A Falkland business has been in the national spotlight.
Sterling Springs Chicken was recently selected to supply the principle protein for the black box at the Canadian Culinary Championships held in Kelowna.
“This was a huge honour, and we were thrilled to have our product featured in this way,” said Lisa Dueck, who owns Sterling Springs Chicken with husband Hans.
“The judges and competitors were a veritable who’s who of the Canadian culinary scene, and we received fantastic feedback about our product. The ingredients for the black box competition were selected from across Canada, so being chosen by the judges was so exciting.”
During the event, some of the country’s top chefs competed.
Chefs were asked to create a dish with local ingredients that complimented a secret bottle of wine in a specific amount of time with a limited budget.
“Thanks to chef Perry Bentley and chef Rod Butters for your support, and to the Canadian Culinary Federation for choosing our product,” said Lisa Dueck.
The Duecks have been raising chickens for more than 25 years.
“We have a brand new, state of the art growing facility that features heated floors and walls, separate chick rooms and grow-out rooms, computerized climate control and automatic feed and water systems,” said Lisa Dueck.
Environment awareness is a key part of the operation.
“The barns are heated with 98 per cent renewable energy and there is an ultra-low emission European wood gasification system,” she said.
All of the birds are government inspected and are processed by hand.
“Our chickens are 100 per cent medication free, hormone free and preservative free,” said Lisa Dueck.
“They have constant access to sunlight, top-quality feed and filtered water.”
