Food of the Gods
There are very good reasons why increasing numbers of UK retailers are stocking food from Cyprus
It’s well-known that the sun baked island of Cyprus produces a huge range of tasty foodstuffs, many of which are already popular here in the UK. While Halloumi cheese is now a firm favourite of UK buyers, British retailers are now discovering that Cyprus also exports some fantastic snacks and bakery, products which are sufficiently tasty and original to excite the interest of British retailers.
There’s plenty to choose from, whatever time of day the snack is taken. Tasty pitas are made in a coil and Rolini, these small tubular snacks are available filled with local cheese, cream, olives and with spinach grown on the island. Flavoursome fillings are also very popular with ravioli, a type of Cyprus pasta, which is only one of the many types/varieties of pasta Cypriot manufacturers can offer.
Puff pastries enjoy a huge popularity and among the formats which can be easily exported to British retailers are bite-sized pastries in apple, almond, cheese, cheese with ham, Halloumi and sausage varieties. From crispy breadsticks, croutons, bags of wheat and rye rusks, olive rolls and raisin toasts, to crackers, rice cakes and bread rolls flavoured with orange, anise and honey, many of these attractive products have already proven popular with British tastes.
Cypriot food, as well as offering unique flavours and formats, includes a huge range of products which will not only offer important points of difference to a shop’s stock, but will appeal to a receptive market. As well as a large UK Cypriot community, huge numbers of British holidaymakers and expatriates are helping to feed a growing taste for food from the Mediterranean’s third biggest island.
And if that taste is for sweet things, then there is plenty here to satisfy that demand too. The island produces a wide variety of sweet biscuits, from familiar digestives to orange, hazelnut and chocolate creams. British retailers looking for quality nut products will find plenty to choose from too. The island produces all sorts of nut and dried fruit products, often pleasingly packed in trays. Top-quality examples made from local island produce include dry-roasted nuts, brittle bars and packs of dried fruit.
Products can be imported from Cyprus both as ambient products in attractive, modern packaging and frozen. Cypriot products all ready to furnish British freezers include everything from pizzas and pizza bases, ham, beef and chicken burgers to all kinds of finger food bites and crepes. Fruit and vegetables available frozen include packs of okra, vine leaves, stuffed vine leaves, artichokes, beans, dates and pomegranate. And to follow? Coffee, of course. Distinctive stoneground, medium roast Cyprus coffee has been imported for the British Cypriot community for decades, but will find a ready welcome in the broader, coffee loving British market.
During the past few years and especially after the accession to the EU in 2004, Cyprus has made a huge investment in its food industry and most products are produced on an industrial scale using new technology and processes meaning increased export capabilities.
Hygiene standards are keenly followed and monitored throughout the manufacture of the island’s exportable foods, while vacuum and other airtight packaging ensures that products reach their worldwide markets in premium condition. Importers should be aware that great importance is placed upon flexibility and that many of the products made on the island can be tailored to the growing demands of the customers abroad.
A comprehensive Directory of Exporters can be found on the Cyprus High Commission Trade Centre* website; www.cyprustrade.com