Next time you fancy a nice bit of smoked salmon or trout, look in your supermarket’s chilled cabinet for fish produced by Sarum Foods from Hook.

The company’s products are ideal for stores which are ever more keen to tell us how committed they are to sourcing locally produced foods.

Sarum, which has been trading for around four years, produces salmon and trout products for supermarket chains such as Morrisons, Asda, Costco and Waitrose.

The company does not have a shop on its premises in Andwell Lane, but you might see its staff promoting and selling Sarum products at Hampshire Food Fares or in supermarkets.

With the popularity of fish growing generally, salmon and trout are big business. Sarum produces a whopping 192 tons of products every year, from a million fish passing through the system.

The salmon are bought in as fillets to be prepared for sale. The trout, however, do start life at Hook, before being moved to parent company Trafalgar’s site in the New Forest, where they are grown on, harvested and gutted.

The fish are returned to Hook for brining, cooking, and hot or cold smoking, before being packed and chilled or frozen. And the beauty of the farming system used by Sarum is that it is completely sustainable, so there is no fear of the overfishing problems which are encountered with wild fish such as cod.

Sarum’s manager, Colin Clelland, a keen fish fan, said: “Oily fish is excellent brain food and, of course, is high in omega-3, which benefits the body’s circulation and the joints.

“Our fish is 100% clean, wholesome and fresh to eat and the farm has British Retail Accreditation (BRC), which is required to be able to sell healthy food.

“This means the company has met all the relevant health and safety regulations.”

Colin is especially partial to a Jamie Oliver recipe for salmon cooked on the barbecue.

He explained: “It’s so easy — just take one whole salmon, stuff it with herbs, butter, lemon and lime, and then wrap the fish in newspaper. Soak the newspaper with water and then pop the package on a hot barbecue.

“The wet newspaper will smoulder, naturally smoking the fish inside. I would recommend new potatoes and garlic asparagus to accompany this delicately flavoured fish.”

For details on Sarum Foods’ products, call 01256 768713.