Ballyclare’s South African flavour expert 'gobsmacked' to be named UK Food Hero

The small business, which is based near Ballyclare, was listed among an elite group of artisan producers by an influential gourmet publication that’s widely read by food lovers across Great Britain, a target market for Ke Nako Biltong.

The award-winning enterprise specialises in South African biltong and droewors, a dry sausage of ground beef, created on a Co Antrim farm from 100% Northern Irish beef.

Ilse and Alanagh gained the acclaim for the excellence of their spicy cured meats especially a novel product developed with a very hot sauce from Blackfire Food in Belfast.

They used Blackfire’s quirky ‘Pain in the Hole’, a fiery sauce made by Tim McCarthy of Blackfire with the Carolina Reaper, said to be the world’s hottest chilli.

“Being named a ‘Food Hero’ took us completely by surprise,” continues Alanagh. “We heard about it on social media and weren’t aware that our hot and spicy biltong had been tasted by the judges. We are delighted too for our friend Tim McCarthy.

“The coverage will certainly help us enormously as we continue to sell our range of premium quality biltong and droewors in Britain, a vitally important market for us and one in which we’ve gained some traction from our successes on television shows and in awards such as Great Taste and World Charcuterie. Every mention is important for an artisan business like Ke Nako which doesn’t have a huge marketing budget.”

She’s also delighted to have been able to involve Blackfire Food in the success. She says the sizzlingly hot chilli in the Blackfire sauce gave the biltong “a real kick and fiery flavour”.

“We are an integral part of the dynamic artisan food and drink community in Northern Ireland and are keen to work with other local enterprises on original taste experiences for consumers here and abroad,” she continues.

Ilse and Alanagh cut, dry-cure, blend and produce the tasty and spicy beef snacks, sausages and other cured meats on Ballylagan Organic Farm using premium meat sourced from the farm and other local suppliers.

Meaning ‘it’s time’ in Tswana, one of South Africa’s official languages, Ke Nako produces cured meats which have also earned the small business recognition as the ‘King of Snacks’ in another UK competition. The farm-based company cleaned up as well in the snacks category in the national competition for cured meats organised in conjunction with the influential UK Charcuterie Board.

The board, which is based in Exeter, promotes collaboration, networking, learning and marketing for the entire cured meat sector in the UK. It is primarily producer led, but provides a unique forum for supply side businesses, food safety consultants, buyers, retailers, training schools, statutory bodies and consumers to all network, discuss, promote themselves and do business together in one place.

In addition to the top award in the competition for its classic biltong, the entrepreneurial business collected all the other awards in the category for its chilli biltong, garlic biltong and droewors which are widely enjoyed in South Africa especially at barbeques.

The quality and outstanding taste of their biltong also led to the company winning the first Top of the Shop competition on BBC TV that was hosted by celebrity chef Tom Kerridge.

The company, in addition, makes a unique biltong powder as well as other cured meats including chorizo and salami.

Ilse, a butcher and chef, is originally from Pretoria, the capital of South Africa.

Alanagh has a background in education and nutrition. Both are keen rugby players and first met when Alanagh was touring South Africa with Belfast’s Cooke Rugby Club. That was back in 2011.

They subsequently decided to set up in business together and launched Ke Nako Biltong the following year. The biltong and droewors were created by Ilse using family recipes from her homeland.

They have since introduced South African-styled beef products to thousands of consumers here by taking part in food and farmers’ markets and supplying an extensive network of delis and farm shops.