Long Meadow Invests for Growth of its Successful Apple Cider Vinegar
Award-winning Long Meadow Cider is to expand production of apple cider vinegar in response to the growing demand for the product particularly from health conscious consumers.
Based near Loughgall in Co Armagh, Long Meadow, a successful farm based family business, has created a new cider processing facility and installed the latest equipment for a significant increase in the production of the natural vinegar which helps healthy digestion.
The company’s pure Irish Apple Cider Vinegar is produced from the farm’s own apple orchards and is unpasteurised, unfiltered and rich in ‘mother’- good bacteria and yeasts from the slow fermentation process that benefits gut health. Apple cider vinegar is also regarded as being helpful in treating other health conditions such as arthritis and for detoxing.
Established in 2013, Long Meadow already has substantial business in delis and farm shops here and further afield for the cider vinegar. It has won UK Great Taste and Blas na hEireann awards for its ciders which are made from pure pressed apple juice and don’t use concentrates, chemicals or added water. Windfall apples are also excluded as these degrade quickly.
All the company’s ciders and juices are handcrafted using apples from their own orchard at the heart of Northern Ireland’s ‘apple country’.
In addition to producing the cider for human consumption, the progressive Armagh business has pinpointed and is successfully developing other market opportunities including livestock nutrition.
Long Meadow director Catherine McKeever, who runs the artisan business, a Food NI member company, with husband Pat and son Peter, says market demand for the apple cider vinegar has increased steadily and this growth encouraged it to push ahead with what will be another important expansion of the multi award-winning enterprise. She adds: “Sales of apple cider vinegar has grown substantially especially over the past six months. This led us to introduce a larger size bottle and it’s proving to be extremely popular.
“With the installation of the new cider vinegar processing facility we have significant scope to meet existing and future demand for the product,” she adds.
The company has also moved to develop the opportunity in animal health and has signed an important deal to supply the cider vinegar to an international pet food company for inclusion in their diet formulas. Research has indicated substantial expansion opportunities in this growing sector.
In addition to the new cider vinegar facility, Long Meadow is planning a tea rooms and farm shop for the hundreds of local and international visitors it now welcomes every year.
