Black pudding business aims to benefit from superfood label

A range of black puddings has been launched by SculleryMade, an artisan enterprise in Northern Ireland that features different #flavours. Established last year in Forkhill, county Armagh by Caoimhe McAtee, Scullery Made is now marketing a range of three black puddings including 'Black Brew' that uses porter, a dark beer brewed from hops and malt, as one of its main ingredients. The other puddings that she's created are an 'Original Black' made with spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg and 'Black Lava', a punchy and smoky blend of traditional dried blood, oats and milk with chilli, smoked paprika and cocoa. Caoimhe also intends to revive interest in the red puddings that used to be popular especially in parts of the Republic of Ireland. These are usually made from bacon, beef, pork, pork rind and suet." She is aiming to step up her marketing of this traditional food thatrecently won international acclaim as a 'superfood' because it is said to be loaded with protein, potassium, calcium and magnesium, aswell as being practically carb free. The product is also rich in iron and zinc - two minerals frequently missing from modern diets. Iron is needed to make healthy blood cells and prevent anaemia. "My interest in black puddings springs from a longstanding interest in curing techniques. Every farm in Ireland once cured meat and alsoproduced black puddings. "I've also been involved in cider processing for many years - my father owns Mac's Armagh Cider in Forkhill and has been at the heart of the cider revival in Ireland. I've also produced craft beers including porter, my favourite. It made sense to experiment with porter in a pudding. It proved a popular development with family and friends in particular," she adds. Caoimhe moved into food production from her part time role as a foodblogger during which she created recipes using local products. I'd been writing about local food for a while as a hobby. I started my blog because I love cooking and entertaining. I'd make black puddings using ingredients I liked such as porter. Positive feed back from friends encouraged me to start my small business in the development and production of black puddings," she adds. The puddings followed her development of cider from local apples in 2014. "Cider makers here steer away from apple concentrates because of their sugar content and the use of preservatives. It's the use ofpure apple juice that gives Northern Irish ciders a point of difference from many of those in Britain," she explains. She experimented with a champagne yeast to give the cider "a bit of a sparkle". She's also made sausage rolls using black pudding and has experimented by curing salmon in vodka and Earl Grey tea as well as beef and pork in her own craft beer.