Northern Irish convenience specialist Mash Direct has added gluten-free beer-battered chips to its range – a product it believes to be the first of its kind at UK retailers.
The County Down-based company, which produces vegetable side dishes such as mashed potato, champ and carrot and parsnip mash, has launched the new product initially in Northern Ireland.
The new chips, made with the same variety used in Mash Direct’s other potato products, are the only beer-battered fries of their kind available at supermarkets, the company claimed. McCains sells a similar product, Beer Batter Steak Cut Chips, but these contain gluten.
Director Jack Hamilton said: “People have always asked us: ‘Why don’t you do chips?’ It is a company policy of ours not to have any red traffic lights on any of our products and so we wanted to make a chip that was crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside, without having a high fat content.
“By creating a gluten-free, beer batter to lightly coat the potatoes, we are able to create an innovative chip that’s completely different from others available in the market place and still stay true to our roots.
“These unique chips have been years in the making and we are proud to have waited so long to bring them to market because we think they are perfect.”
To create the product the firm teamed up with Belfast craft brewery, Knockout Brewing Company, whose gluten-free Irish Red Ale is used in the batter.
The chips are available to buy at Spar, Eurospar, Centra, Mace, Vivo and SuperValu in Northern Ireland, priced at £1.99.
They join more than 40 other products in the Mash Direct range, 19 of which have won Great Taste Awards.
