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.

Leading cider producers from across the globe are celebrating after impressing an elite panel of judges and scooping prestigious medals at the International Cider Challenge 2016.

The competition, run by Off Licence News magazine, is now in its seventh year and judges praised the consistent quality of the 180 entries this time around.

The panel of judges consisted of supermarket buyers, award-winning independent retailers, cider experts, journalists and cidermakers, and they teased out the best ciders the world has to offer.

Many came from the more traditional cider nations such as the UK, Ireland and France, but entries also arrived from as far afield as Australia, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Japan, Spain, South Africa, New Zealand and the USA, reflecting the truly international reach cider now enjoys.

Each was blind-tasted by the nine-strong panel, which awarded 19 gold medals, 44 silvers and 65 bronzes. From among the golds, eight trophies were awarded for the best cider within each category. UK producer Waitrose took home two, for Waitrose Low Alcohol England and Waitrose Westons English Vintage Perry, Herefordshire.
Trophy success went out to Northern Irish producer Kilmegan Cider for Kilmegan ‘Real’ cider. While French producer Cidre Le Brun’s Reflet de France Brut also triumphed, along with English producer Healeys Cider’s Cornish Brandy Reserve, which won the trophy for Best Wood-Aged Cider. Cider Brothers completed the list of trophy winners with William Tell Hard Apple Cider with Strawberry.

Marks & Spencer also enjoyed trophy success for Marks & Spencer Breton Cider and were awarded the title of Highly Commended.

The Supreme Champion for 2016 was Domaine Labranche’s Ice Cider Labranche.

There were also awards for Best Packaging, with judges handing out three golds, six silver medals and nine bronzes. The supreme champion for Design & Packaging was Interbrus Sxollie. Judges awarded Highly Commended to Thatchers for their Thatchers Gold.

Chairman of the judges Pete Brown said: “It was great to see such a big and varied range of ciders again this year and get a cross-section of different styles from around the world. The fact that our nod for the overall winner came down to a choice between a 12% ABV ice cider from Canada and a 1% ABV cider from Herefordshire with great finalists all the way between shows just how diverse and creative cider is becoming.”

Samantha Halliday, commercial director at competition organiser Off Licence News, said: “The International Cider Challenge has become recognised as one of the world’s most respected competitions. It is by far the world’s most hotly contested cider competition and winning any medal is a fantastic achievement.

“The broad range of ciders entered this year demonstrated the skill and innovation within this vibrant category. As such, the standards in both the taste and design and packaging sides of the competition were extremely high – and the real winner is the cider consumer, who has never had such a wonderful array of exceptional drinks to choose from.”

Renowned celebrity chef Rachel Allen worked her culinary magic at Lurgan Show at the weekend when she rustled up a range of delicious dishes and stylishly demonstrated how to cook a variety of tempting treats to hundreds of showgoers.

Organised by Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, the appetising event celebrated the Borough’s esteemed Food Heartland Status and showcased the area’s world-class local produce including Lough Neagh Eels and Bramley Apples.

The event was hosted by award-winning chef and proprietor of the Yellow Door Deli, Simon Dougan, who, alongside skilled members of the Food Heartland Forum, including chefs from The Moody Boar Bistro & Restaurant, The Armagh City Hotel and Uluru Bar and Grill, prepared a wide range of mouth-watering dishes and delightful delicacies!
All the chefs were on hand to dish out some handy hints and tips on home cooking and visitors had the chance to ask any questions they had on how to produce the perfect feast.

There was also gorgeous grub from Abernethy Butter, Wilson’s Country Potatoes, Burren Balsamics, Harnett Oils, Long Meadow Cider, Yellow Door Deli, Heavenly Cupcakes and Quail’s at the Food Heartland Village.

Attending the event was former Lord Mayor of Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon, Councillor Darryn Causby, who comments: “We were delighted to welcome Rachel Allen and the magnificent Food Heartland chefs to Lurgan Park.

The produce our local area has to offer is second to none and was showcased perfectly in all the chef’s flavoursome dishes. The Food Heartland Village was one of the highlights of the show with dozens of local suppliers and producers exhibiting their fabulous fare.”

 

For further information log onto www.discovercraigavon.com or www.facebook.com/discovercraigavon

When the Clipper Round The World Race fleet sails up the Foyle in less than 40 days’ time, there will be one new local business addition happy to share centre stage in a prime location along the riverfront.

Ciaran and Melanie Breslin, owners of Primrose On The Quay, say that opening their French style bistro in such an idyllic setting during Northern Ireland’s Year of Food and Drink 2016 is a “dream come true”.

Thousands of well-wishers are expected to line the quay for the Clipper Race Homecoming leg which will be a key highlight of the Foyle Maritime Festival hosted by Derry City and Strabane District Council from July 9th-17th 2016.

Louise Breslin, Council’s Business Manager, said she’s delighted with the growth of new business opportunities along the riverfront coinciding with Foyle Maritime Festival and NI Year of Food.

She said: “It is hugely encouraging to see local entrepreneurs having the confidence to invest in new business expansion in one of the city’s most sought after locations on the quay. RoCo’s Brew Bar and Primrose On The Quay bring an exciting new dynamic to dining on the riverfront and we wish them every success with their new ventures which we are confident will benefit from an influx of visitors during the upcoming Foyle Maritime Festival.”
The opening of Primrose On The Quay also sits well with the recent Landscape and Places theme for NI Year of Food and Drink 2016 which is being supported by Derry City and Strabane District Council as an important tourism driver. A celebration of everything delicious about this place, there is no better time for visitors to relish what’s on offer here in one of Ireland’s top foodie destinations.

Mary Blake, Council’s Tourism Development Officer, said she was also delighted with Primrose’s ethos of showcasing local produce and suppliers.
“Ciaran and Melanie really pride themselves on the ‘keeping it local’ and ‘from farm to fork’ ethos across all their suppliers and ingredients. Their magnificent baked products are created by their own team of bakers led by Melanie, while all their meat comes from the Breslins’ family butchers, ensuring the most fantastic produce is supplied to their restaurants all year around.”

Ciaran Breslin said: “The quay is one of the city’s biggest assets in terms of location and after spending a year looking for our second premises we stumbled across a vacant unit which was a former insurance office. Even though it had been lying empty for a year we started panicking in case someone grabbed it from under us. We always envisaged a French style riverfront bistro and already knew that we had found our dream location.
“With such a busy walkway, everyone we spoke to agreed that it should have a lot more food and coffee offerings, so we believe we have added a fantastic asset to our buzzing riverfront.

“With the Clipper Race on its way back to Derry as part of the Foyle Maritime Festival, we are very excited at the thought of being right on the doorstep of all those amazing boats and crews. They will be sure to receive a very warm welcome from us when they arrive in July. All holiday leave at Primrose is on hold throughout that week. Let’s just hope we get the weather!”

The Breslins, who opened their first Primrose Café on Carlisle Road four years ago, say the timing couldn’t be better to celebrate the Seas, Rivers and Loughs theme earmarked by Tourism NI in July for Year of Food when the Foyle Maritime Festival will be in full swing.

A total of 40 local people are employed in both Primrose outlets which the owners believe is a huge vote of confidence in the north west’s food producers. Handmade Breslin’s pork and leek sausages are just one of the specialities to tuck into on the menu alongside other familiar local provenance including award-winning cheeses from Tamnagh Foods named after local landmarks such as Dart Mountain in the Sperrins and ale washed Banagher Bold.
Ciaran Breslin said: “It’s time for independents to show that our fabulous produce, all grown on our doorstep and not flown here is far superior and, it’s what local people and visitors to the city want on their plates.”