Archive for November, 2006

No more Smoked Wild Salmon

November 30, 2006

There have been years when I thought that we would run out of wild salmon before Christmas, but we never have until now.

It is with regret that we have had to close our order books for Smoked Wild Salmon as from yesterday, November 28th. Hopefully we have sufficient stock to meet our existing orders, but there will be disappointed customers  who have, every year over the last twenty or thirty years, enjoyed Ummera Smoked Wild Salmon at Christmas time.

We do have our very successful Smoked Organic Salmon to replace the wild salmon, so all is not lost.

It is our hope that, by leaving the wild salmon alone for a while, there will be significant increase in the numbers of salmon returning to spawn in the rivers and thus restoring the salmon stocks.

I have had suggested to me that maybe we could by wild salmon from elsewhere, Alaska for instance, or Norway, but we have always smoked Irish Salmon and we are very careful about the provenance of our products. Why ship salmon all the way from Alaska to smoke here? Air miles?

Of course this brings back the question: Is it Smoked Irish Salmon or Irish Smoked Salmon? So much of the salmon that purports to be Irish is more than likely to have been salmon farmed in Scotland, the Shetlands, Norway and probably even Chile.

We can vouch for the fact that our organic salmon comes from Clare Island in Clew Bay, Co. Mayo and our wild salmon came from fishermen in West Cork.

Proof of Organic Certification

November 26, 2006

The Irish  Food Minister, Brendan Smith, said during the week that “there is only one guarantee that you are buying organic food and that is an official certification from one the Irish organic farming bodies or an approved body in another EU member state. If the seller  can’t show you the certification, then you have no assurance whatsoever about what you are buying”.

The Minister continued to say that “we cannot tolerate traders who break the rules”.

Ummera has been an approved producer of Organic Smoked Salmon since April 2002 and we hope that consumers will pay attention to his advice. Here is our Certication for the current year issued by the Organic Trust:

Nepotism helps the world – to a tee!

November 24, 2006

Any hi fashion golfers looking for the best of clothing should definitely have a look at my nephew’s site, www.dressedtoatee.co.uk; I’m no golfer, but I do have one of his shirts and they are great!

Pouring Salt on troubled water……..

November 22, 2006

Last night I sent an email out to a number of our contacts in the Cork City area alerting them to our presence at Mahon Market tomrrow, Thursday. I mentioned in the emal our Flor de Sal and it prompted an email asking what Flor de Sal was and then a subsequent one asking if she could buy it online.

So, in a pro-active mood, I added the salt to our online catalogue. And there it is for all to buy!

I guess the waters around here must be pretty troubled given the sound of the wind outside tonight! And more to come on Saturday?

Mahon Point Farmers Market – Ummera will be there!

November 21, 2006

I didn’t realise until today that no one was selling smoked salmon at the Mahon Point Farmers Market; I knew that someone had been and I presumed was still.  But Ralph came back from the Kinsale market today telling me that there wasn’t any smokey fish there, so a quick phone call to Rupert Hugh-Jones, the market manager, and Ralph is on for an early start to get set up on this Thursday morning.

I don’t think that he quite appreciates the  trauma of getting to Mahon Point in rush hour from West Cork! Anyone with any tips on the rat runs please let me know!

London Tasting

November 17, 2006

Feels just like winter today in West Cork!

However, if you are in London tomorrow and anywhere near Battersea Rise, do drop into the re-launched No. 53 (formerly Mise enPlace) at 53 Battersea Rise, London sw11 and meet Simon Richardson of GS Foods who will be giving a tasting of some of our products, primarily our Gold Award winning Smoked Organic Salmon.

 

If you are in the area tomorrow Saturday, do say hello to Guy Wolley and Simon; I’ve told them that I will arrange the rent-a-crowd!

 

Our new online ordering pages are up and working, so if you can’t make Battersea, go online and browse through our web site.

National Organic Week

November 10, 2006

As part of our participation in the National Organic Week, we are having a sampling of our Smoked Organic Salmon at Scally’s SuperValu in Clonakilty on Saturday morning from 11.00am.

We will also, of course, be featuring it at the Bandon Farmers’ Market on Saturday as well.

Come and see us!

Drift Net Ban to hit salmon producers – Press Extract

November 6, 2006

Sunday Business Post 5th November 2006 – Extract from article by Adam McGuire

But some producers are supportive of the new legislation.

Anthony Creswell, owner of Ummera Smokehouse in Timoleague, Co Cork, said he welcomed the government’s decision, but said that if it had followed scientific recommendations before now, a ban on drift-net fishing might not have been necessary.

‘‘It’s probably the best thing the department has done in a long time. The government has spent too long taking political, rather than realistic, decisions,” said Creswell.

He said his company had put more emphasis on organic salmon long before now, due to the inevitable decline of salmon stocks. Over the past three years, the company has slowly shifted its production to organic. He said the ban would have little impact on business.

End Quote

By way of clarification, we have do have smoked wild salmon available, and we very much hope to be smoking Irish Wild Salmon in the years ahead – but only from sustainably caught stock.

The Three Wise Men

November 2, 2006

The recommendations of the Three Wise Men on proposals for the wild salmon fishery that have been adopted by the Irish Government can be read/downloaded at:

3 Wise Men!

It is 100 pages in length, but the Executive Summary (7 pages) is worth a read. The rest will be of interest to those more closely involved.

Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre

November 1, 2006

Last Thursday a Food Community met at Cork Airport at 6.15am to catch a flight which would take them to the Lingotto Centre in Turin, Italy to participate in Terra Madre, a gathering of 6,500 people from 150 countries of the world.

This group consisted of a cheesemaker, salmon smoker (me!), a food writer, a farmers’ market stallholder, a distributor of fine foods, a couple of academics (who clearly enjoy food!), a charcuterie specialist or two, and a seed saver/farmer plus a representative of Bord Bia and the “leaders” from West Cork Leader Group
At Terra Madre, a logistical marvel, we broke up into various work groups where discussions and debates were held on many topics. Do have a look at the Terra Madre web site for images and details of an amazing few days. Needless to say, the food was brilliant, the wine great and the weather ideal- and we were NOT on holiday!

And we did return on Monday night, maybe not all but one quarter did!