An innovative Saint Brendan’s Ice Cream developed by Northern Ireland companies Glastry Farm Ice Cream and Nice Drinks, producers of Saint Brendan’s Irish Cream Liqueur was introduced to French celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli during his visit to Derry

The novel ice cream follows an approach by Derry and Strabane to Will Taylor, managing director of Glastry Farm Ice Cream in Kircubbin, county Down to develop a tasty product specially for the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race stage in Derry, which ran from 9-17th July and was part of the successful Foyle Maritime Festival.

Will Taylor, managing director of the award winning Glastry Farm Ice Cream, a family farm business, says: “We were approached by Mary Blake, Tourism Development Officer at Derry and Strabane Council, to see if we would be willing to create a new ice cream flavour for the hugely popular community festival.

“We were delighted to be part of such an important community event in the North West and readily agreed to her suggestion that we use Saint Brendan’s Irish Cream Liqueur, which is produced by Nice Drinks in Derry and is, one of the global leaders in Irish cream liqueurs. The liqueur uses fresh double cream from LacPatrick Dairies in Coleraine, county Derry. Glastry fresh cream is sourced from the Taylor family farm.

“I discussed the project with Ciaran Mulgrew, the managing director at Niche Drinks, who was tremendously supportive. We’ve been working on blending the liqueur with our ice cream, which is made from our herd of Holstein cattle on our farm. Extensive taste tests have produced immensely positive feedback. The new ice cream has a very rich and tasty flavour. It’s now been added to our product portfolio and will be available to ice cream lovers throughout Ireland and Great Britain. St Brendan’s Irish Cream Liqueur is also sold internationally and this might lead on to more export business,” he adds.

Glastry Farm Ice Cream is located on a family dairy farm that has been run by the family of ice cream entrepreneur Will Taylor for over 150 years. The ice cream business was launched as a farm diversification in 2007 by Mr Taylor and has proved a immensely successful development. It already supplies its ice cream to hotels and high-end restaurants throughout Ireland.

The new Saint Brendan’s Ice Cream is included in Glastry’s established portfolio of 20 ice cream flavours and three sorbets.

Niche Drinks has been producing Irish Cream Liqueurs, Irish Coffee and Ready To Drink Cocktails of the highest quality for our retail partners in Ireland, the UK, the USA and Europe since 1983. The company recently launched an eight-year malt Irish Whiskey and a blended Irish whiskey, both of which received gold medals in the prestigious San Francisco Spirit Competition.

Mid and East Antrim went wild about food this week as part of Northern Ireland’s Year of Food and Drink, with Deputy Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, William McNeilly, taking part in the ‘Cook Your Catch’ event at Blackhead Path Whitehead on Saturday 9 July, celebrating the Borough’s local coastlines and natural larder.
Cllr McNeilly said “This was a fantastic event showcasing our local landscapes and local produce. This workshop was part of our ‘Wild About Food’ project which has been running since May 2016 in collaboration with Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, funded by Heritage Lottery Fund. The ‘Wild About Food’ project is our contribution to Northern Ireland’s Year of Food and Drink 2016 which is a celebration of everything delicious about Northern Ireland, the epic landscapes, traditions and people that make our food heritage so unique.”

“There are themes each month throughout Northern Ireland’s Year of Food and Drink and Mid and East Antrim has followed these themes. The theme for July was ‘Seas, Rivers and Loughs’ and we have certainly lived up to this by showcasing our seaside town of Whitehead. On the day participants caught cod, coli and pollock, to name a few, and were then able to ‘cook their catch’ and enjoy other fresh local produce at our seaside BBQ. I’d like to personally thank the Carrickfergus Beach and Rockers Sea Angling Club for helping out at the event and teaching participants the traditional skill of sea angling.”

Cllr McNeilly continued “Our ‘Wild About Food’ project continues throughout the year and we will continue to celebrate the fantastic local produce available to us in the Mid and East Antrim area. In August we will be celebrating all things veggie at Eden Allotment Gardens Carrickfergus, and in September, as part of ‘Bread and Baking’ month, participants can enjoy a bread making workshop at Andrew Jackson Cottage, Carrickfergus, and learn how to make traditional fare such as drop scones and soda.”

Event details:
LOVE VEG! Fri 12 Aug 11am-2pm Eden Allotment Gardens, Carrickfergus
Grow your own – how do they do it? Learn from the experts, meet some friendly farm animals and enjoy a bbq – veggie options included.

BREAD MAKING WORKSHOP Sun 11 Sept 2pm-4pm Andrew Jackson Cottage, Carrickfergus
Learn how to make traditional fare such as potato bread, soda bread and drop scones.

 

 

Article written  by Michele Shirlow for the Farmweek 14/07/2016

The hugely successful 2016 Foyle Maritime Festival in association with the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is drawing to a close. And what an impressive event it is proving to be especially for food and drink producers from the North West and from further afield.

The food and drink offerings from local producers and the cookery demonstrations were excellent and proved extremely popular with festival goers. Derry really has got its food and drink act together, and we’ve been delighted to work closely with enthusiastic Mary Blake and the talented council team in harnessing the marketing potential of Year of Food and Drink including the Walled City and Ebrington markets. The Clipper Kitchens hosted the splendid celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.

The festival also saw an innovative collaboration between an artisan food producer, Glastry Farmhouse Ice Cream, and Niche Drinks in Derry, an international distiller of The Quiet Man Irish Whiskey and Irish cream liqueurs, in the launch of the new St Brendan’s Irish Cream Liqueur flavoured ice cream. And it proved tremendously popular with festival goers.

They’ve embraced Year of Food and Drink with real passion and brought great energy to an impressive programme of events in the city and wider region. Our work has included assistance with the culinary demonstrations and the marketing of the event through our various channels.

The festival season is well and truly underway. The Foyle Maritime Festival is now firmly established as among the biggest and most successful. And this weekend will see the start of another popular event, the Dalriada Festival of Sport, Fine Foods and Music.

The Dalriada week-long event promises to be another colourful occasion in the spectacular grounds of the historic Glenarm Castle, also the home to an award winning herd of Glenarm Shorthorn cattle preferred by top London retailer Fortnum and Mason as well as a host of leading chefs in Northern Ireland and further afield.

We’ve also seen the River to Lough Festival prove to be another valuable local initiative that provided an important platform for a host of local producers and an opportunity for a team of top chefs to demonstrate how to enjoy Lough Neagh Eels, an immensely tasty local product, one of three to achieve EU protected name accreditation.

The event, organised the Lough Neagh Partnership with sponsorship from Antrim and Newtownabbey council and held in the superb setting of Antrim Castle Grounds. The festival saw the launch of another new product – smoked eels. Food ambassador Paula MacIntyre also came up with fascinating demonstrations on cooking with eels and Bramley apples and Comber New Season Early Potatoes. Chefs across Northern Ireland have also been cooking with the three foods especially during the imaginative Eat Eel campaign.

August sees the unique Black Pudding Festival in Fermanagh, a month-long event that features a new community fun day with culinary demonstrations on cooking with the product at Castle Archdale on Lower Lough Erne. Once again chefs and restaurants in Fermanagh, including Noel McMeel at Lough Erne Hotel and Resort are backing the event by including black pudding dishes on their menus.

What Year of Food and Drink is achieving very effectively is unprecedented collaboration and dialogue between all those sectors of what is our most important manufacturing industry that’s designed to drive it forward in terms of sales, exports, innovation and the development of Northern Ireland as a global centre of culinary excellence.
Tourism Ireland and Tourism NI are also making a massive contribution by promotional events abroad and in hosting visits by food journalists and writers from across the globe. Year of Food and Drink is an immensely significant example of a joined-up approach between the public and private sectors that’s focused on measures to promote economic wellbeing across Northern Ireland.

Cornucopia of food and drink at Hillsborough festival

When the gates open at this year’s Sunflowerfest visitors can expect more than just a feast of music to enjoy – festival goers will now have a cornucopia of food and drink to tickle the taste buds. To celebrate the NI year of Food and Drink, Sunflowerfest organisers will tantalise festival goer’s senses through cookery demonstrations, tastings, talks and workshops.

Sunflowerfest takes place at Tubby’s Farm, Hillsborough, from 5th – 7th August and will feature a packed music line-up of 150 acts across six stages, including The Strypes, Le Galaxie, Emerald Armada and Trucker Diablo.

The new attraction of the NI Year of Food & Drink Tent in the Sunflowerfest village will also add to the family friendly feel of this superb festival, which is growing in popularity each and every year.

Foodies will have the chance to see chefs prepare dishes using local produce including locally sourced meat, in keeping with the theme for August Love NI Meat; they can participate in foraging tours for a plot to plate experience, taste craft beers and ciders or take part in baking workshops utilising Tubby’s very own brick oven to bake breads and pizzas. The children – our little Sunflowers – can join in the pizza making workshops and get stuck into growing, creating, crafting and learning.

There will be Vikings too this year at Sunflowerfest, as the Magnus Viking Association will be setting up camp and demonstrating traditional crafts and skills and battle re-enactments for all ages.

Vanessa Magowan, of Sunflowerfest said everyone is excited by this addition to the festival: “The festival is renowned for its music, art, poetry and family-friendly atmosphere, and now there will be so much more with our association with the Year of Food and Drink NI. It means everyone can enjoy new tastes, try new things and learn new skills.

“From coffee and tea brewing, through to Vegan talks and gluten free produce; cooking demonstrations with locally sourced meat by the team from South Eastern Regional College and a visit to the Community garden on Tubby’s Farm there is something to suit all tastes!”

Tickets for Sunflowerfest are now available from www.sunflowerfest.co.uk, with a range of options including family deals, weekend passes and day tickets. Don’t hesitate to escape to Tubby’s Farm this summer to grab some music, poetry and fantastic local food!

It’s back to school (Bangor Academy Home Economics Department to be exact) for a series of top-class cookery courses specially commissioned for the Festival, hosted by three expert chefs.

From Market to Mouth with Stephen Jeffers
Wednesday 10 August
10am – 3pm £75

Formerly of Grace Neill’s, Jeffers and The Boat House, Stephen now runs the esteemed Belfast Cookery School, and was described by a leading food critic as a “senior statesman” of the NI food industry.

Meet at Bangor market to collect some of the in-season produce for your dishes. Then it’s back to the kitchen to prepare and enjoy your delicious three-course lunch under the tutorship of Chef Jeffers. You’ll make a starter of Strangford langoustines with gremolata, a main of Glenarm Estate beef, truffled gnocchi & smoked onion butter, and a desert of raspberry & citrus curd tarts with sorbet. You’ll get Chef’s special canapes on arrival with a glass of fizz, and a matched wine with each course. And a cookery school apron to take home.

Baking Bread with Kim Close
Saturday 13 August
10.30am – 4.30pm £55

A member of The Real Bread Campaign, Kim trained with world-renowned French chef and baker, Richard Bertinet, at The Bertinet Kitchen in Bath. She runs regular cookery and nutrition classes and is building a reputation as a respected bread-making tutor.

You’ll make three different types of bread to enjoy with a delicious lunch prepared from fresh, locally-sourced ingredients, all washed down with a glass of local craft beer. Finally, you’ll prepare a sourdough ‘starter’ – the batter-like dough containing naturally occurring yeasts and bacterias that act as raising agents – to take home and use for future breadmaking.

The Italian Job with Franco Cutrona
Saturday 20 August
10am – 2pm £65

Franco hails from a small town in the mountains of Sicily, trained as a chef in Palermo and the north of Italy, and holds to the Italian ethos of simple, flavorsome dishes.

Make your own focaccia, to bring home in a cookery bag, accompanied by a glass of prosecco. Make and eat the perfect risotto primavera starter, a main course of veal with local wild mushrooms, spinach & salsa verde, and a classic espresso, chocolate & amaretto tart for desert. Matched Italian wines included with each course – plus a surprise course from the chef.

All ingredients, aprons, recipe sheets and equipment supplied.