Is Cotton A Good Insulator

Getting their ducks in a row

CARL O'BRIEN

SUCCESS STORIES:  Ronnie and Lyla Steele started rearing ducks 50 years ago. Today they supply some of the best Chinese restaurants in Europe and employ more than 150 people. In the first of a new series, they share their recipe for business success

THE CELEBRITY CHEF chef Heston Blumenthal is known for the ludicrous lengths he’ll go to in order to find the best ingredients. So when he was searching the globe to find the best duck, he traipsed through China and most of Europe before ending up on the outskirts of the sleepy village of Emyvale, Co Monaghan.

“He kept hearing that our ducks were the best available,” says Ronnie Steele, who founded Silver Hill Foods with his wife, Lyla, more than 50 years ago. “So he came over, and was very impressed. He ended up using it in his BBC programme In Search of Perfection on how to make the perfect Peking duck . . . He obviously has good taste.”

Blumenthal hasn’t been the only one to cotton on to the quality of the Silver Hill ducks. Go to any of the best Chinatown restaurants in the UK, Europe and even Asia, and there’s a 90 per cent chance that their ducks have been sourced from this small-scale, family-owned food company, based in the heart of drumlin country. You’ll also find its produce on the shelves of upmarket London stores such as Fortnum Mason.

These days, Silver Hill’s display cabinet in the hallway of its small office complex is quickly running out of space. In the past couple of years alone the company has received numerous gongs and pieces of crystal, including an Ulster Bank Business Achievers Award in 2009, for best family-run company; the prize for best food producer in this year’s Irish Restaurant Awards; a place on Deloitte’s 2011 list of best-managed companies; and nomination as a finalist in the 2011 Green Awards.

All this is not bad going for a couple who, by their own admission, knew little about ducks when they bought their eight-hectare farm outside Emyvale in early 1960s. “I wanted to do turkeys and Lyla wanted to do chickens,” Ronnie says, smiling at his wife. “So, like in any good marriage, we compromised.”

Today the company produces about 60,000 ducks a week, all part of a special breed that is hand-reared and fed on a natural diet. The result, say fans, is meat that’s succulent, tender and full of flavour. The company’s products range from smoked spiced duck-breast fillets and honey-roast duck to confit of duck leg and duck sausages.

Advantages Of Wearing Cotton Clothing In Summer - Cotton Clothing ...

In summer we perspire most because of scorching heat and humidity in the weather. Cotton cloth is a good absorber. It absorbs the sweat and perspiration totally. If you wear synthetic cloth it can not absorb sweat and the whole sweat began to accumulate on your body. You may catch cold from accumulated sweat.

Cotton cloth is a great insulator. It helps to maintain the temperature inside the body. In summer when the outer temperature is high, cotton cloth helps to keep the temperature inside the attire cool. That is why is found that we feel much comfortable in cotton cloth in summer.

Cotton is a porous thing. It helps to maintain air circulation. Air circulation helps to keep our body cool and dry. But in synthetic cloth there is no chance of air circulation because they are non porous. Synthetic fabric does not help the body temperature to come out and that is why they remain inside and make our body hot.

Cotton being the natural fiber is good for the skin where as synthetic material may create irritation on skin.  That is why it has been found people who are allergic to synthetic material, are quite comfortable in cotton in summer . Cotton also helps to maintain moisture of your skin and resist from being dried.

You can get different soft colors in cotton which is ideal for summer. As cotton is not very expensive material, you can buy a good number of cotton dresses in summer. We all know that we need more clothes in summer because of too much sweating. It is also easy to maintain cotton cloth at home. So it is easy to wear.

Because of these qualities cotton has become very popular among modern people and especially in summer when the weather itself is very uncomfortable.

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