Baronscourt Estate situated in the foothills of the famous Sperrin mountain in County Tyrone is the home of the Duke of Abercorn’s family since 1612. It’s also the home of Ireland’s finest wild venison.
The herd of Japanese Sika deer were initially introduced into a deerpark in 1751, but since 1920 they have existed wild on the estate. They munch on myrtle bog, ryegrass and tasty saplings which are naturally free of any additives or growth promoters.
Apart from being a very lean and succulent meat, low in cholesterol and chock full of protein, Baronscourt Wild Venison is very sustainable. An annual deer count assesses the population and its general health. They then do a selective cull to balance the population against the likely demand for the meat. The estate also produces oven ready pheasants and ducks during the shooting season, all of which are home reared.
The Herron family are good at eggs. They’ve been producing free-range ones for more than 15 years now. In 2012, they decided to launch their own brand to sell direct to their customers, and so Woodside Eggs was born.
This family really, really loves hens. That means their feathered friends are treated like family, and all of that means premium quality, high-welfare eggs. Second to the welfare of the chooks comes customer satisfaction. The good folk at Woodside are reliable and flexible when it comes to delivery and helpful and friendly all round.
All eggs are produced to Defra and Freedom Food standards but Trevor says dealing with demanding chefs is a pretty good method of quality assurance too. They supply to both retail and catering businesses. They say that buying from their farms means you get the best possible eggs at the best possible price.
These frozen, home-made pizza kits are such a good idea, we don’t know why someone didn’t think of it earlier. They’re easy, fun, tasty and healthy. They’re lower in salt and sugar than other frozen pizzas and you can use up leftovers in the fridge too.
Karen Boyd has been in the pizza industry for more than 20 years, but she wanted to take a new direction to reach a wider audience. Pizzado started up at the end of 2013. You get the tomato sauce, the mozzarella and the dough balls.
They do three different packs, Cheese and Tomato, Pepperoni and Pizza Garlic Bread and
each pack makes 2 x 9″ pizzas, but we are loving customizing them with all manner of goodies from the fridge.
Winner of IQFA 2014
Pizzado will be in Tesco NI from mid September (yeah !) but will keep you posted about this
exciting news.
Norr & Brown is an artisan, family business, established in Saintfield in June 2012 by Ann Mc Candless. She got her love of sweeties from her parents and their Christian names are the name of the business. It grew quickly so her grandson Jack joined as an apprentice. He surprised everyone with the speed he mastered the skills to produce their unique range of handmade chocolates, homemade pastries, traditional dairy ice cream and celebration cakes.
They’re all about using fresh local ingredients and proven traditional methods. Everyone should taste their ganaches and honeycomb smothered in high quality milk or dark chocolate. Customers can’t get enough of their signature chocolate brownies and delicious chocolate cakes. Of course, they have many more strings to their bow. Their range of pastries, desserts and cakes is expanding all the time. They’ll make birthday, wedding and christening cakes exactly the way you want. They also do wedding favours, chocolate gift items (shoes, cars, animals and more) and children’s chocolate party packs. Phew! Busy people!
Their shop in Saintfield is located at the junction of the Belfast Road and 1 Todd’s Hill. It’s a great place to pop in for a salted caramel chocolate tart, champagne truffle or honeycomb ice cream with a freshly ground coffee or an afternoon tea. The dining room is really relaxing and you can even stay for bed and breakfast in one of two NITB approved en-suite bedrooms. And yes, they do put chocolates on your pillow!
Check out the website for new products and which events and fairs they’ll be at.
Disabled access to shop but five steps up to dining room and B&B. parking. No baby changing. Gluten-free pastries and cakes on request
We just love our craft beer and Hilden can boast of being Ireland’s oldest independent brewery. They’ve been producing full-flavoured, hand-crafted beers at their Lisburn site since 1981. Their brewing methods are all about combining heritage, tradition and the best of contemporary tastes to produce the best beers possible.
The brewery now produces eleven draught beers covering the full spectrum of tastes including a stout, a blonde, a premium red, a wheat, a pale and an amber ale. There are also 9 bottled beers. They’re all authentic and unprocessed. We can fully vouch for their character. You just know they take great care selecting the finest natural ingredients. It’s all in the taste!
We plan to start exploring this year to Central and Eastern Europe and the US and Canada markets. We can deliver to GB and Ireland (NI and ROI).
Northern Ireland produced European Angus beef has been putting in ‘star’ performances in the food sector for a number of years now.
Quality of the product received major endorsement in the 2013 Great Taste Awards when Euro Angus beef was awarded 12 Gold Stars on five different beef products.
Three of the five products entered for the very first time were awarded three Gold Stars – Salt Aged Euro Angus Cote De Boeuf, Salt Aged Euro Angus Fiorentina T-Bone and Salt Aged Euro Angus Sirloin.
European Angus is a recognised breed of cattle in its own right which came about after the formation of the European Angus Cattle Society in 2003. Headquartered in Northern Ireland, the Society utilises both Angus and Limousin genetics to produce beef at its best!
In 2014 European Angus beef continued to come in for recognition when 21-Day Matured European Angus Sirloin Steak from Gilford-based Blackberry Hill Farm was shortlisted as a finalist in the prestigious Irish Quality Food Awards.
As we say at European Angus – “It’s all in the taste”.
The Society is also well known as organisers of the European Angus Steak Tasting Competition which has become a major event in the Agri-food calendar over the last couple of years. The competition is open to all breeds of cattle.
