, to find and showcase the world’s best steaks.

The challenge provides a platform for countries and steaks producers to benchmark their steak production against international competitors and use the publicity and recognition that it generates to promote their exports on the world stage, plus drive sales in home markets.

It also provides an opportunity to engage with consumers to celebrate the joy and benefits of eating steak as part of a healthy balanced diet and highlight the quality and standards of steak production around the globe.
The World Steak Challenge recognises Gold, Silver and Bronze Standard Steak production across the board for individual products.

White’s Oats, Northern Ireland’s oat miller and leading porridge producer, has been awarded a new contract to supply Tesco’s Scottish stores with its award winning cereal products. The business in Scotland follows the continuing success of the company’s range of products in Northern Ireland.

Based in Tandragee in county Armagh, White’s has enjoyed significant sales growth following major investment in new product development and packaging re-design of its range of oat-based cereals, reinforcing its market leading position in Northern Ireland. The company was awarded the Chartered Institute of Marketing (Ireland) Food & Drink Award 2015 for its marketing campaign in 2015.

“The White’s Oats brand is testament to the strength of the Northern Irish food sector and a great example of a local company that Tesco is honoured to support. White’s has been part of the Tesco Northern Ireland success story since we first opened our doors in Belfast in 1996 and it is really rewarding to see them develop their business with this contract to supply our stores in Scotland,” says Sean Largey, Tesco Northern Ireland commercial manager.
Stuart Best, White’s business development manager, adds: “At White’s we are really delighted to have been given the opportunity to develop our business with Tesco in both Ireland and Scotland. With increased availability in Scotland, we look forward to growing our business by meeting the needs of Tesco shoppers.
“We are focused on developing and bringing to market nutritionally balanced oat cereals which taste good and allow consumers to pursue healthy active lifestyles whatever their needs- it’s a sector that we are committed to championing.”

White’s celebrates the 175th anniversary this year and has developed an extensive range of porridge, granola and toasted oat snack products which are now sold throughout the UK as well as the Republic of Ireland and to international markets including the US, Asia and the Middle East.

White’s Oats is a market leading and award winning brand based in Tandragee, Co. Armagh since 1841. It employs over 50 staff at its site in Tandragee. White’s has worked hard at forging alliances with local oat farmers who grow to exacting standards. A subsidiary of the Fane Valley Co-operative Society Ltd, White’s produces a wide range of porridge oats and oat based breakfast cereals for retail, food service and the ingredients sector of the food market.

Experience new gastro delights in Armagh from 5-9 October 2016

A five-day event-filled food and drink spectacular unfolds in Armagh next month as Northern Ireland’s only Food & Cider Festival returns for a second year.

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, in collaboration with the Food Heartland Hospitality Forum and businesses across the area, promises that this year’s festival will pack an even bigger punch than last year’s inaugural event, when visitors thronged the streets and multiple venues for a jam-packed gastronomical feast.

Kicking off on Wednesday 5th October, the five-day food and drink spectacular features a pop-up cookery school with dedicated classes for every age and an exclusive pop-up restaurant fit for a king and set beautifully in the stunning splendour of Armagh’s Public Library and at the home of the Dean of St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral.

Cider-tasting and drinking and afternoon tea and tours of the orchards will place visitors at the beating heart of Armagh’s apple harvest, while dedicated restaurant food tours and a weekend Artisan Food & Cider Market at the iconic Shambles Yard will create a deliciously scrumptious foodie heaven to draw in visitors from near and far.

In a first for Armagh, a brand new Twilight Market at the Shambles on Saturday evening will add to the unmissable choice on offer in a city buzzing with atmosphere and home-cooked aroma.

Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Cllr Garath Keating, said:

“Famed for its Bramley apple, Armagh is one of Europe’s best apple and burgeoning craft cider producing areas. With a rich heritage in serving up quality, crafted home grown produce the area is packed with fine eateries, cafes, pubs, orchards and breweries which guarantees the best hospitality is always on the menu.
“The Armagh Food and Cider Festival continues to grow from strength to strength as a fine celebration of the excellent produce we have on offer here in the food heartland of the region. With the very best ingredients, award-winning chefs, unbeatable venues and a whole menu of choice in one big five-day programme, it’s time to put the dates in your diary!”

Top chefs including Sean Farnan from The Moody Boar, Gareth Reid from 4 Vicars, Simon Dougan from The Yellow Door and Mervyn Steenson from Groucho’s On The Square are among a long line-up of hospitality experts taking part in multiple events designed to showcase the finest local produce set in Northern Ireland’s original Food Heartland.

This event is funded by Tourism Northern Ireland, 2016 Year of Food & Drink Fund and the Northern Ireland Regional Food Programme. To download the full programme of events and for booking details for some events, visit www.armagh.co.uk/food.

Derry City and Strabane District Council has pledged to build on Derry’s successes as a rising food tourism destination after narrowly missing out to Boyne Valley as Ireland’s top Foodie Destination 2016.

For the second year in a row, Derry was announced as the Foodie Destinations runner-up, proving themselves again to be one of the top foodie destinations in Ireland. The Council-led ‘LegenDerry and Local’ bid was one of the ten top finalists shortlisted in this year’s search by the Restaurants Association of Ireland.

Derry was the only Northern Ireland contender for the hotly-pursued award, with the other nine finalists including last year’s winner, The Burren in Co Clare, who claimed second runner-up in this year’s competition, Boyne Valley, Cong, Sligo, Leitrim, Monaghan, The Loop Peninsula, Kilkenny and Dublin Coastal Villages (Dublin, Malahide & Skerries).

Congratulating the winning destination and thanking all those who worked so hard on the bid to secure Foodie Destination status, including everyone who took part in the crucial online public vote, the Mayor of Derry and Strabane, Alderman Hilary McClintock, said the campaign had been a fantastic showcase for local food provenance and culinary talent which further raised the profile of the city’s “unstoppable” food tourism offer.

Mayor McClintock said: “Food tourism represents one third of all visitor spend and, with this being Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink, we have taken our Foodie Destination offering to an even higher level. For the second successive year, our campaign has been an excellent opportunity to showcase the city’s award-winning local food provenance.

“While we may not have taken the top spot in this year’s competition, we will build on the extremely positive feedback from the judges who awarded us runner-up spot for the second successive year, and continue to strive to offer world class visitor experiences.”

Mary Blake, Council’s Tourism Development Manager, who organised the Derry bid, also congratulated the winning destination, Boyne Valley, for their “outstanding” work. Expressing how proud she was of Derry’s efforts, she said it was a “phenomenal campaign” which had engaged the collaborative support of local restaurateurs, chefs and producers championing the LegenDerry “natural larder” from freshly caught fish to artisan cheese, bread, patisserie, meat and craft beer.

“We were delighted to be one of the top ten finalists from more than 30 applications. We poured a lot of information into our application, turned up the heat with a sizzling suppliers’ showcase, and then stirred up a robust online campaign to get our foodies voting for Derry,” she recalled.

As well as thanking Tourism NI, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) NI Regional Food Programme, Loughs Agency and Food NI for their support including bringing world renowned chefs to the city during NI Year of Food and Drink 2016, the local Tourism Development Manager thanked all the private sector organisations, restaurateurs, chefs, producers and suppliers who got behind the very active social media campaign encouraging the public to vote for Derry on the Foodie Destinations website.

She also thanked the public for their support with the all-important voting which accounted for 50% of the overall score, with the other 50% scored by the judges after visiting all ten final destinations to assess their applications.

She continued: “It was also great to have the international support of celebrity chefs like Jean-Christophe Novelli who experienced our local food provenance during his visit to the city in July to take part in Clipper Race Kitchens as part of the Foyle Martime Festival. We were also delighted to have the support of award-winning chefs including Paul Rankin, Sean Wilson, Paula McIntyre, Jenny Bristow, Ian Orr, Emmett McCourt, Brian McDermott and a host of other local talent.”

Mary Blake, who attended the announcement of the winning Foodie Destination in Doolin, Co Clare, on Wednesday evening, said it was a great opportunity to meet representatives from the other nine destinations and get feedback on Derry’s bid, which highlighted innovative food tourism projects, product development, social enterprises and educational programmes.

She indicated that Council would be keen to explore possible future partnerships and food tours linking Derry with other prime destinations across the country. “We will also be looking to visit the winning destination and invite representatives to Derry to look at networking opportunities. We really do believe we have taste and would like to invite foodie visitors up to judge for themselves.”

Aoife Carrigy, chairperson, Irish Food Writers Guild and Foodie Destinations judge stated: “The Foodie Destinations Award is an important testament to just how far Ireland has come in developing an authentic, unique and sustainable food culture. It is also a timely recognition of the dedicated graft of so many far-sighted local communities in order to claim their place in that developing food culture, and make it their own for the generations to come.

She continued: “For many of those communities, such as the city of Derry who are this year’s runners-up, this emerging food culture is a vital opportunity to re-imagine the identity of their community, for visitors but also for themselves. What is striking about so many of these communities is the clear-sightedness of their ambition, exemplified by this year’s winners, the Boyne Valley Food Series. They represent an Ireland that is ready to reclaim our food culture of today, of yesterday and of tomorrow, and to bring that to a world stage.”

Each Foodie Destinations finalist received a trophy while the top five destinations were presented with a certificate. Boyne Valley and Derry also received an engraved Newbridge Silverware plaque for their achievements.

Local Councillor John Boyle, who also attended the announcement in Doolin, congratulated all those involved in supporting Derry for the top foodie title and said he looked forward to welcoming a new influx of visitors eager to sample the city’s finest local produce and hospitality.

Michele Shirlow, Chief Executive of Food NI and Board member of Tourism NI, also paid tribute to all the hard work by the chefs, producers and suppliers working in close partnership with Derry City and Strabane District Council to showcase “great local food”, adding: “The city has been transformed into the ‘must visit’ food tourism destination in Ireland.”

For further information on local food tourism initiatives including Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Slow Food Festival taking place on October 8th & 9th 2016, visit www.derrystrabane.com/food

Article written by Food NI CEO Michele Shirlow for Farm Week 22/09/2016

How marvellous it was to hear John Foster, BBC TV’s Victorian Baker, extolling the quality and innovation of our bread during what is Year of Food and Drink’s Bread and Bakery month.

John was in Northern Ireland to run a workshop on innovation for Andrew Ingredients in Lisburn, a business which supplies materials to bakers and bakeries across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We were delighted to be involved with Andrew Ingredients in what proved to be an immensely stimulating and important event.

During a fascinating session on the importance of innovation in baking, the ‘bread and butter’ of the Victorian Baker show, John set bakers here a challenge- to develop a single form of wheaten bread, the most traditional of local bread. He had tasted wheaten for the first time. Indeed, he tasted several different wheaten breads. He suggested bakers here should try to agree a “true wheaten’.

But, to my mind, what makes our wheaten so special is the variety to be found and enjoyed throughout Northern Ireland. I accept, of course, that one wheaten recipe could be the way ahead in bread sales outside these shores, particularly to Great Britain, our most important market.

We have many superb bakeries, both large and small, in Northern Ireland. John knew quite a bit about potato bread, but his first experience with Nutty Krust almost reduced him to tears of joy, a true fermented bread, baked properly and a thing of beauty to a baker.

A number of Food NI bakeries already do good business in Britain with traditional Irish wheaten bread and have won awards for the quality and taste of their products. Several have come away with medals in competitions such as the Great Taste Awards, the Irish National Food Awards and the Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards.

John Foster, of course, is endeavouring to update baking traditions through innovation. His message was stark, innovate or die. We are extremely fortunate in Northern Ireland to have retained traditional bread and different baking techniques. Indeed, the industry really is prospering here.

Traditional breads are readily available alongside a broad range of baked good from many parts of the world. We’ve hugely talented bakers making European breads such as ciabatta, focaccia, rye, spelt, baguettes, French sticks and sourdough along with deliciously buttery croissants and pain du chocolate. Many of our best restaurants take great pride in baking their own bread.

Bread, of course, is one of the oldest prepared foods, with archaeological evidence suggesting that by 30,000 years ago Homo sapiens in Europe were preparing a kind of bread from ground wheat.
Louis Bromfield, the American conservationist once remarked that “bread is the king of the table and all else is merely the court that surrounds the king. The countries are the soup, the meat, the vegetables, the salad, but bread is king.”

That’s maybe taking it a bit far, but I know what he was getting at. We should certainly be proud of and really enjoy the quality and originality of our bread and, of course, the talented bakers to be found in major bakeries and the huge number of home bakers across Northern Ireland who turn out the best bread in these islands.