A major investment by hugely successful Long Meadow Cider in a new ‘Bramley Barn’ at Portadown in Co Armagh will boost its business from tour experiences and other events. The family farm has just created an impressive new visitor experience nestled in the heart of their orchard which produces its annually award-winning ciders, juices and apple cider vinegar.

“This is a very important investment by us to enhance the services we provide to visitors and also to other businesses and organisations seeking a purpose-built venue in a picturesque location in one of our apple orchards,” explains Catherine McKeever, who runs the enterprising company with husband Pat, son Peter and daughter Alanna.

“We needed a bespoke area within our family orchard as we are welcoming tours from home and abroad. We now have visitors from many parts of the world. They visit Long Meadow to hear about growing apples, including Irish Bramleys with their EU PGI status, and to enjoy our ciders and juices and also to experience our unique traditional Irish soda bread and apple pie,” adds Catherine.

The farm business has won a host of UK Great Taste and Blas na hEireann awards especially for its range of ciders. The new glass-fronted building offers spectacular views of the apple orchards and will shortly include a purpose-designed kitchen that will offer guests a range of locally-sourced foods and a place where they can also try their hand at making traditional soda bread.

The McKeever family at Long Meadow work closely with Tourism NI, Tourism Ireland, Visit Armagh, The Armagh Food Heartland and The Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council on a range of initiatives including the upcoming popular and annual Armagh Food and Cider Festival. The colourful weekend takes place from 7th – 10th September 2023, right in the heart of the Orchard County. Brimming with fine foods, foraged lunches, cider tasting, tours, talks and fiction amongst the apple-laden orchards. Combine all this with award winning ciders and the most stunning surroundings, a harvest season treat.

“We are already seeing a lot of interest in hiring out our new glass fronted Bramley Barn for all types of business meetings. There have also been initial approaches to hold weddings, as it’s a tremendous venue especially when the weather, of course, is favourable. Nevertheless, it is a very special, private, bespoke and immensely comfortable indoor facility for a range of events,” continues Catherine.

Long Meadow, in addition, has strengthened its export sales to France as a result of contacts in the nation which has a strong cider marking tradition. “We’ve been exporting our ciders to France for some considerable time,” Catherine says. “The latest approach from a distributor has resulted in our products on the shelves in Provence.” The company also sells its ciders in the Republic of Ireland.

A Food NI member, Long Meadow, located at the heart of Northern Ireland’s ‘Orchard County, is focused on driving sales of its ciders, juices and apple cider vinegar especially outside Northern Ireland. An integral part of this sharp focus is the extensive investment in the new Bramley Barn, an imaginative development funded entirely by the family enterprise that also celebrates the historic local apple variety.

The family launched the business to harvest the potential of their own apples which had originally been shipped to make cider outside Northern Ireland. Long Meadow has a rich heritage in apple growing stretching back three generations in county Armagh and has won significant business from hotels, delis, independent retailers, restaurants and bars for its premium quality craft ciders and apple juices.

The enterprising family grows and harvests apples from upwards of 85 acres, 30 of which are on the home farm. The hugely successful decision to diversify from growing apples into the production of cider, juices and apple cider vinegar followed extensive market research and substantial investment on the development of an innovative range of products and processes.

Long Meadow ciders and juices are processed exclusively using pure pressed apple juice. The company does not use concentrates, chemicals, or added water. Small batches are produced using a unique and slow fermentation process for even greater flavour.

As a result of its enterprise and ongoing investment in the business, Long Meadow is now a central player in our buoyant cider sector, the quality and taste of which have won acclaim from experts in Britain and further afield. In addition to its ciders and juices, Long Meadow has harnessed the colourful orchards to host successful public events such as a spectacular sound and lights show and only last year Cirque de Cider.

Cookstown cheddar cheese and cured meats from a Limavady pig farm are an award-winning combination for a cheeseboard at any time of the year, judging by the verdict of experts in a major international competition. Both are Food NI member companies.

Dale Farm, the producer of the Dromona branded cheese range at one of the most modern plants of its type in Europe, collected two golds and other silver and bronze awards at the prestigious International Cheese and Dairy Awards (ICDA) in England.

Dale Farm’s vintage and mature cheddars struck gold with the experts in the hugely influential awards. Dale Farm, Northern Ireland’s biggest farmers’ cooperative and a successful international exporter, sources fresh milk for its cheeses and other dairy products from around 1,300 farms here and in Great Britain. The company is best-known for Dromona branded butter and naturally matured cheese, ice cream and ice lollies. It also produces Mullin’s ice cream, which has been crafted in Kilrea from Irish milk and cream for almost 70 years. In addition, Dale Farm has created Spelga yoghurt, the local market leading brand of the dairy dessert Dale Farm’s range of Dromona cheeses are the most successful from Northern
Ireland at international competitions in Britain such as ICDA.

The company sees success at these awards as important marketing opportunities which support its existing significant presence in Great Britain, its most important marketplace outside Northern Ireland. It has sites across Britain and counts all the main supermarkets there among its regular customers. It has also exported cheese to Europe and further afield.

Also winning gold for its charcuterie at the event was Corndale Free Range Farm in Limavady. Corndale, a Northern Ireland market leader in a range of charcuterie meats, won gold for its free range pork nduja. The company picked up silvers for its smoked paprika lomo and air dried wild sika venison.

The awards are significant achievements for both local companies at what is the world’s biggest platform to champion world class producers of cheese and dairy products. More than 5,500 entries were received from dairy processors, both large and small, in Britain, Ireland and other parts of the world.

Winning one of these prestigious awards means being part of an elite group and a 125-year-old tradition of the very best in class in dairy processing. Success there usually brings high profile recognition by UK retailers and on the international stage as well as increased consumer sales. “Success at such an important global event provides high profile recognition from independents, retailers and food service companies especially in Britain, my most important external market,” says Alastair Crown, Corndale’s founder and managing director.   “Also significant is ICDA’s support for winners through its global marketing and social media campaign to increase consumer awareness and ultimately sales,” he adds. “It’s all about getting the products before key retail buyers in Scotland and being able to talk to them about how the charcuterie is produced.”

The ICDA recognition is the second major endorsement of the quality of Corndale’s charcuterie, which is produced from the farm’s herd of pedigree pigs, in as many months. Alastair effectively started the charcuterie sector in Northern Ireland and has continued to lead from the front especially in terms of innovative cured meats, several of which have also won UK Great Taste, Blas na hEireann acclaim and British Charcuterie awards.

The artisan business, which was established by Alastair in 2012, gained two golds at the influential Scottish Retail Food and Drink Awards (SRFDA) in Glasgow in May. The winning awards were fennel salami and venison salami. In addition, Corndale received a platinum award for the best UK food for its products in this year’s challenging competition.

Products from all over Scotland were recognised at the awards, with the absolute best seven, including Corndale, earning the coveted Platinum Award. Created to help get more of Scotland’s fantastic food and drink products onto more Scottish retail shelves, the SRFDAs are now in their third year. Opportunities were also provided to foods from other UK regions.

More than 40 expert judges from all disciplines judged hundreds of products over an intense month-long period. Bruce Langlands, the former head of food and drink at both Harrods and Selfridges, was chair of the Platinum judging panel. He says: “I was thrilled to once again be involved with the Scottish Retail Food & Drink Awards and it has been so encouraging to see that the high standards we have come to expect from the entries has been more than maintained. I have to say that we have tasted some absolutely outstanding products.

“I really believe that many of this year’s winners will go on to secure new listings in Scottish retail outlets and, when that happens, we can take pride in the small part we played in helping that happen,” he adds.

Successful artisan food producer Alanagh van Staden was “very pleasantly surprised” to hear that Ke Nako Biltong, the unique dry-cure beef snack business she runs with partner Ilse, had just been named a ‘UK Food Hero’ for 2023.

The small business, which is based near Ballyclare, was listed among an elite group of artisan producers by an influential gourmet publication that’s widely read by food lovers across Great Britain, a target market for Ke Nako Biltong. The company is a FoodNI member.

The award-winning enterprise specialises in South African biltong and droewors, a dry sausage of ground beef, created on a Co Antrim farm from 100 percent Northern Irish beef. Ilse and Alanagh, a husband and wife team with a young son, gained the acclaim for the excellence of their spicy cured meats especially a novel product developed with a very hot sauce from Blackfire Food in Belfast. They used Blackfire’s quirky ‘Pain in the Hole’, a fiery sauce made by Tim McCarthy of Blackfire with the Carolina Reaper, said to be the world’s hottest chilli.

“Being named a ‘Food Hero’ took us completely by surprise,” continues Alanagh. “We heard about it on social media and weren’t aware that our hot and spicy biltong had been tasted by the judges. We are delighted too for our friend Tim McCarthy. “The coverage will certainly help us enormously as we continue to sell our range of premium quality biltong and droewors in Britain, a vitally important market for us and one in which we’ve gained some traction from our successes on television shows and in awards such as Great Taste and World Charcuterie. Every mention is important for an artisan business like Ke Nako which doesn’t have a huge marketing budget,” adds Alanagh.

She’s also delighted to have been able to involve Blackfire Food in the success. She says the sizzlingly hot chilli in the Blackfire sauce gave the biltong “a real kick and fiery flavour”. “We are an integral part of the dynamic artisan food and drink community in Northern Ireland and are keen to work with other local enterprises on original taste experiences for consumers here and abroad,” she continues.

Ilse and Alanagh cut, dry-cure, blend and produce the tasty and spicy beef snacks, sausages and other cured meats on Ballylagan Organic Farm using premium meat sourced from the farm and other local suppliers.

Meaning it’s time in Tswana, one of South Africa’s official languages, Ke Nako produces cured meats which have also earned the small business recognition as the ‘King of Snacks’ in another influential UK competition.

The farm-based company cleaned up too in the snacks category in the national competition for cured meats organised in conjunction with the influential UK Charcuterie Board. The board, which is based in Exeter, promotes collaboration, networking, learning and marketing for the entire cured meat sector in the UK. It is primarily producer led, but provides a unique forum for supply side businesses, food safety consultants, buyers, retailers, training schools, statutory bodies and consumers to all network, discuss, promote themselves and do business together in one place.

In addition to the top award in the competition for its classic biltong, the entrepreneurial business collected all the other awards in the category for its chilli biltong, garlic biltong and droewors which are widely enjoyed in South Africa especially at barbeques. The quality and outstanding taste of their biltong also led to the company winning the first Top of the Shop competition on BBC TV that was hosted by celebrity chef Tom Kerridge.

The company, in addition, makes a unique biltong powder as well as other cured meats including chorizo and salami. Ilse, a butcher and chef, is originally from Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. Alanagh has a background in education and nutrition. Both are keen rugby players and first met when Alanagh was touring South Africa with Belfast’s Cooke Rugby Club. That was back in 2011.

They subsequently decided to set up in business together and launched Ke Nako Biltong the following year. The biltong and droewors were created by Ilse using family recipes from her homeland. They have since introduced South African-styled beef products to thousands of consumers here by taking part in food and farmers’ markets and supplying an extensive network of delis and farm shops.

Fermanagh’s Boatyard Distillery, a FoodNI member, has won business with the SuperValu retail operation that will see its range of gins on sale across the island of Ireland.

The distillery has also seen its gins chosen for premium cocktails at the five-star Merchant Hotel in Belfast. The deal with SuperValu is a major boost for the small distillery which produces unique double gins and vodka and plans to launch the first Irish whiskey produced in Fermanagh in more than a century.

Headed by experienced industry professional Joe McGirr, the ambitious company has converted an old boathouse that overlooks Lough Erne and is close to Enniskillen. In addition to the distillery with its copper stills, the site includes a purpose-built visitor centre which is adding to Fermanagh’s position as a popular tourism destination.

The distillery has a developing export business especially in Great Britain and the US, where it is popular at the famed Dead Rabbit Irish bar in New York City, and is poised for fast growth. SuperValu, part of the Cork-based Musgrave Group, has successful supermarkets throughout the island.

Boatyard is the only distillery in Ireland to achieve B-Corp status for its outstanding focus on sustainability and the local environment.

https://www.boatyarddistillery.com/

FoodNI member Jackson Roze is successfully reviving non-alcoholic ginger wine, one of the most popular flavours of the past generations.

A recipe from more than a century ago has been harnessed by Tandragee-based husband and wife Andrew and Nicky Jackson of Jackson Roze to regenerate traditional non-alcoholic ginger wine for sale in local delis, farm shops and food markets such as Saintfield. Daughters Rebekkah (13), Zara (12), Olivia (10) and Eliana (6) also help in the business at weekends and over school holidays and give the company the Roze part of its corporate identity.

“We set up the company earlier in the year to produce a homemade, traditional, non- alcoholic ginger wine that’s based on a recipe from my great grandparents,” Nicky explains. “We had been making the ginger wine, especially at Christmas, over many years and were encouraged by family and friends to think about turning it into a commercial product.

“We thought long and hard about what would be involved in a move into artisan food production and subsequently decided to follow the advice, launching our non- alcoholic ginger wine at local food markets such as Saintfield from the start of the year,” adds Nicky.

“Feedback from shoppers was immensely positive, leading us to approach a number of local delis and farm shops to stock it. We know that our ginger wine is a unique product in the artisan marketplace in terms of flavour and taste,” she continues.

Nicky has a background in financial management and now looks after the day-to-day running of the family business. Andrew adds marketing knowledge and expertise to the artisan enterprise. The small company, the latest example of kitchen table enterprise here, recently joined FoodNI, the local promotion and marketing body for help in developing sales and overall business knowledge.

They’ve continued to reintroduce the once well-loved natural beverage at events across Northern Ireland. And it’s proving to be popular with all who’ve tasted the drink and had an opportunity to hear the family’s inspirational story.

The enterprise is driven by the family’s strong Christian faith. “We are a Christian family and founded Jackson Roze with one goal in mind: to follow the Lord where He leads us and to provide an outstanding luxury drink with health benefits, a beautiful history and a unique flavour that has been in our family for four generations,” Nicky explains.

Traditional ginger wine is said to reduce blood pressure; help arthritis; relieve pain; suppress nausea; aid digestion; and counter cold and flu. The wine is non-alcoholic in that it is not fermented and doesn’t contain yeast. It is also free from colourings, preservatives and gluten. Nicky, however, is quick to point out that the ginger wine is not being sold as a cure or to help with any symptoms. Anyone on medications is advised to consult their
doctor before taking ginger preparations.

“Our ginger wine is a family recipe that is more than 100 years old.  It was used by older generations as a tonic for when someone wasn’t well. The sugar content helped to build them up while the ginger helped to alleviate symptoms,” she adds.

Jackson Roze non-alcoholic ginger wine is produced, bottled and labelled – all be hand – in the family home in the Armagh town. “Our passion for excellence has driven us from the beginning, and continues to drive us into the future,” Nicky continues. “We know this product is one of a kind that is not only traditional but it also incredibly good for your body and health.  It is soothingly sweet and warm, a sweet note to begin with a pleasing aroma and then comes the ‘afterburn’ – the finish of ginger intensity that lingers for a little while like no other drink does.”

The ginger wine, she says, is “so versatile that it can cater for all tastes and ideas for consumption. “There is no need to dilute it as it comes ready to serve.  Hot water, for instance, can be added to a glass for a lovely warming ginger drink.  “It is made from a ginger and capsicum tincture which are both supplied by a fully qualified and tested herbal pharmacist.  This means the quality of ginger and capsicum used are of a high grade,” she adds. Other ingredients, sourced from Northern Ireland and Great Britain include water, sugar, citric acid, lime essence and blackcurrant jelly.

https://www.jacksonroze.com/