The Fifth Quarter Podcast

Meat & Beer

This month we’re talking to Peter Hannan, the man supplying salt-aged meat to some of the world’s top restaurants from his base in Moira. After that we’ll be heading to County Armagh to hear from Ryan McCracken, the founder of McCracken’s Brewery. He talks us through his growing range of seven beers and porters which he’s exporting to the far corners of the world.

The Wellness Jam

This month we’re talking to a woman who has gone from the bright lights of celebrity PR in London to running a food market focused on wholefoods and wellbeing on an historic country estate the heart of County Armagh. We’ll also be heading to Benburb to find out about a business producing preserves, confitures, syrups, cordials, pestos, savoury preserves and sauces, and prebiotic foods and drinks from natural ingredients grown on the home farm.

Going Nuts

This month we’re talking to one of Northern Ireland’s best known dried fruit and nut producers which sources its ingredients from far and wide and hear from a County Down farm shop making a name for itself with local produce. We’ll hear from Kerry Angus of Angus Farm Shop in Greyabbey about the importance of provenance to her, whether it’s the beef and lamb raised on their home farm, the vegetables grown down the road or the sausage rolls and pies baked by her mother. And we’re checking in with Michael Hall, the managing director of Kestrel Foods, the company behind the Forest Feast brand. He talks us through starting the business in his early 20s, travelling the globe to source the very best produce and securing a place for his products on the shelves of the UK and Ireland’s biggest supermarkets.

Catalysts

In this episode we hear from John Graham, Managing Director of Belfast bakery supplier Andrew Ingredients, and Peter Simpson, Head of the Food Technology Branch at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise, who helps agri-food companies across Northern Ireland hone their processes.

The Retailers

This month The Fifth Quarter gets back to the shop floor. We find out what the last year has been like for one of the biggest supermarket groups and catch up with a well-known chef who took his first steps into the retail world at the height of the pandemic.