​Top London store chooses unique tastes from Londonderry farm innovator

Among the most prestigious and quality conscious in the UK, Selfridges, which is headquartered in busy Oxford Street, has Corndale Farm’s chorizo spicy sausage, fennel salami, garlic and black pepper salami and chilli chorizo in its popular deli of global foods.

The listing by the store, once described as the world’s best, came from the participation of Alastair Crown, Corndale Farm’s founder and managing director, in the big International Food Exhibition (IFE) in London last year.

The exciting new business, according to Alastair, who continues to own and run the small pig farm and charcuterie processing unit outside the Co Derry market town, followed initial discussions and subsequent negotiations with the prestigious store’s exacting buyers.

Selfridges is now a chain of UK upscale department stores founded in 1908 in London. It is the second-largest shop in the UK (after Harrods). Other Selfridges stores were subsequently opened in Manchester’s Trafford Centre and Exchange Square in 2002 and then in Birmingham a year later.

“We were absolutely thrilled to be approached by the buyers and subsequently to secure business with Selfridges, our biggest and probably most influential deal to date in the UK for a range of our charcuterie from our pigs reared on our small farm,”

continues Alastair, the founder of the business in 2012, then the first charcuterie producer in Northern Ireland.

“It’s a tremendous springboard for our handcrafted charcuterie to shoppers from Britain and from visitors to London from all over the world. It’s very encouraging further to see our range of products ranked alongside Europe’s very best on the shelves of this marvellous food hall at the heart of London,” he adds.

“We are now working with the team to strengthen our presence in the deli there, especially in terms of recently launched nduja and lnduja sauce along with other existing products

and innovative foods,” adds Alastair.

The breakthrough deal with Selfridges is also now attracting interest from other major retailers in Britain, including from grocers in Scotland, a market in which Corndale has a significant foothold. And it’s a presence that the farm-based enterprise has also won retailing awards for tasty and innovative foods from leading grocery bodies there.

Corndale has already seen its charcuterie popular throughout Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and attracting interest directly from other markets abroad.

In addition to the charcuterie business, Alastair also provides a successful hog roast service for major outdoor events,

Originally an IT graduate from university in Glasgow, Alastair turned a longstanding interest in heritage pig farming into Northern Ireland’s first charcuterie enterprise, starting from a herd of just four saddleback pigs and a passion, in particular, for chorizo, then not produced here. He cures and air dries all his meat from the farm.

The company has since developed a substantial herd of pigs and processes charcuterie from its own plant close to the small farm. The charcuterie has won a string of UK Great Taste, British Charcuterie and Blas na hEireann awards for premium and delicious produce that’s regarded as being among the best from Italian, French and Spanish producers that have been in business much longer.

He developed a taste for chorizo at university. “We’d go to a small pizza place near the university after lectures for a reasonably priced meal. It was there that I first tasted chunks of chorizo,” he remembers. “I loved the spicy and smoky flavour of the pork sausage and ordered it regularly during my student days. I’ve also experienced chorizo on holiday in Europe over the years,” he adds.

“It’s an experience shared by many local people on holidays and business abroad, because chorizo sausages and salami, in particular, are a regular part of the diet in many parts of Europe. Northern Ireland, of course, has an established and successful pork and bacon industry but had real involvement in curing spicy, sometimes fiery, products such as chorizo, salami and pancetta found in shops, restaurants and hotels in other parts of Europe and further afield….until recent years,” he adds.

He explains his interest in pigs from his upbringing: “I grew up in a rural community in Limavady and have always been interested in rearing pigs, especially rare breed pigs. I was keen to rear my own herd because they’re such a pleasure to work with.

The farm is operated to the highest welfare and animal husbandry and hygiene standards. The produce is also fully traceable and safe.”

The charcuterie, of course, is absolutely delicious.