GREAT TASTE AWARDS 2021

THE STARS ARE OUT ABOVE NORTHERN IRELAND AS PASTURES, MOUNTAINS AND SEA DELIVER TRULY GREAT TASTE

Products from every corner of Northern Ireland’s natural landscape feature on this year’s list of Great Taste award-winners, which was announced recently. Out of the 5,383 products worldwide to receive a Great Taste 1-, 2- or 3-star accolade from the largest and most trusted food and drink awards on the planet, 215 are based in Northern Ireland and these include; Lisdergan Butchery’s Great Taste 3-star award-winning Murley Mountain Rack of Lamb, produced in Omagh; Dundarave Estate, in Bushmills, recognised with a Gold Star each going to their Cherryvalley Apple juice, Apple & Pear juice and their Apple Cider vinegar. From Bangor, regulars to the awards, Clandeboye Estate wowed the judges with fi ve of their products which includes a Mandarin & Lime Strained Greek style yoghurt and a Madagascan Vanilla Greek Style yoghurt. Also regulars to Great Taste, the Spar Henderson Group continued to shine with four products from The Chef range, including a delicious Mango Chicken Curry and an Irish Beef stew. Another company who frequently star at Great Taste, Mauds Ice Cream picked up a Gold Star each for three of their mouth-watering ice creams, including Biscottino fl avour and Almond & Cherry Bakewell. The Irish Black Butter Company were awarded a Gold Star for Irish Black Butter Hazelnut spread, which can be used in recipes, added to smoothies or goes well with ice cream. Portadown drinks producer, McCracken’s Brewery, excelled with two 2 Gold Stars and one 1 Gold Star for their Irish Red Ale, McCracken’s Black (stout) and McCracken’s APA (American Pale Ale). Antrim based Apperley’s, who have shops in Antrim, Ballymena and Ballymoney, were recognized for their Causeway Fish Pie, the Deep Filled Chicken & ham pie and their Premium Coleslaw. Also, appearing on a regular basis, Cavanagh Free Range eggs were awarded a Gold Star. Another regular attendee at Great Taste, Erin Grove Preserves, who recently opened The Croft Farm Shop in Enniskillen, were recognized for their Hot Chilli Jam as well as their Seville Orange Marmalade with Stem Ginger, both attaining a I Gold Star each and fi nally Ballymena based Ballygarvey Eggs were awarded a 1 Gold Star for their Ballygarvey Big & Healthy Free range eggs.

Following 86 socially-distanced judging days in London and Dorset, Great Taste, which values taste above all else, has unearthed the very fi nest food and drink from every nook and corner of the UK and beyond. Regardless of branding or packaging, each product is judged on a level playing fi eld, according to its texture, appearance, composition and of course taste. Food critics, chefs, restaurateurs, retail buyers, cooks, producers and a host of food writers, journalists and social media infl uencers are among the 355 esteemed palates to have rigorously blind tasted and judged the 14,113 entries from 108 countries, while providing detailed written feedback for the producer.

Every Great Taste award-winning product will now be able to display the unmistakable black and gold logo, a stamp of excellence that is recognised by retailers and consumers alike. A wide range of these winning products are already available to buy in delis, farm shops and independent retail outlets across the country.

JUDGING DAY AT THE GREAT TASTE AWARDS

Anna Jones.

The judging process.

Olia Hercules. Joanna Blythman.

Xanthe Clay. Martha Collison.

All food and drink products entered into Great Taste follow a rigorous judging process with entries passing through teams of judges. One judge on each team is also a coordinator, who records feedback on each product tasted and submits the team’s rating. Images by: Sam Pelly.

GREAT TASTE AWARDS

McCraken’s Pale Ale. Handcracted in Northern Handcracted in Northern Ireland . Discover a range of Ireland . Discover a range of flavours at flavours at www.mccrakensbrewery.com www.mccrakensbrewery.com

Mauds Salted Almond

Mauds Hazlenut

Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt. Discover a range of flavours and pick up a pot at your local supermarket. Mauds Pistachio

Apperley’s Causeway Fish Pie

Beef Lasagne by The CHEF wins 1 Star award at the 2021 Great Taste Awards

UK’s finest palates award CHEF range with four stars at Great Taste Awards

A range created with the finest local ingredients and made in County Antrim has been awarded four stars at this year’s Great Taste Awards, joining some of the most impressive local food products in Northern Ireland.

Henderson Wholesale’s The CHEF range has seen four of its fresh, pre-prepared meals receive one star each by judges elected by The Guild of Fine Foods, who described the meals as “a great ready meal for anyone’s table” and “a wonderful rustic, homely looking product”.

The award winners include family favourites Chicken and Broccoli Bake, Lasagne, Irish Beef Stew and Mango Chicken Curry, all made by Chef Carl Johannesson and his 27-strong team from the dedicated Henderson Kitchen in Randalstown, using ingredients from local suppliers including K&G McAtamney, Bradmount and Henderson Foodservice.

Judges also said of the Chicken and Broccoli bake; “The sauce is stunning, full of chicken flavour. This has been very well made to give a great tasting morish comforting product”, the Irish Beef Stew; “this dish is very tasty, warming and wholesome” and of the Lasagne; “great comfort food”.

The CHEF is one of Henderson Wholesale’s most popular own-brand ranges, with the company investing £120,000 earlier this year to give it a fresh new look and broaden recipe development. The brand comprises of over 40 mains and sides, meals for one and well-rounded Under 500 calorie meals and is available at selected SPAR, EUROSPAR, ViVO, ViVOXTRA and ViVO Essentials stores across Northern Ireland. The Great Taste Award Stars come as the team gets ready to launch a new Autumn/Winter menu in the coming weeks.

Neal Kelly, Fresh Foods Director at Henderson Group says the quality of local produce here is second to none; “Receiving such recognition as Great Taste Awards confirms that local collaboration and sourcing is what makes really great, fresh products for our retailers to offer shoppers. We know our shoppers are looking for convenience, value and quality and they get all of that and more in The CHEF range, with each recipe created with local tastes in mind.

“Our own brand ranges generated sales of £14M in 2020, which only serves to boost our local agri-food industry, keeping food miles down and using local meat and produce from suppliers and farmers here. The Great Taste stars are fantastic recognition for the hard work, research, collaboration and end product that Chef Carl has produced with his team and our local suppliers.” Chef Carl Johannesson added;

“Being able to bring together flavours from around the world, using ingredients that we have personally been out to taste and research, and make this experience collaborative with our top farmers, suppliers and growers in Northern Ireland is a chef’s dream come true.

I’m very proud to be The Chef behind The CHEF and credit the whole team with this fantastic recognition from the

Great Taste Awards.”

This is the sixth year of success for Henderson Wholesale and their own-brand ranges, picking up a total of 18 stars since 2016 awarded to enjoy local, The CHEF and Desserts by The Kitchen products.

AWARD - WINNING BEERS, HAND-CRAFTED IN NORTHERN IRELAND, UNFILTERED, NATURALLY CONDITIONED AND VEGAN FRIENDLY

BREWED IN SMALL BATCHES RESULTING IN QUALITY, FULL BODIED BEERS. WE DO NOT USE ANY ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES OR F VOURINGS IN OUR PRODUCTS.

TO P CE AN ORDER. EMAIL: SALES@MCCRACKENSBREWERY.COM CALL +44 (0)7803 045124 WWW.MCCRACKENSBREWERY.COM @MCCRACKENSBREWERY

A WEALTH OF HISTORY

The Apperley family are no strangers to the food and meat industry with over 50 years of experience in the butchery trade between brothers John and Colin, accumulating a wealth of knowledge, skill and expertise along the way.

John began his career as a butcher in 1988 and his brothers Paul (Bear) and Colin joined him in the butchery business a few years later. His sister Anne joined them in 2012 when they developed a range of ready meals.

Their journey has been one of highs and lows and many paths crossed. With an impressive repertoire of butchery and retail achievements, the Apperley family were previously the driving force behind McAtamney’s Butchers, a successful chain of butchers and delis. John took charge of McAtamney’s in 2000 and expanded the business from 3 shops to 13 introducing a wide range of ready meals to the butchery trade, creating well-known brands such as Bear’s Grill.

Apperley’s has always had a vision and with hard work and determination that vision, passion and desire to offer customers amazing food has become a reality in 2020. It’s now time to shine the spotlight on their own Apperley name and we are excited to bring the Apperley’s brand to you through our Antrim butchers shop which opened in May 2020 and our deli in Ballymoney, and latest shop in Ballykeel (Ballymena) in 2021.

Purveyors of fine foods, Apperley’s deliver the finest quality products. For any enquiries, contact: Antrim 02894485999, Ballymoney 02827664212, Ballymena 02825653777 or John 07809482751.

Clandeboye Estate produce a range of hand crafted Yoghurts made with the milk from our pedigree herds of Holstein and Jersey cows. We produce a full range of Natural, Greek Style, Flavoured and Layered whole milk yoghurts for both the retail and food service markets.

You will fi nd our yoghurts in just about all major supermarkets in Northern Ireland as well as enjoying it when you go down for breakfast in many hotels.

Clandeboye Estate, Bangor, Co. Down BT19 1RN Mobile 07929796398 Email bryan@clandeboye.co.uk

CELEBRATING A MONTH OF SUCCESS FOR DUNDARAVE.

We are thrilled to share that Dundarave have won not just one but three stars at this year’s prestigious Great Taste Awards. Our Cherryvalley Apple Juice, Apple & Pear Juice and Apple Cider Vinegar were awarded the title ‘Simply Delicious’ achieving one-star each. One-star is awarded only to those products that deliver fantastic flavour.

‘We are delighted to win a star in the Great Taste Awards for three of our products. This is a huge win; we are competing against large scale companies and supermarkets, not just in the UK but across the world. That’s thousands of products vying to win a star… and we got three!’ Dundarave Head Chef, Niall McGinn

Organised by the Guild of Fine Foods, Great Taste is the world’s most trusted food and drink awards. Every year, a panel of over 500 industry experts blind taste thousands of entries awarding only the very best. The judges look for not just great taste but also consider texture, appearance, and quality of ingredients, something we are very proud of at Dundarave.Using only the finest ingredients, the apples for our award-winning juices are handpicked from the trees of Cherryvalley on the shores of Lough Neagh to produce the highest quality local produce. Our apples are freshly pressed and bottled to capture their unique taste and delicious flavour. Not only do our juices taste ‘Simply Delicious’ our Apple Cider Vinegar offers many health benefits too. Apple Cider Vinegar has been known to help reduce cholesterol, lower blood sugar levels, improve the symptoms of diabetes and can even aid weight loss. Keeping the apples natural sweetness, our apple cider vinegar is perfect for use in cooking or dressings. Why not try taking it in a morning tonic by mixing 2-3 tablespoons in a glass of water.

The accolades continued for our Apple Cider Vinegar, receiving a bronze award in the vinegar’s category at the 2021 Irish Food Awards on 2nd October 2021. Our Spiced Plum and Damson jam was also presented with a bronze award in the preserves category. The Irish Food Awards now in its 14th year is the biggest competition for quality Irish produce.

All of our preserves and juices can be purchased online farmshop.dundaraveestate.com

All our eggs are produced to Lion Quality Standard. We are delighted this quality has been recognised in achieving a Great Taste Award 2021. At Ballygarvey Eggs our hens are fed our traditional diet, which produces outstandingly good eggs.

108 Ballygarvey Road, Ballymena T: 028 2565 3168 www.bigandhealthy.co.uk

email: info@ballygarvey.com

WINNING STARS

Clandeboye Estate Yoghurts have again done well in the 2021 Great Taste Awards with five of its products winning stars! One star for their Greek, Natural, Vanilla, Blueberry and Mandarin & Lime Yoghurts. Bryan Boggs (general manger) said “We are delighted to again get this recognition for the hard work of our small team. It is great to know that we can maintain the same high quality even as production keeps increasing year on year.” Clandeboye are currently building a brand new creamery on farm so big changes ahead!

For more information, visit www.clandeboye.co.uk or contact mail@clandeboye.co.uk

THE MAUDS SQUAD DO IT AGAIN!

Since it was born in 1982, Mauds has grown to become one of Ireland’s best loved brands and one of the most decorated!

Our success in the 2021 Blas na hEireann awards, where we again won the overall Ice Cream category for Ireland, means that we have achieved this accolade in 5 of the last 8 years!

We have entered the Blas na hEireann awards for the last 9 years and have achieved trophies in 8 of those years – 5 of which have been Gold!

In 2020, our famous Poor Bear’s Delight, having won GOLD in the Ice Cream category, was pitched against all the other gold award winners across all food categories and won the overall food award for Best in County and Best in Ulster – The Shane McArdle Shield! Mauds is also officially recognised as a Great Taste Producer due to winning Great Taste Awards every year for more than 3 consecutive years. 2021 was our 10th year entering the Great Taste Awards and we have come away with awards every year.

The 3 Great Taste stars awarded this year bring us to ... drum roll please... 40 Great Taste Stars!!

APPERLEY’S

Established in 2020

SELLING QUALITY HOMEMADE READY MEALS THROUGH OUR OWN 3 SHOPS AND OTHER LOCAL SUPERMARKETS USING FINEST LOCAL INGREDIENTS MADE IN HOUSE BY OUR TEAM OF EXPERT CHEFS PLANS IN PLACE FOR 2022 TO OPEN 3 NEW SHOPS WHICH WILL INCORPORATE BUTCHERS/ FOOD HALL AND DELI FAMILY RUN BUSINESS SUPPLIERS TO HOTELS & RESTAURANTS PROVINCE WIDE

Ballymena Business Park, Ballykeel Ballymena Church Street, Antrim Main Street, Ballymoney