The world-famous Hillsborough International Oyster Festival, will return on Tuesday 30th August to Sunday 4th September 2016, with a spectacular showcase of the best in hospitality, local produce, arts and entertainment.

Now in its 24th year, this important event in the Northern Ireland Tourism calendar attracts over 14,000 visitors annually from across the world and this year boasts a packed programme of popular events and activities including;

• Oyster Masters Golf Day, supported by GMcG Chartered Accountants
• The ‘Magic of the Movies’ – Musical Evening in association with Lockton
• The Smeg Pop-up Restaurant
• The Quilter Cheviot Pearl and Oyster Ball
• The Turkish Airlines World Oyster Eating Championship
• The Phoenix Natural Gas Soapbox Derby
• The Flash Harry Live Concert and BBQ, supported by New City Cabs
• Supercar Sunday, supported by Charles Hurst Premium

Don Spence, Chairman of the Festival’s organising committee, said: “We are thrilled with the support the Hillsborough International Oyster Festival is receiving in the run-up to this year’s event. The number of big-name brands coming on-board in 2016 is testament to the Festival’s long-standing position. We are confident this additional support will help continue the Festival’s reputation as one of the best Festivals in the UK.”

Julienne Marie Curran from sponsor, Turkish Airlines said: “The World Oyster Eating Championship attracts thousands of visitors from across the globe and Turkish Airlines is looking forward to partnering-up with the Hillsborough International Oyster Festival to welcome them to Northern Ireland.”

Nigel Crawford from Quilter Cheviot said: “We are excited to be supporting one of Northern Ireland’s landmark events and Quilter Cheviot’s Belfast team looks forward to welcoming guests to the Ball.”

Community and youth groups are being invited once again to enter the Festival’s renowned Phoenix Natural Gas Soapbox Derby which is staged on Hillsborough’s Main Street on Saturday 3rd September 2016 and sees budding racers go bumper to bumper.

This Festival is delighted to announce the Cystic Fibrosis Trust as the beneficiary of this year’s fundraising activities.

The Hillsborough International Oyster Festival also kindly acknowledges the support of Tourism Northern Ireland and Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council in the staging of this year’s event.

Ticket prices vary, based on events running throughout the Festival. For further information on all events taking place and to book tickets visit www.hillsboroughoysterfestival.com

Masterbrewer James of the Walled City Brewery has hand-crafted a single batch of chocolate stout and blended it with organic cow’s milk to create a luscious, velvety beer called “Derry Milk”.

The beer is a celebration of NI’s Year of Food & Drink June theme of “Love Dairy”, and the Walled City Brewery will continue to launch a brand new beer every month based on the individual themes.

Masterbrewer and owner James Huey said “The Year of Food & Drink in 2016 is an extraordinary opportunity to put Northern Ireland on the map as a global destination for everything delicious. At the Walled City Brewery we pride ourselves in going against the grain by creating entirely new flavour combinations, and “Derry Milk” is just another in the line of exciting new beers that Northern Ireland and possibly the rest of the world have never heard of!”

“Derry Milk” will be exclusively available at the Walled City Brewery, Ebrington Square, Derry-Londonderry throughout June 2016.

Moy Park’s little yellow van is set for an action packed summer! Kicking off in July, the van will be travelling with local chef Jenny Bristow to three iconic locations in Northern Ireland as part of Northern Ireland’s Year of Food & Drink 2016.  Jenny will be hosting cookery demos in the van at the Giant’s Causeway, Titanic Belfast and Ebrington Square in Derry, which will be filmed for use on our social media channels during ‘Meat Month’ in August.

The van will also be hitting the road to visit retailers in August. The first stop will be Tesco Craigavon on 6th August and Ballymena on 20th August, followed by visits to Supervalu stores in Crossgar and Kells in September as part of its ‘Meet the Maker’ campaign. Tesco and Supervalu shoppers will be able to tuck into delicious samples of our breaded range and have a go on  their ‘Spin and Win’ for the chance to win a range of Moy Park prizes.

Check out their facebook page to see where the van is going next!

Ards and North Down is well-known for its New Season Comber Potato (also known as ‘Comber Earlies’). The spuds are now famous across Europe having been granted an EU PGI status in 2012, which puts them in the same league as Feta cheese and Melton Mowbray pork pies.

Did you know?
Only potatoes planted, grown and harvested within the protected geographical indicated area (which stretches from the town of Comber to the Ards Peninsula) can be marketed as Comber Earlies, and only potatoes harvested in May, June and July are eligible for PGI status.

The exceptional soil and climate found in Ards and North Down allows the farmers to grow this unique potato. Protection offered by the Ards Peninsula to the east and the Mourne Mountains to the south, along with the south/east location mean that the micro climate of the designated area is both warmer and drier than other parts of Northern Ireland. The area receives the greatest amount of sunshine and has the longest mean growing season of any part of the province. These unique characteristics of soil, climate and topography all work together to produce our fantastic potatoes with their earthy, sweet and nutty flavour.

Did you know?
Local growers have formed a co-operative to protect and are proud to promote this local produce.

Growers Trevor and Richard Davidson farm at Ballydorn in Killinchy, right at the Strangford Lough edge. The brothers explained the importance of the lough in the growth and early harvest of the Comber Earlies. Trevor said:
“We live and work right beside Strangford Lough, the largest inlet in the British Isles and the reason we have the perfect climate to grow Comber Earlies. The soil surrounding the lough is Triassic red sandstone and gravel, a soil that is light and free draining. This means the soil is dryer and warmer than in other parts of Northern Ireland.” Richard went on to explain: “Protection offered by the Ards peninsula to the east and the Mourne mountains to the south means that the climate is warmer. Most of the area is low-lying and Strangford Lough has a powerful moderating effect on winter weather making it much milder than elsewhere in Northern Ireland.”

Comber Earlies have the following characteristics:
• small in size (30-70mm diameter)
• round or oval
• white/cream colour inside
• skin is soft, smooth, thin and loose, with colour depending on the variety
• earthy, sweet and nutty flavour – a distinctive ‘early’ potato flavour
• dark green foliage
• sold either loose, or packaged.

How do you like your spuds?
Comber earlies are a favourite on dinner plates in homes across Northern Ireland, served in many top restaurants and sold by supermarkets, as well as smaller local stores. They can be mashed, chipped, boiled or baked. We asked some local residents how they like to eat theirs:

• Mayor of Ards and North Down, Alderman Deborah Girvan, is from Comber. She likes to eat her earlies boiled, seasoned with salt, pepper and a knob of butter.
• Debbie Donnelly from Portaferry likes to eat her Comber Earlies boiled. Her daughter, Hannah McDermott, enjoys hers best mashed!
• Dylan Freeburn from Bangor and Liz McCullough from Ballygowan both like to eat their Comber Earlies chipped.
• Georgie Strain from Groomsport enjoys her Comber Earlies roasted.
• Basil McCoy from Kircubbin enjoys his Comber Earlies mashed with butter and scallions added to make champ.

Did you know?
Comber Earlies were served to the most powerful world leaders at the G8, including Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin.

Celebrating Comber’s success: The Comber Earlies Food Festival
The Comber Earlies Food Festival, which is organised by Ards and North Down Borough Council, celebrates our famous spuds on Saturday 25 June from 10am – 4pm. With artisan food stalls, cookery demonstrations, Ulster Scots and Highland games, live music and more. There’s also a Comber Earlies ‘fringe festival’ taking place for the first time this year. Delivered by Comber Regeneration Partnership, events include a vintage tea dance, dog agility and an opportunity to meet the cheesemaker. So why not come along and enjoy some spud inspired fun!

Celebrity chef, Tom Hunt, who worked with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on the River Cottage TV series will be making a special appearance at the event. Local chefs Paula McIntyre, Kyle Greer, and Carla Schofield will also be giving live cookery demonstrations at the festival kitchen. For further information visitardsandnorthdown.com

A Derry artisan food company has announced plans to launch two new cheeses to complement its award-winning product range inspired by the rural townlands and natural landscape of the Sperrins.

Tamnagh Foods is finalising production of its new handcrafted Ballydonegan smoked cheese and Tirkeeran long aged cheese to have fully matured and ready for customers to enjoy in time for Christmas.

Kevin and Julie Hickey, who run their cheese manufacturing business in an idyllic setting at the family’s home in the heart of the countryside near the village of Park, already make four popular cheeses which have won prestigious awards in Ireland and Britain.

Mary Blake, Tourism Development Officer with Derry City and Strabane District Council, said the news was an exciting development for Tamnagh Foods during Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink 2016.

She continued: “Full credit goes to Kevin and Julie Hickey as they get ready to launch two new exciting handcrafted cheeses to add to their hugely successful portfolio of four delicious award-winning cheeses.

“Tamnagh Foods epitomise NI Year of Food and Drink’s most recent monthly themes, Landscape and Places which we celebrated during the month of May and, Love Dairy, which is the theme for June.

“We wish Kevin and Julie continued success with their artisan food business, especially during this special Year of Food dedicated to everything that is delicious and local about Northern Ireland.”

Tamnagh Foods was established in 2010 and all of their cheeses are inspired by the names of local townlands and the landscape which surrounds their home nestled in the heart of the Sperrins overlooking the River Faughan.

Kevin explained: “We set out to try and create something unique that reflected where we were from. We launched our first cheese, Sperrin Blue, in June 2014.” The rich, creamy pasteurised cow’s milk cheese with blue veining, won gold at the 2015 Irish Food Awards in Dingle, Co Kerry.

Dart Mt. Dusk, inspired by the way the light falls on Dart Mountain in the evenings and characterised by its charcoal ash coating, followed in November 2014 and won Bronze at the World Cheese Awards.

Kilcreen, an Alpine-style cheese named after the townland directly opposite Tamnagh, was released in February 2015, winning the Great Taste Awards in London.

In November 2015, Tamnagh Foods launched its creamy Banagher Bold beer-washed cheese using No 26 pale ale from Northbound Brewery in Campsie.

The addition of Tirkeeran, named after an old barony which included all the townlands from the top of the Sperrins to the Foyle, and Ballydonegan, named after a local smoke house, will complete their original plans for a range of six cheeses.

Their Tirkeeran cheese was successfully trialled at Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Big Cheese and Beer Expo held in Guildhall Square in April.

The couple revealed that they have quadrupled production in order to satisfy demand from restaurants in the north west keen to use local produce on their menus. They use a local milk company based in Omagh, taking delivery of 500 litres at a time.

Tamnagh Foods’ two granola ranges – maple nut and fruit and, honey nut and seed – are stocked in Switzerland through a chain of 14 stores, having previously been on sale in Harrods. Their cheese range was recently part of a Taste of Northern Ireland showcase at Fortnum & Mason in London.

They have also secured what Kevin described as “a big chutney order” from a major Irish wholesaler but the good news is that while the cheese making may be a lengthy process, chutney and granola can be made much more quickly.

Kevin added: “NI Year of Food and Drink is recognition of where Northern Ireland is at after a long period of time when there were no tourists coming here. Food is one of the big touchpoints when people visit and tourists want to taste local food.”

Group tours of Tamnagh Foods are available by booking in advance. For more information, visit www.tamnaghfoods.com