Bakery turned into a unique tourism attraction in Malta

Hey Merill Fans!

We're proud to be the first to launch the official promo of the artisan bakery now open in Valletta. Mr. Carmelo Debono, also known as Nenu, had been dreaming about this project for many years. His main concern was that the knowledge about traditional local bread and recipes was being lost over time. The old bakery that suited this project, was in ruins when Nenu stepped into it for the first time. No one thought that it would have been converted into such an attraction three years later. 

The stone oven is now fully functional, and is complemented with a cosy restaurant, museum, and a state of the art kitchen to support the Head Chef Joseph Magri and his team. The menu has been carefully designed to ensure that all the ftiras would bring about a fantastic culinary experience to all those who experience it.  

The Hon. Minister Mario De Marco officially inaugurated the venue today, together with his Excellency Fra. Paul Cremona OP. The Ministers speech, outlined the importance of sustainable tourism and the pride all the Maltese people have towards bread, mostly Il-Hobza Maltija. Dr. De Marco also mentioned the importance of EU funding, since projects can be tailor made to Malta's specific needs. 

Anyone who feels like a quick snack, lunch or dinner, can walk to "Nenu the Artisan Baker", and order one of the Ftiras full of delicious local ingredients. While the ftira is being baked, one can enjoy a video relating the history of Maltese bread and Nenu's career in baking. Furthermore, an interactive experience can also be booked for groups who wish to enjoy the actual making of the ftira!

For enquiries about the "Ftira Interactive Experience", drop us a line on info@merillecotours.com   

It will soon be Christmas!

Hey Merill fans,

hope you're all doing fine! We thought of featuring the red breasted robin as it will soon be Christmas. It is a lovely time to be in the countryside here in Malta. So many winter birds singing and the weather is still nice and warm. Christmas holiday makers are keeping us busy and so are the eco hampers. 

the best seller for Christmas 2011

Though the Maltese people are very price conscious this season, we still had many customers asking for tailor made hampers with their favourite local ingredients. For sweet tooth clients, we included locally made mince pies and treacle tarts, perfect while enjoying a nice cup of tea or coffee. We're proud of these two items in our eco hampers as they are traditionally made with lots of passion and dedication by the staff at Maypole Bakeries. I was personally amazed about the genuineness of these items as they taste just like home made.

This week, I had the opportunity to visit the brand new Maypole Bakery in Tal-Handaq, where dozens of bakers and pastry chefs are busy preparing yummy cakes and pies. Was also pleased to get to know that hundreds of Cassatella tarts are being prepared with local ricotta cheese. The secret ratio between ricotta, sugar, chocolate chips and other ingredients make the Cassatella superb in taste and texture.

Guess I will have to follow a strict diet soon after Christmas, considering all the bountiful items I am obliged to taste on a regular basis...this make me love my job :)

We will keep you posted with more eco news and look forward to have a merry merill Christmas.

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Feel free to drop by any comments on info@merillecotours.com - we love to hear from our fans.

Local Products Event at The Point Shopping Mall - 20th November 2011

Treacle Tarts - Maypole Bakery

Eco Hampers by Merill Local Products

Yesterday a local products themed event took place at The Point Shopping Complex at Tigne Point. Merill Local Products organised this event and teamed up with other producers of traditional and genuine food products to bring about a pre Christmas atmosphere at Malta's largest shopping mall.

Olive oil, honey and local fruit jams keep on being the most requested items by locals together with DOC wines. Sun dried tomatoes, pickled onions and cheeselets have been nicely put together into attractive Eco-Hampers. As Merill Local Products, we are doing our best to bring the farming community at the centre of our Eco-Hampers. All the products within each hamper comes directly from local famers thus keeping traditions alive and conserving Malta's rural landscape. Furthermore packaging materials are 100% upcycled therefore decreasing the carbon footprint. 

Large tables with fresh crispy bread filled level 0 with a lovely smell. Maypole bakeries offered a range of local products including traditional loaves of bread, treacle tarts and biscuits. Since 1973, Maypole bakeries have been owned and managed by Carmelo Debono who is constantly updating the wide range of products being offered, using modern machinery and latest technology to ensure optimum results. Mr. Debono works very hard together with his wife and six children to produce the very best products, all baked the traditional way.

Nougat Products by Beehive

Weaved Products

Barn eggs and Poultry meat by Tal-Malti Producer Organisation

This time we also decided to partner with a locally recognised producer organisation that is doing an excellent job in producing sustainable poultry products. Tal-Malti is the brand name of "The Malta Poultry Producers Organisation" that encompasses six established farmers rearing egg layer chickens and broilers. The farms enjoy high animal welfare and hygiene standards. Poultry meat products currently sold by the PO include whole chicken and separate poultry pieces all packed, weighed and barcoded to be sold at local butchers and at the Farmers Market in Ta' Qali every Tuesday and Saturday.


Eggs come in a variety of convenient carton sized and are produced by chickens reared in enriched cages and from barn hens. A total of 500,000 broiler chickens are reared every year together with 30,000 laying hens. It's great to have a local Producer Organisation who is continuously developing innovative products ideal for customers that are health conscious and are looking for well priced food items.


Their latest product is the "Kappuccel Tal-Malti", a spring chicken that makes an excellent meal for one or two persons. I've personally tried cooking these spring chickens on a BBQ and in the oven, and in spite my cooking skills are quite poor, I still manage to make great meals out of this little chicken :)

I strongly recommend all the range of poultry products offered by Tal-Malti as they are absolutely fresh and delicious!

To book your eco hampers now - call on 21/27/79411388!

The real Malta

Traditional Biscuits - Photo by Jeanette Borg

Punic Tombs - Photo by Chrisitan Borg

Honey Buzzard - Photo by Chris Cachia Zammit

Barracudas - Photo by Sonia Silvio

Hello Malta lovers!

We can now say goodbye to "September" and welcome to "October". Autumn look busy at Merill...eco tours and local products are keeping us on the go. We're very excited working on the new Eco-Hampers catalogue which will introduce a new range of delicacies and eco gifts that are strictly local and fair-trade :) 

At the moment eco tours featuring the culinary aspects of Malta are going strong. Appreciation of the local landscape goes part and parcel with this gourmet niche. In the meantime we pray for some rain to irrigate the fields and replenish the aquifers after a long dry summer. 

I added some interesting photos to this blog article showing a range of eco items in Malta. The traditional biscuits, known as "Biskuttini tar-Rahal" are still baked in traditional bakeries where the ovens are managed by hardworking bakers who keep recipes alive. Following that is the photo of the rock-cut tombs. These are very particular as their architectural arrangement resemble a set of pigeon holes. 

Autumn is a great time for bird watching. This is why I've uploaded a photo of a lovely honey buzzard in flight. Photo is kindly shared by one of our expert birders. Today I was at the Lippija area with some foreigners and  came across two hunters. We kept our distances from them and went on. We always adopt this approach during our tours and never encountered any problems so far. When necessary we do change our itineraries to avoid conflicts. 

In principle we are against hunting and very much pro bird watching. However we strongly believe that it is only through mutual respect that we can achieve harmony between eco tourists and hunters during the hunting season.  It is of no use pointing out a hundred and one negative aspects of hunting without promoting the fun and excitement one can experience while bird watching in Malta. 

Enforcement officers are all over Malta, keeping poachers at bay. Enough damage has been done to Malta's reputation because of poaching. Very few, if any, give credit to hunters when it comes to environmental stewardship. How many out there would spend money and time to irrigate trees and keep rubble walls in good shape? In my humble opinion there are only two active categories of stewards in Malta, whether people admit it or not: farmers and to a lesser extent hunters! All those that are not into agreement with this must bear in mind that tourism, especially ecotourism,  goes hand in hand with all stakeholders in rural areas. 

Last but not least, I added a stunning photo taken by our expert diver and underwater photographer, Sonia. This amazing shoal of Barracudas seems to be coming from a different world. Diving is such an eco-friendly activity for all nature lovers and photographers. 

Stay in touch for more news about eco stuff: follow us on Twitter (@merillecotours) and visit our website www.merillecotours.com to keep updated.