When the winter months descend on us, thoughts of a warm breakfast to help people start the day are very much to the forefront of our minds.
And one food dominates all others when it comes to a good healthy start to the day and that is porridge, which is a dish made by boiling ground, crushed, or chopped starchy plants – typically grain – in water and/or milk, often with flavourings. It is usually served hot in a bowl. It may be sweetened with sugar, honey etc. and served as a sweet dish, or mixed with spices, vegetables etc to make a savoury dish.
The term is often used specifically for oat porridge (called oatmeal in the U.S. and parts of Canada), which is eaten for breakfast with salt, sugar, milk, cream and/or butter, and sometimes other flavourings. Oat porridge is also sold in ready-made or partly-cooked form as an instant breakfast.
Despite the establishment of bacon and eggs as the “traditional Irish breakfast” in the nineteenth century, porridge still retained its place as a regular breakfast dish.
In Ireland, the name most synonymous with porridge is Flahavan’s or the company name of E. Flahavan & Sons Limited.
The Flahavan family have been milling oats at the mill in Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford for over 200 years.
The original mill was a watermill driven by the River Mahon in Kilmacthomas. In those days, the mill was used for the contract milling of grains for local farm growers and oat growers. This is where the farmer’s oats were then milled and the milled oatmeal was returned to him. He was charged for this service. At this time, the oatmeal was a coarser type than the Flahavan’s “flaked” oatmeal we know today.
In 1935 it was decided to expand the mill and to put in an oatflaking facility. Oatflaking produced a finer flake, which is faster to cook. By 1959, Flahavan’s completed the construction of its current mill building.
The first family connection to the Flahavan’s name can be traced back to about 1785 when Thomas Dunn took over the mill. Dunn was the great-great-great-grandfather of John Flahavan who is the Managing Director of the company today.
Nowadays, the Flahavan’s factory produces oats-based breakfast cereals, rolled oats, cereals, muesli, Flapjacks and granola.
John along with his son James and daughter Annie are the latest generation to steer one of Ireland’s oldest companies into the next era.
Flahavan’s is very much a local business and not only are there 65 local people employed in the business, but all their traditional oats are bought from local farmers.
“We would be dealing with farmers within a 50 or 60 mile radius and a lot of those would be supplying us with oats for many, many years,” said John.
“We are a significant employer in the area, especially for a rural area like Kilmacthomas. We are continuing to develop the business and we have installed a new unit to produce granola and flap jacks which resulted in 8 new jobs being created.”
John revealed that their customer base has expanded over the years and they are now truly considered a worldwide supplier of their products.
“Our products are being sold in 14 or 15 countries around the world including places like the U.S, Israel and South Korea, which has grown considerably in the last eighteen months or so.
“Twenty five per cent of our market would be the U.K, we are delighted to be the No 1 brand of Organic Porridge there and we are continuously developing the business in order to maintain the high standards that we have set for ourselves and our customers over the years.”
Flahavan’s have gone through many changes down through the years with one of the biggest coming in 1999 when the decision was made move away from the animal feed that they produced and concentrate solely on food products.
“It was a massive change at the time as the animal feeds was a huge part of our business, but we felt that it would be beneficial for us to focus just on the food products.
“Since then we have had a heavy focus on New Product Development and we are adding to our range all the time and we have a great variety of products available to our customers.”
In an age when diets and health are being looked upon more closely, many people will be delighted to hear that oatmeal products are low in saturated fat – foods that are low in fat are considered important in diets such as those to treat heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
Oats have a low to medium glycaemic Index – foods with a low to medium GI and high soluble fibre content (such as oats, beans and lentils) can help reduce blood cholesterol as part of a healthy diet). They are high in soluble fibre. They are naturally low in salt and sugar.
The success of the business can be gauged by the many awards the company has received over the years including more recently by securing five gold stars at the prestigious ‘Great Taste Awards 2014’, the best Green Supplier/Most Eco Friendly Supplier at the 2014 Checkout National FMCG Awards, also shortlisted as National Champion in the European Business Awards and winner of the Food and Drink Category Award at the Ulster Bank Business Awards.
Flahavan & Sons Limited,
Kilnagrange Mills,
Kilmacthomas,
County Waterford
Telephone: +353-51-294107
Fax: +353-51-294308
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 1, January 2016
