Chalk Stream Foods proves a hit with P&O Cruises
A Romsey-based company is hitting the high seas thanks to P&O Cruises, which has become one of its best customers since it launched last year.
Chalk Stream Foods sources, prepares and delivers the finest, freshest rainbow trout from farms on the River Itchen and the River Test directly to restaurants across the UK. These world famous spring-fed chalk streams with gin clear water, constant water flows and excellent light and vegetation create havens for the fish, making them rich and lean with a distinctive, sensational taste. All of their farms are long-established and sustainable operations, approved by GLOBALG.A.P, Freedom Food and Quality Trout UK. They are also members of Hampshire Fare which is well-known in the region for passionately supporting the county's unique and talented food producers.
Last year, P&O Cruises purchased approximately five tonnes of the company's hot smoked trout, which provided a massive boost in its first year of trading. Chalk Stream Foods has also provided P&O Cruises with 100 kilos of trout fillets and, just recently, 20 kilos of smoked butter, which is served with freshly baked bread. P&O Cruises serves the hot smoked trout as a starter on the menus on every cruise . Next year, P&O Cruises plans to introduce Chalk Stream Foods' non-smoked trout in the ships' Epicurean restaurants, which fuse classic dining elements with the best of modern British dining.
Hugo Hardman of Chalk Stream Foods comments: "We are delighted to be working with P&O Cruises and providing them and their discerning guests with a unique quality product. We are passionate about instigating a trout revival and getting this delicious, healthy and quintessential British fish back onto menus and are thrilled that P&O Cruises feels the same."
At Chalk Stream Foods, they only harvest to order and when they take orders, the fish are still swimming. The company's motto is ‘water to waiter in 48 hours', which gives restaurants the freshest possible fish, many of which weigh over two kilograms with a favourable "bone to flesh ratio". These large fish can also provide great fillets, as well as whole sides of hot and cold smoked trout.
All the farms are fed by the gin clear waters of the Test and Itchen and this water, which is class 1A rated (the highest rating achievable from the Environment Agency), provides the perfect habitat for the trout to grow and eliminates the "muddy" taste often associated with trout. The consistent flow of water through the farms mean the trout are constantly swimming and as a result are very lean.
Along with P&O Cruises, Chalk Stream Foods also supplies trout to The Pig, Chewton Glen, Limewood Hotel, Wiltons, The Shed, The Rabbit, ETM group, Firmdale Hotels, The Square, L'Autre Pied, Pied a Terre, The Cubitt Group and the Burberry Cafe Thomas's.
For more information or to book call P&O Cruises on 0843 374 0111, visit www.pocruises.co.uk or visit your local travel agent.
About P&O Cruises
P&O Cruises has a fleet of eight ships offering holidays tailored to British tastes combining genuine service, a sense of occasion and attention to detail, ensuring passengers have the holiday of a lifetime, every time. P&O Cruises smallest ship, Adonia, is on charter to social impact brand Fathom until the end of 2017. Britannia, a new 141,000 ton ship, was named by HM The Queen on March 10, 2015.
For further press information please contact:
Michele Andjel, michele.andjel@carnivalukgroup.com 023 8065 6653 / 07730 732 072
Jennifer Humm, Jennifer.humm@carnivalukgroup.com 023 8065 6652 / 07730 732 065
Jenny Hadley, jenny.hadley@pocruises.com 023 8065 6650 / 07825 120 088
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