Articles

The Bramley’s Seedling is one of Ireland’s latest fruit crops, harvested at the end of October, and its special qualities have made it the most popular cooking apple in Britain and Ireland. From the grower’s viewpoint, it is disease and pest tolerant, producing a good crop of large apples in most years.
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The most abundant, widespread and versatile of Irish shellfish, the common or blue mussel (Mytilus edulis – or an diúilicín in Irish), is to be seen on virtually every rock, pier and rope in the sea around Ireland.
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Now widely recognised as a ‘superfood’, blueberries are bigger cousins of the native Irish bilberry or fraughan and thrive in similar peaty habitats. Grown on cutaway bogland in Co Offaly, Irish blueberries are in season in August and September, when they are available in shops. Along with many other Irish fruit and vegetables, including strawberries and rasberries, they’re distributed by...
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A domesticated form of the wild carrot Daucus carota, an umbelliferous plant which is native to Europe and southwestern Asia, this everyday root vegetable is usually orange - although purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist and are currently more widely grown, due to demand from chefs.
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Of all our Irish fruit the gooseberry has the earliest natural season and is ideally suited to our climate - yet it seems to be inexplicably underused. Admittedly the bushes tend to be thorny and the most commonly grown green varieties need a lot of sweetening to make them palatable, but it’s a very versatile fruit and this harbinger of summer is delicious in many traditional puddings, cold sweets and preserves...
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Imported asparagus may be available all year round but there is nothing to beat the treat of having locally grown asparagus in its short spring season, which traditionally begins on 23rd April and ends on Midsummer Day. This feathery-foliaged herbaceous perennial grows to about 1 metre/3ft tall and takes several years to develop enough of the precious stems to allow harvesting; stems are picked when young and tender...
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Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) is a fast-growing semi-aquatic perennial plant and one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by human beings. Watercress belongs to the cabbage (brassica) family, and is related to garden (land) cress and mustard — which, like the nasturtium flowers that grow so freely in our gardens all summer, are know for their peppery flavour.
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Irish vegetables have been seriously undervalued during the boom years, and none more so than the staple crops that have stood by us so well down through the centuries – everyday foods like carrots, leeks and cabbage. They suit the climate and our traditional dishes, and are available locally and inexpensively over a long season; yet we so often favour ‘exotic’ imports over these simple but nourishing and versatile foods.
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Abalone are a highly prized shellfish delicacy, now scarce in most countries where they were once plentiful. Known as much for their beautiful iridescent shells as for the delicately flavoured meat, this exotic shellfish is not something one might expect to find in the rugged surroundings of the West of Ireland...
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Dried fruits are available all year round but, for truly memorable Christmas cakes and puddings, the experts agree that using top quality new-season ingredients makes all the difference.
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