Glenarm Organic Salmon has developed a new own label organic smoked salmon product for Fortnum and Mason, the upmarket London retailer.

The own label smoked salmon follows the successful launch last year by the company of its own branded product at the Piccadilly store. Glenarm Organic Salmon is also now supplying organic smoked salmon to Fortnum and Mason’s popular fish and seafood counter.

Based at Glenarm in Co Antrim, the company is the only Atlantic salmon farmer in the Irish Sea

The vast majority of its output of fresh and smoked salmon is exported to five- star, and above, hotels and restaurants in the US, Europe, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Dubai.

Norman Murray, Glenarm Organic’s Commercial Director, commenting on the business with Fortnum and Mason, says: “Securing the initial business with such a prestigious retailer was a marvellous boost for the company and for our new signature smoked salmon product as well as being a tremendous endorsement of the quality of our premium organic smoked salmon. The retailer is an ideal fit for the upmarket profile of our salmon.

“We were delighted when Fortnum and Mason subsequently asked us to develop a new branded smoked salmon product exclusively for them. This was launched successfully recently and then led to an order to provide organic smoked salmon sides for their fish counter in the store as well as for inclusion in their renowned food hampers. Our organic smoked salmon is replacing their wild salmon offering because we offer consistent and sustainable availability as well as a high quality product,” he adds.

Glenarm Organic Salmon uses a unique smoking technique developed in conjunction with Northern Ireland’s leading fish and seafood curing businesses. The two artisan companies have collaborated on the curing process that involves smoking the salmon slowly over a fragrant mix of beech and oak wood chips and is based on a century-old recipe.

Glenarm Organic Salmon harvests, processes and dispatches all its fresh salmon within 24 hours. It is able to ship products across the world in just three to four days, ensuring a fresher product and longer shelf life for the retailer and consumer. The production of its organic smoked salmon offering acknowledges and operates to time-honoured traditional curing and smoking processes which results in a product which they believe is second to none.

The company has been in business since 2008 and farms around 600 tonnes of premium organic salmon annually and sells every fish it products, the overwhelming majority to customers in international markets.

Sam Butler talked to Ken McNaull about his innovative micro bakery, Go Yeast, in Donaghadee. Article from Farmweek 28th January 2016

Ken McNaull left a successful and lengthy career in accountancy to pursue a passion for bread-making especially sourdough. He now runs an artisan bakery with wife Anne, Go Yeast, in Donaghadee. Anne has also developed patisseries including croissants, brioche and Copenhagens.

“I’d always been keen on cooking and food and became fascinated by various types of artisan breads,” Ken says. “I jumped at an opportunity to take this longstanding interest a stage further by setting up a micro bakery in Donaghadee,” he adds. “I needed to find our more about the process and in particular how to produce sourdough, a very different bread with a distinctively rich flavour.”

Sourdough is fundamentally a handcrafted bread which uses a ‘starter’ of combined flour and water fermented slowly over several days with regular additions of flour and water by the wild yeasts and lactobacilli naturally present in ground grain. The starter is then added to the baker’s dough, which is left to rest and rise for several hours. This produces delicious bread with a firm and springy crust.

Sourdough is regarded as being healthier because it is said to be more digestible than standard loaves and more nutritious. Lactic acids make the vitamins and minerals in the flour more available to the body. The acids slow down the rate at which glucose is released into the blood stream and lower the bread’s glycaemic index (GI), so it doesn’t cause undesirable spikes in insulin. They also render the gluten in flour more digestible and less likely to cause food intolerance.

Ken’s first step in his knowledge journey was to sign up for a three-month course at top chef Darina Allen’s internationally renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School near Cork. “This was my epiphany. The breakthrough helped me to realise the opportunity for artisan sourdoughs in Northern Ireland. The practical support and advice provided at Ballymaloe was excellent.

“I also met Andrew Whitley there and developed a friendship with him. His success in creating one of the UK’s first organic, artisan bakeries, the Village Bakery at Melmerby in Cumbria, was a huge influence on my thinking about my business. In addition, he launched naturally fermented sourdough breads.

Originally from Coleraine, Ken enhanced his culinary skills by working as a breakfast chef in a country house hotel in Co. Clare. He then joined an advanced bread-making course at the School of Artisan Food at Welbeck in Nottinghamshire. “It was an intensive course that covered all aspects of bread making including fermentation techniques and the use of wild yeasts which are found naturally in the air.”

Encouraged by his participation in the ‘Go for it’ business start up programme, Ken took the plunge into self-employment and set up the micro bakery in 2014. “All of the breads that I bake normally contain only four basic ingredients, flour, water, salt and yeast. There are no additives such as inhibitors, improvers or enzymes usually found in better-known breads.

“I also use nuts, seeds, fruits and grains. Oils and butter are sometimes added in small quantities. Traditional breads are made using fresh yeast or dried active yeast, I never use instant yeast, ” he explains.
The Go Yeast brand was the brainchild of Noah, his 16-year old grandson.

He is meticulous in the flour in his bread and uses only stoneground, organic products from specialist suppliers such as Shipton Mills in Gloucestershire and Dunany Farm near Dundalk. “Dunany is a traditional fourth generation family farm milling high standard, quality grain, particularly wheat, and a wholesome, nutty, coarse-grained flour. Their spelt and rye flours produce nutritious low gluten breads. I also use artesian water from Helen’s Bay Organic Farm and unpasteurised milk for some breads from an organic supplier in Kilrea, Co. Derry.”

He was helped by food technicians at Loughry Campus of the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise in the development of his breads.

An enthusiastic supporter of the Real Bread Campaign and Real Bread Ireland, Ken now produces a range of sourdough, rye and malted products that he handcrafts and packages for distribution to local cafes such as the trendy Haptik in Newtownards. He developed a unique breakfast bread for Haptik with coriander, fennel and orange zest.

“I was attracted by the commitment of Real Bread to authentic products made without the use of any artificial additives. The campaign seeks, finds and shares ways to make bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet.

“Real Bread Ireland is a support network of real bread bakers and others whose aim is to encourage us all to eat better bread, whether we buy it or make it ourselves. It aims to see the standard and quality of bread raised throughout Ireland so that we can all have access to the very best bread possible, both nutritionally and in terms of taste,” he adds. “I am also watching an initiative by University College Dublin to promote ‘Heritage Breads’ as part of the focus in the Republic on innovation within the food industry.”

More than 200 industry leaders were briefed by Food NI today about the programme of activities planned for Northern Ireland’s first ever Year of Food and Drink.

First Minister Arlene Foster joined directors and senior managers from food and drink companies, artisan producers and chefs at the official industry launch of the year-long campaign at a breakfast held by Food NI in the Europa Hotel, Belfast. The First Minister said: “I am thrilled to be able to support this fantastic initiative which presents an exciting opportunity for us to celebrate all that is great about Northern Ireland food and drink.
“As Northern Ireland’s biggest manufacturer, the food and drink sector contributes £5 billion to the economy, it generates sales abroad in excess of £4 billion and provides employment for around 100,000 people across an extensive supply chain.
“I commend Food NI for the work they do to enhance Northern Ireland’s food and drink reputation. Events such as this give us a valuable opportunity to reflect on the importance of the food and drinks industry to our local economy

“The importance of the Year of Food and Drink 2016 cannot be underestimated and I am right behind everything this initiative is setting out to do. I believe it will be a great success and that it will make a huge contribution in the drive to grow Northern Ireland tourism to a new level.”
Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill, who also attended the event, said: “Year of Food & Drink 2016 is an opportunity to celebrate our food and drink successes and capitalise on these through trade and consumer communications. It is opportunity to harness the benefits of these successes to drive quality, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship in our food and drink sector. It is also a chance to share the supply chain story from producers through to consumer.

The Minister continued: “As we celebrate the most important meal of the day, as part of Farmhouse Breakfast Week, this event provides the perfect opportunity to showcase the excellence of our local producers and the strength of our agri-food industry as a whole. I wish Food NI every success with their year long programme of activities that will provide a key engagement platform for our local food and drinks industry.’’
The briefing was held as part of Breakfast Month, the first theme in the extensive promotional and marketing campaign for Northern Ireland’s biggest manufacturing industry. It also coincided with Breakfast Week organised by the Home Grown Cereals Authority in Britain.

The industry briefing followed the launch last week for the tourism industry held by Tourism Northern Ireland.
John Best, Food NI Chairman, speaking at briefing, urged the food and drink industry to embrace the business and other opportunities already flowing from the Year of Food and Drink campaign.
Mr Best said: “We see this immensely important campaign as an opportunity to intensify existing efforts to showcase the outstanding taste, quality and variety of our award winning producers and chefs to local people, as well as providing opportunities to strengthen our appeal to business visitors and potential tourists to Northern Ireland.

“A major promotional drive is being co-ordinated by Food NI to create new business opportunities for local companies, both large and small, by increasing consumer awareness of our food and drink within Northern Ireland and abroad for each month next year. It promises to be a really exciting and rewarding 366 days which, I am confident, will benefit substantially local companies, rural communities and the wider economy.
“Local food and drink companies will have a key role to play in ensuring the success of this campaign. We need their backing, experience and expertise to achieve the campaign’s objectives,” he added.
Michele Shirlow, Food NI Chief Executive, said the campaign had already attracted enthusiastic support from local companies such as Tayto, major retailers including Tesco and Asda and artisans who have secured shop space at Belfast International Airport.

“Tesco has already provided a marvellous boost to the campaign by pledging a promotional campaign to showcase our fantastic food and drink worth around £500,000. The retailer already spends upwards of £500 million annually on purchasing local food and drink and has helped many smaller companies, including artisan enterprises, to develop sales here and also to win their first business with stores in Great Britain.
“Tesco will spotlight local producers and products, giving the public here an unprecedented opportunity to get to know producers and to give shoppers more opportunities than ever before to sample the quality and innovation of local products. This will increase awareness of local products and provide producers an opportunity to increase sales.

“There will be further opportunities for our companies to grow business at the BBC Good Food Show, which is being held in Belfast for the first time and is among the most successful promotional events for UK companies, and the Food NI Pavilion at Balmoral Show, which promises to be bigger and better than ever. It’s likely that upwards of 100 local food and drink companies including many artisan enterprises, will be showing and sampling products at Balmoral, which attracted around 100,000 visitors last year. Both are consumer-focused events.
“Showcasing and promoting the breadth and quality of what’s readily available here for local people and visitors and thereby boost sales is, of course, what our Year of Food and Drink is all about. The campaign is focused sharply on assisting companies to win more business.

“We will be telling people here and abroad about the products and the enterprising and creative people behind them….and also encouraging and challenging consumers to buy more local food and drink,” she added.

Tourism and hospitality businesses from across Northern Ireland are being urged to enter the Northern Ireland Tourism Awards – the ‘Oscars’ of the industry – to celebrate their achievements.

The most hotly anticipated awards event in the tourism calendar will take place on Thursday 26 May at St Columb’s Hall in Derry~Londonderry.

Over 300 tourism providers and industry stakeholders are expected to attend the glittering Tourism NI event, being held in association with title sponsor Tennent’s NI.

The evening will celebrate Northern Ireland’s greatest tourism successes over the past year, as well as looking forward to the opportunities in the 2016 Year of Food and Drink.

A total of 12 tourism awards are up for grabs, including Hotel of the Year, Best Food Tourism Experience of the Year and Best Marketing Initiative.

Stephen Finlay, Tourism NI’s Director of Corporate Development, says: “The Northern Ireland Tourism Awards in association with Tennent’s NI are about recognising the very best practice within the local industry and Tourism NI is keen to encourage businesses of all sizes and shapes to enter and attempt to win recognition for their hard work, success stories and professionalism.

“With the Year of Food and Drink initiative in full swing in 2016, much is going on behind the scenes to deliver excellent visitor experiences and to enhance Northern Ireland’s reputation as a foodie destination. These gala awards will offer businesses the opportunity to review their performances and identify their core strengths. Winning could be a matter of simply telling us how you have gone that extra mile to set your business apart from the competition. The potential prize for entering is a prestigious accolade for the quality of your products and services.”

Tourism NI has set up a website, www.nitourismawards.com to provide full details on categories and how to enter. The deadline for submitting entries is 5:00pm on Monday 22 February 2016.

Announcing his company’s title sponsorship of the initiative, Brian Beattie, Marketing Director for Tennent’s NI, said; “We are delighted to support Tourism NI with awards which identify and celebrate outstanding performance and achievement right across our dynamic tourism sector.

“The awards provide an important annual showcase for best practice, innovation and success and, in 2016, they will have particular significance as we mark Northern Ireland’s Year of Food and Drink. As a leading Northern Ireland drinks company, working within the hospitality sector and firmly committed to its development and growth, we are keenly aware of the positive impact that will accrue from positioning our region as a destination for delicious food and drink and we will proudly play an active role in this ambitious venture.

“I look forward to presenting the Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Tourism and for Customer Service Excellence at the Gala Final of the Northern Ireland Tourism Awards which this year will move for the first time to Derry, a city which has long been synonymous with great food and drink.”

Odhran Dunne General Manager of Visit Derry said;
“We are delighted to host the prestigious NI Tourism Awards for the first time this year during Tourism NI’s Year of Food and Drink. This presents a fantastic opportunity to showcase our unique historic and cultural tourism product offering to the industry’s leading professionals. We encourage all tourism providers to enter this year’s awards to celebrate Northern Ireland’s outstanding tourism products, creativity and innovation. The city was named as a runner up in the Foodie Towns Ireland awards and delegates will be treated to the very best of our locally sourced produce in the spectacular surroundings of the historic St Columb’s Hall. We look forward to welcoming the finalists in May and rolling out the red carpet for what promises to be a ‘LegenDerry’ evening”.

Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Year of Food 2016 celebrations “took off” with an Ulster fry-up of local produce for passengers arriving at City of Derry Airport from Ryanair flights from London and Liverpool on Monday morning.

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Cllr Elisha McCallion was there to greet passengers as they disembarked from the aircraft to tell them about the city and district’s participation in Tourism NI’s Year of Food 2016.

The Mayor said she was delighted at Derry City and Strabane District Council’s involvement in the year of food and its commitment to hosting a year of fantastic events such as the LegenDerry Food festival in March, Taste our Best in February, Flavours of the Foyle, Clipper Kitchens, Slow Food Showcase and other planned events throughout the year.

She said: “The Year of Food & Drink 2016 gives us the great opportunity to build on our designation as Runner up Foodie Town Ireland 2016 and also to showcase our local food producers, tourism and food retailers and tourism providers and promoting the city and region as a food tourism destination.”

Mary Blake, Tourism Development Officer with Derry City and Strabane District Council said the Breakfast event at the City of Derry Airport was a great way of informing inbound business and leisure passengers of the excellent food offerings in the city and region as well as affording local producers and food providers such as Irwin’s Bakery, Primrose Café and Breslin’s Butchers, the chance to showcase their food products.

She said: “The NI Year of Food & Drink begins with January which is breakfast month and this Friday is ‘Ulster Fryday’ so we thought it was appropriate to begin the week with a special breakfast on a stick greeting all inbound passengers. The breakfast was sponsored by Primrose Café and Breslin’s butcher who have invented a new cabbage and bacon sausage to celebrate Breakfast Month and Irwin’s bakery who sponsored the soda breads and potato breads. This week gives out restaurants and cafes a great opportunity to share their breakfast stories and we would encourage people to breakfast out on 29th January to celebrate Ulster Fryday.”

Charlene Shongo, Commercial and Marketing Manager at City of Derry Airport, stated that the airport was absolutely delighted to facilitate the launch of the Year of Food 2016 this morning. Ryanair passengers arriving from London Stansted and Liverpool were pleasantly surprised to receive a complimentary breakfast with a difference following their arrival to Derry this morning.

Colette Wilson, Marketing Manager, Irwin’s Bakery said: “As a family-owned business that has been baking bread for more than 100 years, Irwin’s was delighted to join with Derry City and Strabane District Council to celebrate the Year of Food & Drink 2016 and treat passengers to a real taste of our fantastic local produce. At Irwin’s we use traditional techniques and recipes to bake our potato and soda farls, which are an essential part of the iconic Ulster Fry. It is a very exciting time for Northern Ireland and the Year of Food 2016 is going to be a great way to celebrate so many Northern Irish brands, highlight the quality of our food and of course the warmth of our hospitality.”
Earlier this week the city hosted a Tourism NI Year of Food Workshop at the Guildhall where local tourism and food providers were informed of the excellent opportunities available in 2016.

Next week as part of the Derry International Irish Music Festival (31 Jan – 07 Feb) award winning local chef Emmett McCourt will join a host of renowned folk singers for a special evening of indigenous cuisine and music entitled – ‘Food & Folksong: A Worldwide Irish Legacy’ at An Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin on Thursday 4th February. Included in the line-up of performers will be Donegal trio The Henry Girls, All-Ireland Singing Champion Mary Dillon, Dublin-based troubadours Alan Burke and Daoirí Farrell, as well as Gaelic singers Kathleen Mac Innes and Kate Crossan. Local company, Northbound Brewery, will offer tasters of their craft beer, and a range of local suppliers have given their support to the event, including William Grant & Co., Broighter Gold, and Donnybrewer Butter. Tickets for Food & Folksong: A Worldwide Irish Legacy are £10.00, available from the Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin box office (02871 264 132) or online at www.culturlann-doire.ie.

Other up and coming events that will have a strong food emphasis during the year will be the Ubuntu festival of world traditions in March and the City of Derry Jazz and Big Band Festival over the May Bank Holiday weekend. While over the summer months, events such as the Angling Festival, the Summer Jamm in Strabane, the Country fest music event in Castlederg, will have food related events organised to complement the event. The Walking Festival in September, the Banks of the Foyle Halloween Festival and an Autumn Harvest event in October will all have a food themed focus to help celebrate the Year of Food 2016.
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