Halen Mon Take BBC TV Show Fame With A Pinch Of Salt

World renowned sea salt producers Halen Môn are to enjoy a few more minutes of fame when they appear on BBC TV show Ready Steady Cook next month (March 4th).
 
The team from the True Taste award-winning Anglesey Sea Salt company will be shown taking a goody bag of ingredients for the show’s celebrity cooks to use.
 
The chefs were partnered by TV personalities Angus Purden from “Cash in the Attic” and Dave Harper from “Bargain Hunt”, who had to cook dishes using ingredients from the BBC goody bag.
 
Chefs Garrey Dawson and Paul Rankin had to come up with dishes from the ingredients brought along by Halen Môn. They included local ingredients from Anglesey, including of course, Halen Môn Smoked Sea Salt, and local blue cheese, Gorau Glas.
 
The chefs made a salad of leeks with back bacon, and separately roasted tomatoes sprinkled with smoked salt and a dressing of blue cheese from Anglesey Gorau Glas, and spagattini, followed by oranges and cream with smoked salt mixed with cardamom.
 
The show’s host Ainsley Harriott questioned the Halen Môn team about how the company began to which company founder David Lea Wilson replied: “All good things start in the kitchen and Halen Môn sea salt started in our kitchen  with a pan on the Aga and a saucepan of seawater. "
 
The company produces sea salt in five flavours: pure; smoked; spiced; vanilla; and now celery sea salt.
 
The company has been helped by a number of the Welsh Assembly Government’s support programmes for the food and drink industry.
They recently received a Feria de Gastronomia award, ranking their product in the top five ingredients available in the world, as voted by Michelin starred chefs - a stunning accolade that can only fuel demand yet further.
David Lea-Wilson, Nicki Hughes, William Burgess, Alison Mummery and Phillip Roberts made the journey from Anglesey to the BBC TV studios in London.
 
 "It was important to show viewers that our sea salt is good for everyone not just top chefs, so to reach three million viewers through Ready Steady Cook is a fantastic boost for us,” says David Lea Wilson.
 
“It showed viewers how simple dishes like grilled tomatoes can be made memorable by adding our smoked salt, and this will encourage more people to try Halen Môn.”
 
It was a memorable experience for all the staff, said David.
 
“It was good fun as well to see the sheer professionalism of the Ready Steady Cook team,” he says.
 
“But it was a long day - 16 hours - to appear on TV for about one minute - but we will be seen by three million people - so it was worth it!”
 
 The show will be aired on Tuesday 4 March at 4.30pm on BBC2
 
A picture of the Halen Môn team at the Ready Steady Cook studio with Ainsley Harriott is available. Email leigh@colemanroberts.co.uk
The company was founded in 1996.
It has 14 employees.
The company turnover is over £600,000 and growing fast.
It exports to 21 countries mainly in Europe especially Italy and Spain but also the USA and Hong Kong.

Article published on: 12 February 2008