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Pure Irish sea salt from Northern Ireland food pioneer

Pure, natural sea salt from a remote island in the Atlantic has been launched by Northern Ireland’s Hartnett’s Oils.

Duvillaun Fine Foods, a new artisan business, has been created by Harnett’s, which is based at Waringstown in county Down and has a longstanding reputation in pioneering award winning cold-pressed food oils such as hemp and rapeseed that are highly rated by leading chefs.

The new sea salt was launched in the Food NI Food Pavilion at Balmoral Show.

Jane Harnett, a director of Harnett’s Oils and a leader personality in the Ulster Artisan producers’ group, commenting on the new sea salt, says: “We hand-harvest the sea water from around the island which is known for having some of the cleanest waters in the world and is a protected area.

“At present the sea-water is then processed and packaged on our Waring Estate, county Down by Harnett’s producing our very own artisan salt from what is probably the purest water on the planet.Jane

“We have a number of ideas for the Duvillaun brand in the next few years so hopefully this is our first product of many innovative products. For instance, we are planning to develop Duvillaun lamb,” adds Jane.

Duvillaun, known as the Black island, is an uninhabited island north of Achill Island and South of the Inishkeas in the Atlantic Ocean in county Mayo in the Republic of Ireland.

Duvillaun pure Irish salt is available in 40g bottles at £4 RRP.

Harnett’s Oils is a family-run business which produces cold-pressed and bottles functional food oils. The family has been growing GM-free oilseeds in Northern Ireland mostly from local grown crops since the 17th century.

The family business has won a series of awards for its artisan products including a gold star for its Pure Rapeseed Oil in the Great Taste Awards 2014 and gold for the oil in Blas na hEireann, Irish National Food and Drink Awards, in 2015.

The company was runner-up in the Great British Farm Produce Awards with the oil. It sells its food oils in Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

Jane Harnett on Harnett’s Oil pictured with the new Irish sea salt for seasoning meals.