New pâté products from Northern Irish shellfish producer

Shellfish specialist Lecale Harvest in Northern Ireland has diversified in to the development of pâtés.

The company, based in the fishing village of Killough in county Down and owned by Frenchman Patrice Bonnargent, has launched two new pâtés - crab and langoustine. The pâtés are available in 90g jars at £3.

Lecale Harvest is one of Northern Ireland's leading producers of fresh Pacific oysters and mussels, both farmed and harvested by Mr Bonnargent. The small company currently exports its oysters and other shellfish from county Down to customers in France.

The development of pâtés is seen by Mr Bonnargent as a "logical diversification" for the family business.

Originally from Tours in the Loire region, Mr Bonnargent has been based in Northern Ireland for the past 25 years and has become a well-known figure in the shellfish sector. The oysters are grown using sustainable methods.

"Farming oysters is essentially a seasonal business that stretches from spring to early autumn. I decided to move into pâtés to provide a year-round product for my portfolio.

"There's a growing interest in seafood in Northern Ireland, other parts of the UK as well as in the Republic and so I decided to explore opportunities for the crab and seafood pâtés. I launched the new products recently at St George's Market in Belfast and was encouraged by the reaction of shoppers interested in trying the pâtés," he says.

Northern Irish crabs, crab claws and langoustines are now exported to Europe and Asia especially China and Japan.

The waters around Killough are ideal for oysters and shellfish, he continues. "They have a great tidal range from the Irish Sea, getting flushed out every six hours. This means the nutrition really comes into the oysters in particular," he explains.

"It's also unique in that fresh water from the River Quoile merges there with the salt water and gives Killough shellfish a unique taste."