News

17 Sep 2019

Market Debut for Cywain Producers at Abergavenny Food Festival

Are you a food fanatic? Then why not visit the Abergavenny Food Festival this weekend (September 21st and 22nd) in Monomouthshire.

2019 is the 21st edition of the Festival which attracts more than 30,000 food lovers and some of the top names in the culinary world to the town.

From stalls packed with the finest food and drink, to cooking demonstrations, workshops, tastings and debates the Festival is an important showcase for established and new producers.

Among the food and drink producers taking part will be several new enterprises, for whom the event will be the first opportunity to show their products and branding.

Making their first appearance in the Festival’s ‘New Producers’ Market’ will be The Mallow Tailor, Fruit Nomads, Wye Valley Meadery, and Case For Cooking.

Also taking part in the Festival are Pembrokeshire-based MamGu Welshcakes who will be launching its newly packaged range of mini welsh cakes.

The companies have been helped to develop by Cywain - a business-led programme delivered by Menter a Busnes. Cywain is dedicated to developing new and existing micro-businesses and SMEs in the Welsh food and drink sector, focusing on maximising opportunities and growth potential.

Says Alex James, Cywain’s marketing and events team leader, “Abergavenny Food Festival is renowned for its quality and diversity of food and drink. We are delighted that Cywain clients are among those producers taking part. It is a wonderful opportunity for them to put their products in front of such a food-loving audience, and to test their business skills.”

Aine Morris CEO of Abergavenny Food Festival says, “The New Producer’s Market was created to provide new food businesses with the opportunity to test trade and gain experience of selling their product direct to consumers in a food festival environment.

“We offer a range of incentives to enable new food businesses to participate, such as reduced pitch fees, single-day test trading and business support workshops. “Abergavenny Food Festival is really proud to create a space to promote innovative new food businesses and to give them the experience of engaging with the public.” 

Case For Cooking

Case For Cooking’s range of easy-to-use spice kits and pots are ideal for everyone – from busy families wanting something new to students flying the nest.

Launched last autumn by Carmarthen couple Pete and Cathy Heritage, the spicy sets and recipes offer a fun and cost-effective way to spice up mealtimes at home – or create a memorable dinner party dish.

Each Kit or Pot contains an easy-to-follow recipe card and the exact spices and herbs needed to create up to ten portions of the dish. No cooking experience is necessary, just some simple ingredients and a healthy appetite!

The Kits range includes 13 different recipes to make dishes such as Orange & Basil Beef, Butter Chicken, Spicy Ginger Pork, and Rose Harissa Salmon. These will be joined at Abergavenny Food Festival by three new recipes; Turmeric & Coriander Chicken, Spicy Satay Sauce Veg and Spiced Tomato Chicken.

While the Curry Spice Pots give people the know-how to create curry pastes to make the curry of their choice. Coming soon too will be Case For Cooking ready-made curry pastes - perfect for anyone who wants an even quicker solution for dinner!

More information: www.caseforcooking.co.uk

Fruit Nomads

Inspired by her travels, Hannah Meredith has created Fruit Nomads - a bold spicy snack that gives fruit a delicious and surprising twist.

On a road trip, she discovered Mexicans like to add a little spice and salt along with a ‘squeeze of citrus’ to their fruit, and for savoury-toothed Hannah, it proved a revelation.

A farmer’s daughter with a background in marketing, she relished the opportunity to create a natural product that packs a fruity, spicy punch.

Using locally grown apples, and spices, she makes the dried fruit snacks – which are like crisps in appearance – at her 5* hygiene-rated home kitchen near Abergavenny.

Made in small batches, there is no added sugar, artificial preservatives or sulphates; just spiced and salted dried fruit with a citrus tang. Visitors to Abergavenny Food Festival will be able to buy and try Fruit Nomads’ first snack: Apple, Pineapple & Mango with Chilli, Lime & Sea Salt.

More information: 07812 794343 Instagram: eatfruitnomads

Wye Valley Meadery

Brothers Matt and Kit Newell combined their love of nature with their interest in brewing to form the Wye Valley Meadery.

Being the world’s oldest form of alcohol, mead has been around for thousands of years. But the Chepstow-based pair have successfully married the ancient drink with modern brewing techniques to produce an innovative beverage that is light (4-5.5%), sparkling, refreshing, and rich in flavour.

Geologist turned beekeeper Matt, began working with bees as a teenager, and Kit worked for a tech company designing apps. Now both full time mead-makers, between them they ferment a blend of blossom honey and local honeys – including from their hives - to produce a variety of sparkling Rhubarb, Hopped and Elderflower meads.

At Abergavenny Food Festival, Wye Valley Meadery will be launching a new Honey & Ginger Mead.

The rich biodiversity of the Wye Valley produces an array of honey flavours, and the Meadery also offer small batches of mead fermented with location-specific honey to showcase what the area offers, as well as non-alcoholic honey based drinks.

More information: www.wyevalleymeadery.co.uk

The Mallow Tailor

Luxury melt in your mouth marshmallows, glossy caramel and smooth, indulgent, chocolates will be on offer from new artisan company, The Mallow Tailor.

From their base at Llanfrynach near Brecon, Kate and Janet Coton Wright use the finest Belgian chocolate as well as Welsh and locally sourced ingredients – including cream, butter, and Halen Môn Sea Salt which takes their caramel to another level.

While their marshmallows are flavoured using a variety of blended loose teas that have been developed with Brecon-based UK Loose Tea Company.

Customers can tailor what they want from their range, all of which are free from artificial flavours or preservatives and sustainably packaged.

Among the favourites are Caramallow Chocolates – which are layered with Sea Salted Caramel and vanilla marshmallow, whereas the Sea Salted Caramel Chocolates are a firm favourite for their vegetarian customers. For marshmallow lovers, the Rhubarb & Cream or Peppermint & Dark Chocolate flavours are definitely worth trying!

More information: www.themallowtailor.co.uk

Mamgu Welshcakes

Becky Hood and Thea Noble of MamGu Welshcakes use exciting flavour combinations, to give the iconic tea-time favourite a modern and continental twist.

Initially selling at farmers markets, food festivals and events Pembrokeshire-based MamGu's customer base has grown, culminating in opening of their welshcake themed coffee shop in Solva.

At Abergavenny Food Festival MamGu Welshcakes will be launching its newly packaged range of mini welsh cakes which will be available at Abergavenny in 13 flavours including: Chocolate & Coconut, Lemon, Cherry Bakewell, and Dark Chocolate & Ginger.

More information: www.mamguwelshcakes.com