Company background
Noreen van der Velde delved into the health benefits of nettles a few years ago and hasn’t looked back. She harvests and dries her own nettles and sells nettle tea at local food markets and to guests at her B&B. The response from customers has been incredible. In 2019 Noreen’s Nettles won a ‘Great Taste’ award for her nettle tea. She also produces a nettle powder, a food supplement, by grinding the dried leaves.
The company wanted to develop a nettle cordial but required upskilling support to make this happen.
To assist with the development of their concept, Noreen’s Nettles were supported by North West Regional College (NWRC) Business Support Centre (BSC) through the InnovateUs programme which is funded by the Department for the Economy.
NWRC Foodovation Centre Beverages Technical Consultant, Linda McClean, provided 30 hours of upskilling support in product labelling and advice on claims, processing improvement and advice, cordial recipe development and shelf-life testing.
On completion of the project the company was able to bring their nettle cordial to market.
Noreen Van der Velde, Owner at Noreen’s Nettles described the benefits of working with NWRC’S Business Support Centre via the InnovateUs programme: “I didn’t know where to start in bringing my nettle cordial to the market. The help and expertise that I received from Linda McClean (Foodovation) through the InnovateUs programme enabled me to do this. I really couldn’t have done it without them.”
