Slemish Market Garden in Ballymena has been named the Best Greengrocers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the prestigious Slow Food Awards in the UK.

The awards are based on a public vote from thousands of people across the UK over the summer months. Each UK region has its own winners, with the highest number of votes in each category also being the overall UK winner.

Slemish Market Garden gained the national and local awards as the Best Greengrocer for great and nutritious fruit and vegetables to be found anywhere in the UK.

The family business, based near the town’s popular ECOS Nature Park and run by husband and wife team Frank and Linda McCooke and son Matthew, gained the overall UK award along with the Northern Ireland regional titles as Best Greengrocer in the national Slow Food Awards.

Frank, a respected Ballymena native, describes the two awards as “phenomenal recognition” for the company’s longstanding focus on consistently delivering “superb quality and sustainable fruit and vegetables”. “It’s really fantastic for us, a small garden centre and greengrocers in Ballymena, to have been voted the UK’s best by lovers of good, natural food. I am sure there were more than a few eyebrows raised in the south of England, the heartland of Slow Food, on such an important award coming to such a small business in Ballymena.”

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Family: Ballymena family Linda, Matthew and Frank McCooke of Slemish Market Garden won the UK’s and Northern Ireland’s Best Greengrocer title in the Slow Food Awards

Following the success at the 2021 Royal Ulster Premier Beef and Lamb Championships, Alfie Murray Family Butchers is dishing up a treat for customers this January with top-quality, prize-winning lamb available from now until Christmas.

Following the 2021 Royal Ulster Premier Beef & Lamb Championships held at Eikon Exhibition Centre, Balmoral Park, Lisburn, the Killyleagh based butcher purchased the Champion pair of Suffolk Lambs Over 42.5kg, Champion pairs of Dorset Lambs 36 -42.5kg & Over 42.5kg and the Best of Any Other Breed Over 42.5kg.

Prime cuts of lamb from the show are now on sale at the longest established butcher’s shops in Northern Ireland on the shores of Strangford Lough as well as the EuroSpar in Crossgar.

Having been in operation for over 60 years, this popular butcher shop is owned by three generations of the Murray family – Alfie senior, Alfie junior and Ryan.

Alfie Murray Jnr said: “Northern Ireland produces some of the best lamb in the world and I am delighted to have bought top quality livestock from the Royal Ulster Premier Beef & Lamb Championships.

This year the kill out rate was above average with a good yield on all the lambs. Our customers are delighted with the quality of meat and the prime cuts will be available to buy in the lead up to Christmas.”

Caption – Carolyn Greene, Royal Ulster Agricultural Society, joins Alfie Murray Jnr and Ryan Murray from Alfie Murray Family Butchers following the 2021 Royal Ulster Beef & Lamb Championships.

Belfast Distillery Company is strengthening the international reach of its McConnell’s Irish Whisky brand after agreeing a distribution deal with Waldemar Behn in Germany.

The brand has been revived by Belfast Distillery Company since 2020, and has secured partnerships with multiple international distributors since. It is also developing a distillery at Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast.

Through Waldemar Behn, Germany is the latest market to introduce McConnell’s 5 Year Old Blend, the brand’s signature expression.

Belfast Distillery Company chief executive John Kelly said: “McConnell’s brand was born in Belfast in 1776 and we have been working hard to re-establish McConnell’s in our home market, while developing our distribution network internationally. As it says on the label, we are proud to be following in the footsteps of James and John McConnell and we are excited to see McConnell’s Irish whisky travel from Belfast to Boston, and beyond. We are delighted to secure a distribution agreement with Waldemar Behn, one of Germany’s oldest and most well recognised family-owned companies in the alcohol sector.”

Rüdiger Behn, owner and managing director of Waldemar Behn, based near Kiel, commented: “We have been watching the Irish whiskey category grow both in Germany and globally and have been keen to find the right partner in this space. McConnell’s Irish Whisky is exactly what we have been looking for – great liquid and packaging which we know will be a success with German consumers. This could be seen by the reaction received at Bar Convent Berlin and we are pleased to welcome McConnell’s into the Waldemar Behn portfolio.”

Other markets added to the global distribution map for McConnell’s in the second half of 2021 include Poland, Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium, China plus Ontario and Alberta in Canada.

Artisan cheesemaker Mike Thomson has been named Person of the Year for Northern Ireland in the annual Slow Food UK Awards.

Mike is the only raw milk cheesemaker in Northern Ireland, and an advocate of the craft. A huge supporter of other cheesemakers via his retail store in Belfast, he is a trailblazer for good cheese in Northern Ireland. He was nominated by Director for Slow Food NI, celebrity chef Paula McIntyre. Mike was also named Best Cheesemonger in Northern Ireland.

Slemish Market Garden in Ballymena was named Best Greengrocer in the UK and Northern Ireland.

And Corndale Farm Charcuterie in Limavady, county Derry won two awards – Best Butcher and Champion Slow Food Product  – Veal Charcuterie in association with Broughgammon Farm in Ballycastle, county Antrim.

Created eight years ago, the Slow Food awards, part of an international movement, are truly democratic – with no prior shortlisting, the winners are simply chosen by whoever gets the most public votes.

Michael Thomson established his artisan cheese company by raising £80,000 to become Northern Ireland’s first raw-milk blue cheese manufacturer in 2013.

He studied cheese making at The School of Artisan Food in Nottingham and then developed his knowledge and skills particularly in Stilton-type cheese making with producers in England. He moved back to Northern Ireland in November 2012 to set up his own dairy, Mike’s Fancy Cheese in Newtownards, near Belfast, and raised cash for the venture through a crowdfunding initiative. This enabled him to start making cheese in November 2013.

He launched Young Buck blue cheese in January 2014, winning business with leading Northern Irish restaurants such as Michelin-starred Deane’s EIPIC and Ox.

The cheese is also now available from many leading specialist cheese shops and delis across Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, GB, Paris, Lyon and Lille and in Alt Milch at Markhalle in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district.

Young Buck has also won a strong of awards for quality including UK Great Taste Awards.

Other Slow Food winners in Northern Ireland were:

Best Baker                                       Ursa Minor, Ballycastle, county Antrim, producer of baked goods including award winning sourdough;
Best Fishmonger                             Native Seafood, Portstewart, county Derry
Best Deli or Grocer                          Warkes Deli, Portstewart
Best Market                                       St George’s Market, Belfast
Best Restaurant/Food Eatery            Stock Kitchen and Bar, Belfast

The prestigious awards were set up to highlight Good, Clean and Fair food and involved thousands of votes over the summer. Each nation has its own winners, with the highest number of votes in each category also being the overall UK winner.

They seek to promote local businesses that consistently deliver quality and sustainable food products, fulfilling the movement’s vision of a good, clean and fair food society.

The awards are truly democratic, with no prior shortlisting. Winners are chosen from each nation as well as a winner in the best overall UK category. In addition to this public vote, each Slow Food nation director nominates an individual for a Person of the Year awards. The winners each get a certificate and the right to call themselves establishment/product of the year for each nation.

Finnebrogue Artisan in Northern Ireland has set a new Guinness world record by creating the world’s biggest vegan burger which will benefit the local homeless.

Based in Downpatrick, county Down, the local food producer made a vegan burger weighing a whopping 162kg and measuring 1.2metres in diameter.

The record-breaking burger was made in its £30million facility at Downpatrick.

A total of 10 employees were involved in completing the burger, which required creating 1274 of their standard sized naked evolution burgers.

The vegan burger was made using the brand’s Naked Evolution Burger recipe, which involved around 10kg tomatoes, 4.5kg lettuce, 7kg cheese, 2kg tobacco onions, 5kg gherkins, 5kg Naked without the oink rashers and 5kg Naked Burger sauce.

The result was a staggering 162.5kg, almost 40 percent heavier than the target weight of 100kg.

Sean Kearney, Finnebrogue’s Innovation Process Manager, describing how they managed to make and cook such a huge patty, said: “We were set a target weight of 100kg, but we knew from the outset we wanted to exceed that. The team included representatives from NPD, marketing and engineering; and together we designed and built everything, including a swing to aid turning the patty during cooking.”

“That was perhaps the most challenging part of the record as we didn’t want to break the patty,” he added.

He continued: “The patty took almost nine hours to cook so the day was long. However, when we added all the condiments and the weight of the burger was revealed, we were elated!”

Once the record was verified by the Guinness team, the huge vegan patty was shared between staff members and distributed to a local homeless community.

DrinkNo/Low, an innovative business launched by entrepreneurial couple David and Jill Crawford, will help consumers and traders here access drinks with no or low alcohol from global manufacturers.

The couple, based at Portaferry in county Down, aim to become the specialist ‘go to’ online retailer – the website (www.drinknolow.co.uk an www.drinknolow.ie ) has just been launched – and a trade distributor of premium and craft alcohol free and low drinks in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

David and Jill bring vast experience in international markets to the new business as the innovators behind Just Live a Little, a producer of granolas and other healthy snacks for major retailers worldwide.

Influenced by the launches of alcohol-free Guinness and Gordon’s Gin options, they decided to focus on developing an extensive portfolio of craft beers and other beverages produced without alcohol that can be accessed both digitally and by conventional distribution services. The new business initiative has also been influenced by their efforts to reduce alcohol consumption.

Jill, the commercial director, explains: “We spotted a new business opportunity from the development of the No/Low drinks sector as one of the fastest growing and most interesting categories in food and drink. While there are a lot of fantastic new products available in a market which has really taken off in Europe, the US and Australia, the availability of these beverages has been inhibited here due to issues over trade and transport, especially post-Brexit. We saw significant scope in particular to help accelerate the growth of the category on the island of Ireland. Many producers either don’t ship their product here – or the shipping costs make the price prohibitive,” Jill adds.