Charcuterie in a cone proving a tasty snack 'on the go'

Ispini Charcuterie in Northern Ireland has come up with a novel product to encourage more people to savour its hand cured meats.

The small company, which is based on a family pig farm at Aughnacloy in county Tyrone, has created an 'Ispini 99', a selection of its charcuterie meats in a paper cone that's ideal for snacking. The '99' is named after a popular Northern Irish ice cream featuring a chocolate flake that has been popular across the region for generations.

Ispini Charcuterie, formed by pig farmer Jonathan Cuddy and his sister Janice in 2016, has developed a range of cured meats such as chorizo, chorizo sticks, fennel salami and lomo which are on sale in delis across Northern Ireland and attracting interest from the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain.

"Charcuterie is a relatively new food category in Northern Ireland. What we've been focusing on is creating awareness of hand cured meats by coming up with ideas that make it easy for people to taste and enjoy the wide range of meats that we are now producing. Fermentation is a growing trend particularly in the Republic and Britain.

"So developing the '99' cone concept that people here identify with to feature cured meats seemed a good way to encourage more people to enjoy our charcuterie," Mr Cuddy says.

The new Ispini 99 cone retails at around £3 and has been proving a popular initiative at farmers' markets and at other sampling opportunities.

"The Ispini 99 is an ideal hand held snack, and we are seeing significant growth in quality and original 'food on the go' snacks. Charcuterie meats make a deliciously different snack. We recognised from the start of our small business that we had to be different and original to develop a market here for charcuterie products," he adds.

The charcuterie in a cone is the latest in a series of innovations from Ispini as it endeavours to grow the market, initially in Northern Ireland, for its cured meats. It has also developed a packaged charcuterie board and cured meats using other artisan products from the region including craft beer and spirits.