Articles

Apples have been grown in Ireland for at least 3000 years. Indeed, St. Patrick is said to have planted a number of apple trees in Ireland, including one at Ceangoba, a settlement close to where Armagh is now situated. Early monastic records tell us that the monks were given apples with their meals, especially at festival times. The Brehon laws (originating between 2000 and 1000BC) stipulated that anyone cutting down an apple tree would be subject to a severe penalty; namely a fine of five cows, and even removing a limb or branch would warrant a fine of some sort.
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At this time of year, chefs and beef connoisseurs begin to get excited about the new autumn beef which is just coming in from local farmers. Beef may be available all year – and many consumers are unaware of it as a seasonal food, in the way that lamb is – but those in the know keenly anticipate the meaty treats which will only be available for a couple of months during the autumn. In north Dublin, for example, Howth butcher Ray Collier stocks the local Baily beef – finished each summer on a nearby farm ...
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Nectarines are a smooth-skinned variety of peach, the fruit of a hardy deciduous tree. Peaches are native to China, but they are widely grown in other areas, including Europe; even in Britain and Ireland they can be grown under glass or in polytunnels – or as fan-trained trees on warm south or south-west facing walls. Nectarines are slightly less hardy than peaches and need sheltered sites for successful cultivation out of doors.
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You don’t have to be walking in wild windswept places to find good things along the shoreline at this time of year – shoreline plants will grow anywhere they can get a hold in salty areas between the sea and the land proper, so there are plenty of foraging opportunities on summer walks along the edge. The range gradually changes through the season but there is overlap between the times when the common varieties are available and no shortage of edible finds right through the summer.
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Eggs are available all year, but their natural season is spring and this is a good time to remind ourselves to make the most of them, and to look at how this most versatile of foods works with other seasonal ingredients. The ultimate natural convenience food, eggs are perfectly packaged and easily stored, and they provide a reasonably priced source of protein so the basics of an easy, quick and nourishing meal are always to hand.
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Although usually used in sweet dishes, rhubarb is not a fruit but classed as a vegetable. It grows easily in Ireland and is still a familiar feature in gardens all over the country. It dies down in winter and now, as it begins to re-emerge for the new season (later than usual this year, due to the prolonged cold weather over the winter), the new stalks will be at their pinkest and most tender.
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With St Patrick’s Day the highlight of this often chilly month, there’s nothing to beat one of our really traditional dishes, such as a warming bowl of Irish Stew, a plate of bacon and cabbage or a beef and Guinness casserole. The Irish midlands, especially Co Westmeath, are renowned for the quality of beef raised in the area – and sold by...
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A brilliant fish at any time, smoked haddock is especially welcome in the early months of the year, when storms may affect supplies of fresh fish. The essence of cold-weather comfort food, it’s at its best in dishes like creamy fish pies and steaming chowders, bubbling smokies and less usual breakfast dishes such as kedgeree. Mainly from the North Atlantic, melanogrammus aeglefinus is a fish of the cod family and is processed in numerous places, including Ireland.
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Scallops are bi-valve molluscs, easily recognisable by their pretty radially ribbed shells which (although this is out of fashion at the moment) can used for presentation; the shells are also useful for cooking and serving other small fish dishes, and there was a time when they were widely used as ash trays...They have a subtle, sweetish flavour and very dense pearly-white flesh.
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The image of “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” pretty much sums up the best and cosiest of winter activities, especially the sociability of the festive season. Not to be confused with the unrelated and inedible horse chestnuts which grow prolifically in Ireland, the European sweet chestnut, Castanea sativa, is actually a cousin of the beech.
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