In November, Clonakilty Blackpudding picked up the award for Prepared Foods at Agribusiness of the Year awards. Irish Tractor & Agri spoke to Colette Twomey, who was at the Ballsbridge Hotel on the night to collect the accolade on her company’s behalf.
Being nominated for three different awards at the same annual ceremony is never a bad thing and this year Clonakilty Blackpudding had the honour of scooping itself the gong for Prepared Foods at the Agribusiness of the Year awards.
Widely regarded as one of Ireland’s favourite blackpuddings, Clonakilty Blackpudding was first made way back in the 1880s with their recipe remaining a coveted secret to this day.
Farmers spread all across the country provide the wholesome ingredients to make the unique and famous Clonakilty Blackpudding.
The Twomey family took responsibility for the secret recipe in the 1980s and since that time Blackpudding’s popularity has continued to grow both in Ireland and around the world.
Today, Colette Twomey is the sole owner of Clonakilty Blackpudding and is the only person who knows the secret spice mix for its famous blackpudding.
The West Cork woman was good enough to take time out her busy schedule to give Irish Tractor & Agri some background about the company, while filling us in about how business is at present.
“Myself and my husband Edward would have had a butcher shop in the town and we had both come from a farming background,” explained Colette.
“We started with Clonakilty Blackpudding in the early 1980s and I can tell you that plenty of hard work was put in to make it a success it is today. It was worth it though and the food business really is a lovely business to be in.”
More recent years have seen Clonakilty Blackpudding adding whitepudding, sausages, rashers and bacon to their collection of fine foods, as they continue to offer customers new foods that they love.
Clonakilty Whitepudding was first created by the Twomey family in 1986 to build on the tradition of the famous Blackpudding. As with the Clonakilty Blackpudding, Irish Farmers provide the wholesome ingredients.
It is made using traditional methods combining pork, oatmeal, onions with a blend of spices. It’s this special blend of ingredients that gives Clonakilty a firm texture with a spicy bite. Both the texture and the taste of Clonakilty Whitepudding have made this delicacy an Irish favourite.
Clonakilty Whitepudding is traditionally served as part of a breakfast but can also be a special addition to enhance any starter, salad or main course. It’s also free from artificial colours and preservatives.
According to Colette, it’s best to cut Clonakilty Whitepudding 2cm thick and either cook it shallow fried or grilled.
The famous Clonakilty Blackpudding is made using traditional methods combining beef, oatmeal, onions and beef blood with a secret blend of spices. It is this special blend of ingredients that gives Clonakilty its unique taste, crumbly texture and distinctive flavour.
While traditionally served as part of a breakfast, Clonakilty Blackpudding can be a special addition to enhance any starter, salad or main course.
Once again, the general feeling from Colette is that it is best when cut to 2cm thick and either shallow fried or grilled when cooked.
The late 1980s saw the Twomey family produce a traditional sausage using 100% Irish pork thanks to their butchery knowledge. This sausage, similar to Clonakilty Blackpudding, was sold in the butcher shop first, before it was decided to package and sell them in shops all over Ireland as demand dictated
Fast-forward almost 30 years and their sausages are still selling all over the country and their Blackpudding is picking up national awards. Needless to say, times are good at Clonakilty.
“Business is good right now,” Colette stated. “We supply all the multi-nationals and retail shops and our customers know us well and we know them.
“The UK is a bit challenging at the moment. With the currency right now it’s not as good as it was but hopefully things will turn around there.”
In November, Colette made the trip to the capital to attend the 2016 Agribusiness of the Year awards at the Ballsbridge Hotel.
Describing it as “a great honour” to even be nominated, Clonakilty Blackpudding’s Managing Director would proudly accept the Prepared Foods award on her company’s behalf, having also been nominated in the Pigs & Pigmeat category, as well as the Overall.
“We were nominated for three awards in total and we would have got word that we were up for them around early October time,” she explained.
“This was the first time that we had been at the Agribusiness of the Year awards and, obviously, it was a great honour to be nominated for even one award, but three was something else. We won the Prepared Foods category and it really was great for the company to get that recognition.”
From small beginnings at the butcher shop to the present day, Clonakilty Food Co have come a long way over the years.
There are some interesting facts about the company, including that they make over a whopping 20 tonnes of pudding per week to satisfy the demand and that they only use Irish beef and pork in their puddings, sausages, rashers and bacon joints.
Clonakilty’s main supplier of onions is the Bandon Co-op, with farms in West Cork and Flahavan’s have been supplying the pin-head oats for over 40 years, these oats give their puddings a lovely crumbly texture.
Clonakilty Co Food are also a huge supporter of its local community, employing more than 40 staff within the area.
Clonakilty Blackpudding, Whitepudding and Clonakilty Sausages are also available as gluten free and their product range is available in the UK, Mainland Europe and Australia.
Clonakilty Blackpudding Co.
Address: 16 Pearse Street, Clonakilty
West Cork
Tel: +353 (0)23 88 34835
Fax: +353 (0)23 88 33664
Email: [email protected]
Web: clonakiltyblackpudding.ie
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 1, January/February 2017
