The first New Season Comber Earlies were in the shops around county Down at the weekend, according to Richard Orr of the family-owned and managed William Orr and Sons, Crossgar.

Orr was among the first growers in Down of earlies to start supplying grocery stores and wholesalers John Henderson, which also runs the Spar retail business. “This year’s quality is very good. It’s been a tight growing season, the potatoes were first planted on St Patrick’s Day and were just harvested last week. Shoppers will enjoy them because the flavour is excellent and they look good,” he says.

The company harvests the potatoes, which have EU Protected Geographic Indicator (PGI) status, one of just three food products to have this designation, from 30 acres around the region including from fields fronting the picturesque Strangford Lough.

Comber town is also gearing up to mark the launch of the 2016 harvestwith a special three-day festival in the town at the end of the month.

William Orr and Son is a third-generation family run farm business which has specialised in growing and marketing quality potatoes for over 60 years.

Comber Earlies are the first potato harvest of the year. The potatoes are grown on the shores of Strangford Lough, where the milder climate and fertile soil provide ideal early conditions. Earlies tend to be richly flavoured, and are famous for
their unique taste. But growing earlies is an expensive business because of the tight timetable which usually requires covering the crop with plastic.

The family business grows a broad range of potatoes, including earlies and the equally popular Maris Piper. in country Down’s drumlin country, renowned for its rich soil and natural drainage.

Comber New Season potatoes are available from the beginning of June to the end of July and are the first available in Northern Ireland.

The first earlies are usually harvested in small quantities and eaten straight away when fresh boiled and with a dollop of creamy butter in June and July.

Second earlies and salad varieties can also be harvested in small quantities and eaten when fresh in June and July. Alternatively, if the skins are allowed to ‘set’ – they don’t rub off when lifted – they can be lifted in September and stored in a cool, dark, frost-free area as main crop varieties.

William Orr and Son has invested in a range packaging plant. Before packing the potatoes are washed, dried then inspected for quality and size. The potatoes move into the packaging plant where they are weighed to the required amount, pillow packed into branded bags then delivered to retail stores around Northern Ireland.

New Season Comber potatoes were granted PGI status three years ago, following similar recognition for Lough Neagh Eels. Armagh Bramley apples have also gained PGI status from Europe.

The granting of PGI status under European law means that only new season potatoes harvested from fields around Comber in County Down can now be marketed as ‘New Season Comber Potatoes’ or ‘Comber Earlies’.

The award to Comber potatoes followed an extensive lobbying campaign spearheaded by the Northern Ireland Potato Stakeholder Forum to achieve European recognition of the unique growing conditions around Comber, a generally warmer and sandier soil and the longest growing season of more than 270 days.

The industry has also been involved in a series of marketing initiatives such as the recent ‘Mighty Spud’ competition to grow sales especially among younger consumers.

There are currently fewer than 20 Comber potato growers in Northern Ireland supplying the retail and foodservice sectors.

Comber Earlies have been grown since the early 17th century in Northern Ireland in an area dominated by Strangford Lough, the largest inlet in the British Isles, and a designated area of special scientific interest.

‘Eel-Eat’ week runs from Saturday, June 25, and will culminate in the third annual River to Lough Festival on 2nd July.

The restaurants signed up to take part so far:

• Deanes Eipic and We Love Fish, Belfast
• The White River Hotel, Toome
• Hastings Hotels – Culloden Estate and Spa, Europa Hotel, Slieve Donard Resort and Spa
• The Tullylagan Hotel, Cookstown
• Glenavon Hotel, Cookstown
• Pier 59, Derry
• Lime Tree, Limavady
• Ardmore Restaurant and Beechill Country House Hotel, Derry
• Londonderry Arms Hotel, Carnlough
• Downshire Arms Hotel, Banbridge
• Central Wine Bar, Ballycastle
• Truffles Restaurant, Randalstown
• The Moody Boar Restaurant, Armagh

Visitors from across the country flocked to the first of 2 Hillsborough Farmers Markets, where they were treated to an array of everything from local flowers, seasonal vegetables, speciality meats, artisan cheeses, chutneys & jams, mezze & charcuterie, gourmet street food and a dollop of family fun thrown in.

The next market is scheduled to take place on Saturday 2th July 2016, with over 30 market stalls and entertainment, it’s not to be missed.

For further information visit please visit www.visitlisburncastlereagh.com Picture By John Murphy, Aurora PA.

An award-winning Derry restaurant is literally growing from strength to strength with the help of a special ‘plot to plate’ partnership involving local young people with a passion for horticulture.

The Sooty Olive has teamed up with the HOPE project – Horticulture, Organic, Produce and Environment – at the city’s Playtrail, growing vegetables, salads and herbs for the popular Spencer Road restaurant.

The unique community-based partnership has been praised by Mary Blake, Tourism Development Officer with Derry City and Strabane District Council which is supporting Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink 2016 through a range of events and initiatives.

“The Sooty Olive’s wonderful partnership with the Playtrail is an excellent example of the Landscape and Places theme highlighted as one of the monthly themes for Tourism NI’s Year of Food and Drink celebrations,” she said.

Anne-Marie Donnelly, Transition Services Manager at the Playtrail, said they were delighted to be working with the Sooty Olive as part of the HOPE project which is funded by the Big Lottery Reaching Out Empowering Young People Programme.

She explained: “The focus is on preparing young people with learning disabilities ages 15-20 years transitioning from school to adult life. The project involves a combination of educational activities, personal development, citizenship, health and well-being initiatives and horticulture and social enterprise activities.

“This is utilised to build confidence and aspirations and promotes social inclusion. Part of the project involves our social enterprise with the prestigious Sooty Olive restaurant. The young people are involved in the planting, growing and harvesting of the herbs and vegetables.

Sean Harrigan, Head Chef at the Sooty Olive, described it as “a brilliant all round relationship”. He continued: “The Playtrail provide us with amazing herbs, salads and an array of veg and berries which we use in the restaurant. We are so proud of our association with the HOPE project and of the produce. Some of the young people have also been in to eat in the restaurant to see how their produce is incorporated in our menus and they are very proud of their work. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.”

The young people at the Playtrail have even more reason to be proud after the Sooty Olive was recently included in the prestigious McKennas Guides listing the 100 Best Places to Dine in Ireland.

Sean Harrigan said: “Being included in the McKenna Guides is a sign of good quality and standard of food and service, and allows tourists to discover our restaurant while visiting the city. Derry has deservedly earned its reputation as a foodie destination.We are very lucky to have award winning chefs, restaurants and producers throughout the county.”

The Head Chef believes that the high standard of food on offer in the city’s restaurants has been boosted by local chefs working in top kitchens around the world and returning home with fresh ideas. The Sooty Olive has doubled the number of chefs it employs since opening three years ago.

Sean added: “NI Year of Food 2016 is excellent for everyone in the industry, having guests and events showcasing us to a wider audience. Our customers really appreciate that we use and promote local suppliers and producers as it is genuinely a better product, and putting a location to it really helps. It is also very satisfying to know that we are supporting local jobs and talent.”

Two Northern Ireland food processors have reached the final stage of the first Delicious Produce Awards, a competition for British products and produce run by the national food magazine.

The shortlisted companies are Cavanagh Free Range Eggs of Newtownbutler, county Fermanagh and Passion Preserved, a producer of savoury relishes from Lisburn in county Antrim. Passion Preserved was shortlisted for Indian Inspired Tomatoes,

The new awards celebrate outstanding flavour, texture, aroma and visual appeal as well as expertise, craftsmanship and good farming practices and husbandry and sound business practice, including fair pricing
Cavanagh Free Range Eggs is owned by farmers John and Eileen Hal whol built their first free-range hen house in 2001, after moving to Cavanagh in County Fermanagh the previous year. This soon accommodated their first flock of Lohmann Brown hens, and over the next 10 years three more houses were built and filled with laying hens.

Providing the best possible environment for their animals is key to John and Eileen, and the family’s farm is now home to 42,000 hens that are free to roam the countryside. They are separated into five flocks, which are rotated to produce a variety of egg sizes throughout the year with consistent quality. The hens produce about 12 million eggs every year. The team say, “Our policy is quality before quantity”, and the birds’ lifestyle yields a tasty egg with high nutritional value.

With growing demand, the family business launched the Cavanagh Free Range Eggs brand in 2012 and opened their own packing centre, enabling all grading, boxing and marketing to take place on site. The company is proud to be entirely traceable and transparent, and participates in an Open Farm Weekend.

Cavanagh Free Range Eggs, recently listed by ASDA Northern Ireland is SALSA accredited (Safe and Local Supplier Approval). Patrons include The Merchant Hotel, Belfast and Lough Erne Golf Resort, Enniskillen, where the eggs were served at the 2013 G8 Summit. The eggs are also available from local stores to anyone who appreciates that “an egg is not just an egg”, and through Cavanagh Free Range’s own egg vending machine at ‘The Noble Grape”, McEntee’s Off Licence in County Monaghan.

The judging panel was impressed with the traceability factor of family-run Cavanagh eggs, feeling that they were “super ethical” and illustrated “a care for their product and the welfare of their chickens”.

Passion Preserved is owned by Claire Kelly, a former chartered accountant. Following in the footsteps of her maternal great-grandfather, who supplied his own vegetable shop, and inspired by her grandfather’s prolific gardens she visited as a child, Claire today produces a range of preserves, largely from her smallholding’s bounty.
Claire first planted a herb garden 25 years ago, dotted with a few vegetables and flowers. She says, “When I moved to our current home over 20 years ago I was fortunate that it had previously been a pig farm so the ground was amazing. Over the years the garden has grown and extended with the addition of a greenhouse and then a polytunnel when I outgrew that!” Originally Claire grew all her own fruits and vegetables; she now concentrates on ingredients for her seasonal collection – over 150 chilli plants in a polytunnel, 60 rhubarb crowns, beds of Jerusalem artichokes, plum trees and hundreds of raspberry canes.

Claire is passionate about organic gardening, preferring to let nature do its work in place of chemicals; a family of frogs in the polytunnel takes care of the slugs, and interplanting of marigolds deters aphids. The quality of soil is maintained by discarding hoes in favour of hand weeding.

Sustainable production is at the centre of the business, with Claire composting all vegetable waste and recycling or re-using cardboard for packaging. Extra ingredients are sourced locally, including Armagh cider vinegar and cider apples from 30 minutes away. In the height of the summer season when demand is high, chillies from Ballinderry and tomatoes from Drumbeg, a 20-minute journey, are used in Passion Preserved’s Indian Inspired Tomatoes.

All products are made by hand in small batches in Claire’s new purpose-built kitchen, with no artificial colourings, preservatives or added pectin and setting agents. She made her first chutney over 25 years ago to use up several large marrows left over from a church harvest festival; Claire still likes to experiment with natural ingredients, and is inspired by old recipes and her travels. The preserves can be used as dips, marinades, cooking sauces and condiments, and the sweet and spicy Indian Inspired Tomatoes is especially versatile.
The judges appreciated the company’s use of locally grown and sourced ingredients and the fair price that accompanied such effort, hailing Passion Preserved as showing a real willingness to think outside the box.

Article by Sam Butler

Two Northern Irish companies have won medals at the recent International Cider Challenge 2016. The winners were Armagh Cider from County Armagh, Northern Ireland’s ‘Orchard County’ and Kilmegan Cider of Dundrum, county Down.

Kilmegan Cider, run by Andrew Boyd and one of Northern Ireland’s most recent cider producers, was among just eight major trophy winners and also won a gold medal for its handcrafted Real Cider in the ‘Bottle Conditioned/Bottle Fermented’ category in the competition organised by the UK’s Off Licence News magazine.

The small business, started in 2013 by Mr Boyd, a longstanding cider enthusiast, also won silver for his Irish Farmhouse Cider and bronze for Cider Infused with Wild Elderflower. The company also gained silver medals for all three ciders in the design and packaging category.

Armagh Cider, Northern Ireland’s longest standing cider producers, gained silver medals or its Madden’s Mellow and Madden’s Special Cask, a wood-aged cider and a bronze medal for its Doyle’s Summer Fruit Cider.

Armagh Cider is a family business owned run by Helen Troughten using apples mostly from its own orchards.

The challenge attracted ciders from Great Britain, Republic of Ireland, France, Australia, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Japan, Spain, South Africa, New Zealand and the US.

The trophy for Kilmegan Cider is the first time that a major award in the International Cider Challenge has gone to an Irish processor.

Both successful Northern Ireland companies have won UK Great Taste Awards in the past.

Mr Boyd, commenting on the new trophy and medals, says: “I’ve been immensely encouraged by the awards. I intend to keep Kilmegan Cider as a specialist craft business with an emphasis on hand production and quality first.

“I’ve never really liked the overly sweetened ciders made with apple concentrates, water and chemical enhancers. Choose the right blend of apples for the cider and sweetening juice and there is no need for additives,” he adds.