Ummera News Archive 2001






	Ummera news archives... Christmas 2001 This 'instant' world is giving us salmon smokers a real problem! When the postal service was the only means available to us, we accepted that it would take many days, sometimes weeks, for our smoked salmon to reach you; today, 24 hours in transit is now normal from here to Europe, 36 hours to the east coast of America and 48 hours elsewhere. This gives us a logistical nightmare at Christmas; everyone wants their smoked salmon on Christmas Eve - and theoretically it should be possible. However as we can only smoke so many salmon a day, and as we ship within 24 hours of smoking, we have to stagger shipments; we would be very happy if you or the recipients took delivery earlier, freeze it and thaw it out the day you want it. Our smoked salmon does freeze particularly well. As Christmas is on a Tuesday this year, this advice is most relevant. Our simple message is: Please order as early as you can, and take delivery as early as you can. ORDER NOW on our Secure Server : Click Here NEW SHIPPING PACKAGING - Flexi Cool Despite the fact that we now can ship our product to you faster than ever before, EU Regulations and 'due diligence' are pushing us to search for best ways to maintain chill temperatures during shipment. Last year we introduced polystyrene insulated boxes which went some way towards our goal. This year we are introducing a new packaging consisting of an outer insulated pouch with sachets of frozen water. This system will maintain the required temperature over normal shipment times; the ice maybe water when it reaches you, but will have done its job on the way. It is also more environmentally friendly than polystyrene; it is reusable as a very useful chill bag for bottles etc. so don't throw it away! We will be introducing these on a phased basis this Christmas according to destination and prevailing ambient temperatures. Regrettably, improvements don't come cheap and we have had to increase our prices to ensure that you get our smoked salmon in the best condition possible. We feel sure you will understand and support this small added expense SALMON SEASON The salmon season ended on the 31st July - the first two weeks of June were promising enough, but the weather turned and we had weeks of Northerly and North Westerly winds which is never good for the Salmon fishermen.The total Irish catch was down to below 500 tonnes, from over 600 in 2000. Tagging was at last introduced which should help the authorities decide on realistic quotas for the 2002 season. For a more in depth report click here for a Special 2001 Fishing Report . THE OPENING July 28th was probably the hottest day of our summer; to celebrate that - and to celebrate the "official" opening of our new smokehouse, over 200 people descended on us here to revel in the sunshine, enjoying great food and drink provided by members of the West Cork Slow Food group and others. Myrtle Allen from Ballymaloe House (the doyenne of all that's good in Irish Food), and Seamus De Burca, a local fisherman, spoke about the problems of the small producer, be they inshore fishermen or restaurateurs. Myrtle performed the opening, not by cutting a ribbon, but by slicing a side of Ummera Smoked Wild Salmon! Mrs Myrle Allen slicing at Ummera ! The Cheesemakers had everyone's toes tapping as they played their very special music, and an Italian film crew from Gambero Rosso covered the event for a series on Irish Food to be screened in Italy. Our thanks to the following for making it such a great day: Slow Food Beamish & Crawford Ballymaloe House Gubbeen Cheese Durrus Cheese Cooleeney Cheese Otto's Creative Catering Woodcock Smokery Caherbeg Free Range Pork Finbarr Walsh's Orange Juice Heron Foods Mary Pawle Organic Wines Bubblebrothers Clonakilty Black Puddings Neville Swinchatt Lettercollum House and our young wood turner, Alastair Creswell! ADDITIONAL SLICES In September, we showed our smoked salmon at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair in London, followed by Bord Bia's (the Irish food Board) launch of their Deli Special HIP (Highly Individual Products) Store. At their meeting in Adare, I met up with Ari Weinzweig of Zingerman's Deli in Michigan. Darina Allen of the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School tempted us to lunch to talk about our Dry Cured Smoked Bacon. Also there was Donal Creedon of Macroom Oatmeal. If you eat porridge, you must try Donal's oatmeal (available at Zingerman's!). June 27^th 2001 Salmon News.... The 2001 Wild Salmon season is nearly half way through. You can read a report on the season so far by clicking here: Salmon Update. The World Wild Life Fund produced an excellent report at the end of May on the state of the Wild Atlantic Salmon in the North Atlantic. It makes very worrying reading, but should be read by all those who have a concern for the wild salmon. It can be downloaded from their web site at www.wwf-uk.org/news/news190.htm. You should also look at www.wwf-uk.org/news/salmonBackground.htm for some additional information. A little piece of music... July once again sees the MUSIC AMONGST THE MOSAICS festival in the Church of the Ascension, Timoleague. This year's programme celebrates the restoration of the organ during last year. Full details can be found at www.ummera.com/music_mosaics/index.html You could win a side of Ummera Smoked Salmon... You still have time to enter the June Competition on the westcorkweek.com's site: Submit your favourite Water Sport or Activity in West Cork using the form at www.westcorkweek.com/ and enter their draw for a side of Ummera Smoked Wild Irish Salmon. Fishing The River Argideen has had some excellent sea trout fishing this year, and now that the foot and mouth restrictions have been lifted, fishing is available on all the river. If visiting the region and you want an up to date situation report, do contact us. For Angling Reports visit www.anglingnews.net July 28th... If heading to County Cork on July 28th, keep an hour or two free in the afternoon for something Slow. More information later! Where are we... There are no signs to the new smokehouse at Inchybridge yet, but we rely on people asking the way; much more friendly! To help you we have a detailed map on our web site of the immediate surroundings with directions from Kinsale, Bandon and Clonakilty included. Click on Location Map on the main menu to get there July 4th It's not too late for us to ship to the US for July 4th celebrations. Visit our secure online ordering page now or it will be too late! But not too late of course for July 5th or 6th or...! May 15^th 2001 12 months on.... On May 14th, 2000, we began building our new smokehouse here at Inchybridge. At long last it is now a reality and you are most welcome to visit us when you are in West Cork. Something new.... Ummera Bacon is now available after a lapse of two years; this dry cured bacon is cured and smoked by us according to a recipe perfected by my late father. It comes vacuum packed in 250gm and 500gm bags, with a mix of back and streaky rashers. We love it grilled under a medium heat until the rind begins to crackle. At the moment it is only available here in Ireland. Please contact us for details of prices at sales@ummera.com. Lights, Camera, Action...... Today, May 15th, scenes for a pilot of a new food series to be called Ireland on a Plate were filmed here in our smokehouse. Chef Neven Maguire of the MacNean Bistro in Blacklion, Co. Cavan was helping three people on holiday in West Cork to source great local foods. Naturally, a visit to Ummera was essential! Produced by Orla Broderick of Tyrone Productions and directed by Julien Hills , hopefully it will be broadcast early next year. We will keep you posted. Fishing The River Argideen is now open for sea trout fishing, but with restricted access to certain sections. Smoked Eel We were unable to acquire sufficient stocks of silver eel this winter because of a poor autumn run, and unfortunately we have now sold our last smoked eel. The 'Silver' eel is only caught during the winter months as they begin their migration to the Sargasso Sea; it is therefore unlikely that we will have more until the late autumn. Shipping Costs From June 1st, our prices for delivery outside Ireland will have to be increased as a result of increased shipping costs from DHL. This is their first real increase for 4 years and hopefully it will be the last for another four! The new prices will be posted to our On-Line Ordering Page on May 31st and will be effective for all orders shipped after that date. Take advantage of the next two weeks and let us ship some smoked salmon to you at the existing prices. Order Now! The Euro € Our conversion to the Euro is complete. We still think in Irish Pounds, but all our invoices and prices are now in Euros and Kilograms! Hopefully, on January 1st next year when most Europeans are struggling with the Euro, we will be relaxed and enjoying ourselves! Take note April 1^st 2001 All Fools Day On January 1st, 2002, Ireland will be converting to the Euro. As our financial year ended on March 31st., we have decided to convert to the Euro as from today. All pricing and invoicing will be in Euros and we look forward to a smooth transition. On our Order page you will find a link to Currency Converter which will help you. Easter Orders are now been taken for Easter delivery; ideally, we would like all orders to be with us by April 4th as we intend shipping on April 9th. If you would like your sides Hand Sliced, please indicate on the order form please. There is a supplementary charge of EUR €3.80 per side for slicing. Australia For many years it has been hard to export smoked salmon to Australia however, thanks to the perseverance of our Department of the Marine, we are now permitted entry. We shipped our first ever consignment of smoked salmon to Sydney two weeks ago. It left here on the Monday afternoon and was delivered on Thursday morning, Sydney time, approximately 48 hours in transit. It's destination? Where else but to a Brewery!! If you would like a quotation for shipment "down under", please let me know. Inclusive prices are now quoted on our Order Page Visitors Whilst we must all do our utmost to comply with the measures to combat the Food & Mouth problem, visitors to our new smokehouse at Inchybridge, and to Ireland, can be assured of a warm welcome. January 23^rd 2001 Stocks Christmas sales were encouraging well up on last year. We were fortunate in having good stocks of all sizes as we went into the Christmas period. However, we are now out of stock of sides from 1 kg to 1.2kgs. We do have some over 1.3kgs and if you are looking for a really special side ..... Salmon Tagging Recent years have seen an alarming decrease in the stocks of the Wild Atlantic Salmon. Now that they are at critical survival level, Government has at last decided to attempt to manage the natural wild stocks. To do this, they need information and this year will see the first positive attempt to assess the catch of Wild Salmon. Every Wild Salmon caught, either by net or rod and line, will be tagged with its own unique number; this will be recorded on the day of capture and will remain with the fish until it is processed. This will give us - and you the consumer - "traceability" to ensure the authenticity of our smoked Wild Salmon

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