Category: Organic Smoked Salmon

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Coincidence and a Smokehouse Tour!

Ummera Smokehouse - Tours

The Collins English Dictionary definition of Coincidence is “A chance occurrence of events remarkable either for being simultaneous or for apparently being connected”

We had an email yesterday from a friend and customer from Waterford saying that a couple of days ago he was listening to The Right Hook, a current affairs program on Newstalk Radio, and heard Ummera Smokehouse mentioned, along with Stonewell Cider, my brother-in-law’s very successful craft cider business.

Curiosity grabbed me and I tracked down the Podcast of the show. The only relevant one was entitled “Manchan returns, and takes George to Irish breweries”, relevant because of the Stonewell Cider connection to craft breweries.

Manchan Magan stood as a Green Party candidate in the recent General Election and is a broadcaster on travel on The Right Hook. However, in yesterday’s programme he was talking, after a few minutes discussion on his Election campaign, about Craft Brewery Tours in particular and he mentioned Mia Tobin of Brewery Hops, a small group tour business specialising in such tours. And Manchan mentioned Ummera Smokehouse as one of the stops on their way from Kinsale (home of Stonewell Cider and also Blacks Brewery) to Killarney!

Ummera Smoked Products

Last year we were very happy to receive several groups with Mia for a smokehouse tour. One of the visitors came from Hawaii and we were more than happy to send her a side of smoked salmon in September! The last time we sent something to Hawaii was smoked eel in 2011 just before they became an endangered species. Read about it here! There was also a couple from Italy who were setting up an Irish Country Pub in Liguria and were planning on serving up real Irish food.

Now this is where the Coincidence comes into play because a few hours after the Right Hook show, and Manchan and George had finished talking about brewery tours, lo and behold we received our very first order from Sabrina and Eugenio in Liguria, Italy!

Do you really believe that they were listening to George Hook and Manchan Magan yesterday?

No, just Coincidence!

Listen to the podcast and all about Irish Craft Beers by clicking here.

 

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Ballymaloe LitFest

Ballymaloe LitFest

Ummera Smoked Products Ireland

This weekend Ballymaloe House and Cookery School in East Cork plays host to an amazing gathering of food and drink lovers at the secondBallymaloe Literary Food and Wine Festival.

You will find us in The Big Shed! Look out for a large orange umbrella – we will be underneath it, tempting you to a taste!

We are very privileged to be taking part in one of the events on Sunday afternoon from 3:30pm to 4:30pm in the Drinks Theatre:

‘Smoked Salmon – with a glass of wine, or a Ball O’ Malt or artisan cider?’ – talk and tasting with Dave Broom, Whiskey Writer, Leslie Williams, Wine Writer, Daniel Emerson of Stonewell Cider and Anthony Creswell, Smoked Salmon producer – includes smoked salmon tasting with wine, whiskey and artisan cider.

For full details, click here: http://www.litfest.ie/events/smoked-salmon-glass-wine-or-ball-o-malt-or-artisan-cider

Do you have your favourite drink with smoked salmon?

If you do, please let us know what it is before this Sunday, May 18th. Whoever has the most original suggestion will  have a side of our Smoked Salmon sent to them to enjoy with their recommendation!

 Email your suggestions NOW to info@ummera.com

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Network West Cork with Krishna De

Last night many West Cork entrepreneurs gathered  for the third Network West Cork event at the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery to listen to the highly respected and articulate social media marketing and branding expert,  Krishna De.

Ummera and the Celtic Ross Hotel were the nominated Business Box featured, so we each had 5 minutes to give a brief presentation! Initially, we were to come after the keynote speaker, Krishna De, which would have been a hard act to follow, but happily at Krishna’s request, we were the first to go! We could then relax and  learn much from Krishna’s pearls of wisdom!

I did make a special offer to those attending the meeting, so if you are reading this and were there, remember you will have to subscribe to our Newsletter or join us on Twitter (@ummera) to take advantage of it!!!

If you are really adventurous, come and Wave at anthonycreswell@googlewave.com!

It was a great surprise when I got back home to see that Krishna had posted to her blog during the evening, and I was much encouraged by her comments!

So what else can I say but introduce you to Krishna’s blog page!

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The Butler’s Pantry Artisan Harvest

This Saturday, September 19th., we are taking part in celebrating the Artisan Harvest at two of the renowned Butler’s Pantry shops in Dublin.

I will be at their Monkstown shop at 1a Montpellier Place, Temple Hill, Blackrock from 11.30 to 2.00pm and then at the Sandycove shop (19 Sandycove Road, Sandycove) from 2.30pm to 4.30pm. There will also be tastings of our Award winning Smoked Salmon and our Smoked Chicken, not just at these two shops, but at all the Butler’s Pantry shops all day on Saturday.

Do call by and say hello!

If you can’t make it,  Butler’s Pantry have a lovely recipe for Ummera Organic Smoked Salmon with Orange Dressing and Avocado Pate . Try it!

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National Organic Awards – Ummera Highly Commended!

NationalOrganicAward2009
National Organic Award 2009

Last week we were invited to Dublin for lunch yesterday by Bord Bia to celebrate the National Organic Awards 2009. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it so imagine our surprise (and delight) when we received a phone call from the Sunday Tribune congratulating us on our award!

Ummera’s Smoked Organic Salmon had received a Highly Commended in the Best Organic  Retail Product, coming second to Glenisk’s Organic Greek Style Natural Yoghurt.

The other Awards were:

Best Overall Product

Winner: Moon Shine Farmhouse Milk Company, Kelly’s Organics, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath

Best Organic Retail Product

Winner: Organic Greek Style Natural Yoghurt, Glenisk, Killeigh, Co. Offaly

Highly Commended: Irish Smoked Organic Salmon, Ummera Smoked Products Ltd, Timoleague, Co. Cork

Best Organic Local Product

Winner: Moon Shine Farmhouse Milk, Kelly’s Organics, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath

Highly Commended: Dark Choc Almond Cake, Organic Choice, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin

Best Organic Export Product

Winner: St Tola Goats Log Company, Inagh Farmhouse Cheese, Co. Clare

Highly Commended: Flahavans Organic Jumbo Oats 1kg, Flahavans, Co. Waterford

Best Organic New Product

Winner: Organic Gluten Free Real Wholegrain Bread Mix , Sowan’s Organic Bread mix, Dublin

Highly Commended: Original Steakhouse Company, Goodherdsmen, Cahir, Co. Tipperary

Best Organic Sustainable Product

Winner: Happy Heart Oil Rapeseed Oil, Drumeen Farm, Urlingford, Co. Kilkenny

Highly Commended: Organic Galloway Steakburger, Omega Beef Direct, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary

The independent judging panel chaired by Hugo Arnold, journalist and Food Consultant included Cian Doorley, Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland; Evan Doyle, Proprietor Brooklodge Wells and Spa; Darren Grant, Proprietor, The Organic Supermarket Blackrock, Co Dublin and Oliver Moore, journalist, researcher and organic blogger.

Today’s Awards took place on the first day of National Organic Week, which runs from the 14th – 20th September. “To celebrate organic producers, retailers and farmers markets nationwide will host over 50 events including cookery demonstrations; workshops; BBQs; farm walks and in store tastings” commented Teresa Brophy, Ireland Market Manager, Bord Bia. “It is an ideal opportunity for organic producers and processors to organise events at a national and local level to increase consumer awareness of locally produced organic food.”

Event highlights include Clodagh McKenna’s cookery demonstration at the Nano Nagle Centre, Co, Cork on Wednesday 16th; Women in Organic Horticultural Training (WOHT) training courses and seminars at the Organic Centre, Rossinver, Co. Leitrim on the 16th and the Organic Centre’s Annual Harvest Celebration on Thursday 17th. Jenny and Peter Young, Castlefarm Shop, Athy, Co. Kildare, will host an organic farm walk on Saturday 19th including vegetable harvesting and cookery demonstrations, whilst Peter Ward from Country Choice, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary is organising the annual Blas an Fhomhair organic lunch, also on the 19th. (Full list of events on the Bord Bia website)

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What is it about September!

It seems that every food event in Ireland takes place in September – and it is impossible to do them all!
There was the fantastically successful weekend in Waterford with

The National Organic Food Conference organised by Bord Bia on the Thursday, September 4th.

Slow Food Ireland‘s Terra Madre workshop day on the Friday was followed by a stupendous banquet and an impassioned speech by Carlo Petrini, the President of Slow Food International. A special post will be made shortly as soon as I have come down to earth!

Now we have tomorrow, September 13th,  the Midleton Food Festival with lots of  actitivities for all the family; we will be lingering around Kate O’Donovan’s stand for a while! Hot Dogs and Ummera Smoked Chicken!

Ireland’s National Organic Week begins on Monday 15th

The Taste of West Cork Festival starts on Tuesday and we will be there at the open-air Food and Craft Market on Sunday September 21st.  Full details at A Taste of West Cork.

For music/opera lovers,  there is a special evening of opera at Burren House in aid of the RNLI on Saturday the 20th. Details and tickets from the Burren House website or from the Cork Opera House. 

On Sunday September 28th, Slow Food’s Cork City Convivium is hosting a farm trip to Paul Johnson’s Dexter Cow Farm near Dunmanway. Click here for details

Next a visit to the Good Food Ireland Awards dinner at the Shelbourne Hotel in the heart of Dublin.

And to conclude September, a visit to Shop 2008 at the RDS.

And you expect us to smoke salmon during September!

Then we must prepare for Slow Food‘s Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre in Turin, Italy from the 23rd to 27th October.

Phew!

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Ummera at The Butler’s Pantry Artisan Week

As part of The Butler’s Pantry Artisan Week in Dublin, I will be tasting some of our smoked products at:

Rathgar on Wednesday afternoon from 3.00pm to 7.00pm,

Greystones on Thursday morning from 11.00am to 2.00pm,

Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Thursday afternoon from 3.30pm to 7.00pm.

Come and say hello!

Full details of locations at http://www.thebutlerspantry.ie/Contact_Us.aspx

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Ummera – Just in time for Christmas!

The following mail has been sent around the world:

Our weather is so mild for early November, it is hard to imagine a white Christmas! But think of Christmas we must, and I am hoping that this email will focus your attention on ordering some of your Christmas fare good and early! To order right now, go to Orders

The last year for Ummera has been very exciting with an increasing number of Speciality Food outlets in Ireland and in the UK stocking our products. Please Click here for an up-to-date list.

However, the year has been tempered by the total lack of wild salmon. As you will be aware, Ummera has specialised in smoking the Wild Atlantic Salmon since the early 1970’s but we have, in the last couple of years, taken as pro-active a role as possible in trying to ensure that the stocks are not totally decimated.

In 2006 we made a decision not to buy any more wild salmon until we could be assured that they came from a sustainable fishery. In 2007, the Irish government placed a ban on the commercial drift net fishery and we have confidence that this will greatly improve the salmon stocks in our rivers. It may take four or five years before we see a sustainable harvest again.

We have been offered wild salmon from Scotland, Norway and the Pacific but we smoke Irish salmon in Ireland, and we smoke the best available Irish salmon. Currently the Irish Organic Salmon are the best available to us, so we smoke them for you.

We therefore encourage you to enjoy our Smoked Organic Salmon, not just in the interest of conservation but also for its superb quality. Earlier this year, we introduced an Organic Gravadlax, organic salmon marinated in dill, sugar salt, peppers and a splash of whisky – all organic. Traditionally served with a dill and mustard sauce, but sue very sparingly, if at all, as the flavour of the gravadlax is easily overpowered..

There is a world-wide shortage of eel, and it is under even greater threat than the wild Atlantic salmon. The EU has announced drastic measures that come into force next year and it is very unlikely that we will be smoking Silver Eel for some time to come.

Our Hot Smoked Crown of Chicken has been very successful this year and our Smoked Dry Cured Bacon is assured to make you insist on only Ummera Bacon in the future!

Our last dates for orders is December 10th and our last shipping date is expected to be December 17th (USA & Canada: December 10th).

If you have any questions when on our web site, please email us or skype us (acreswell) or even phone us and William or myself will be very happy to help.

Quick Links:
To Order: Orders
Find Stockists: Outlets
Smoked Organic Salmon: Smoked Organic Salmon
Smoked Chicken: Hot Smoked Crown of Chicken
Smoked Dry Cured Bacon: Smoked Dry Cured Bacon
News/Weblog Page: Ummera News
Main Ummera site: ummera.com

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas from us all at Ummera

 

Anthony Creswell

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Eco Chic!

To celebrate National Organic Week, The Irish Sunday Tribune Magazine published last Sunday, October 21st, an A-Z of Eco Chic, edited by Jillian Bolger and Claire O’Mahony.

Deighted to see that Ummera is included in the list of 26 of “all things cool and organic”! But then what else begins with “U”!

[tags] Sunday Tribune, Jillian Bolger, Claire O’Mahony, National Organic Week[/tags]