Irish Food Awards celebrations for Larne’s Sea Sugar Handmade Confectionery

Sea Sugar Handmade Confectionery picked up gold for its rhubarb and vanilla hard-pulled sweets and bronze for its apple, pear and ginger flavour at the Blas na hEireann - Irish Food Awards.

This is the second year in a row that the business - whose sweets are carefully crafted with only natural ingredients, with no artificial additives and are gluten, fat and dairy free - has won gold at these awards with one silver and three bronze awards also to its name. Sea Sugar has also been awarded five Great Taste awards demonstrating the quality of the sweets.

Established by Linda McGibbon in 2016, the enterprise started in her home kitchen and has now expanded to a larger premises in Ledcom Industrial Estate. Linda spotted a gap in the market for natural confectionery using handmade techniques to maximise flavour.

Extending congratulations on the success, the Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Councillor William McCaughey, said: “A huge well done to Linda for winning such a well-respected industry award. These accolades are an excellent example of the high quality produce and specialism coming from our food and drink sector in the borough.

“The innovation and uniqueness among our local producers is a true demonstration of the passion for food and appetite for business here in Mid and East Antrim.

“Agri-food is an integral sector for us, an area rich with indigenous artisan talent, so what better way to showcase that than with this industry standard seal of approval. I can vouch for the taste of these products myself, Linda has certainly created something special here and I wish her business all the success it deserves for the future.

“It’s really refreshing to see traditional methods of production with an honest ethos competing in a difficult market. Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is proud to support our local artisan producers and we hope that this sector continues to grow and succeed for years to come.”

In 2020 Linda added a new online service to the business. Customers can choose their own unique flavour combinations, colours and finishes of sweets.

Linda said: “I was delighted to welcome the Mayor to my production facility to showcase my award winning products and provide insights into how I plan to grow my business.

“The support from Mid and East Antrim Borough Council in helping me to grow my business has been a great help. I was able to access specialist mentoring support in sales and website performance which helped me promote my products online to a wider audience. I now export my products all over the world.”

To chat with one of council’s business client managers or to find out more about the help available, email [email protected] or go to https://bit.ly/32woXNH

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Click here to read: Larne sweet business boost sales with new app

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