Let Summer Produce Shine
at your Next Dinner Party
Seasonal fruits and vegetables taste better and are far more nutritious, that’s enough reason to prioritise eating them. When you’re hosting a summer dinner and want to impress with a fabulously tasty dish, the best way to do it is to choose local and seasonal produce. Delicious food and also supporting the local economy at the same time, you can’t go wrong! Check out our favourite ones this month!
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floury new potatoes
    
New season potatoes are now at their best, beautiful bowls of floury new potatoes with KerryGold Butter and Achill Island Sea Salt is a lovely side dish for your summer dinner. Irish potatoes, and we don’t mean to brag, are unique in taste and are true perfection in food terms, especially new season potatoes. Dust off the BBQ and serve these floury wonders with some barbecued Irish meats and some light summer greens. We’d recommend steaming the potatoes to obtain maximum amounts of flouriness! A visit to many Irish homes for dinner will feature this popular summer staple.
O’Shea Farms, a multi-generational family farming business, is located in the rural village of Piltown and they grow some of the best potatoes in Ireland. The O’Shea Family are committed to producing the best quality fresh produce in a sustainable way. Salad and baby potatoes have been growing in popularity in Ireland, and much of the stock of these varieties were being imported from the UK and France, O’Shea Farms started growing these and now supply 80% of the country’s market with an aim to reach 100%. Investing in new technology and the perfect growing conditions in Ireland’s southeast region has allowed this. Now that is some reduction in food miles while keeping local food at the centre of our fresh produce demands. So where can you pick up these tasty spuds? O’Shea Farms supply nationwide with Aldi under their own fresh produce brand, so make sure to call in for a bag on the way home from work.
You can also find delicious floury potatoes at Buddy’s Farmers Market, in the Ballymun Industrial Estate on the site of Seed Potato. Buddy’s is a new state-of-the-art retail shop that features a wide selection of locally grown Irish produce. You’ll find plenty of potatoes here sourced from local growers along with Buddy’s sister business Irish Gold Potatoes, which will be coming into season around September. You’ll be impressed with the large selection of fresh produce presented and waiting to be picked up. These include seasonal fresh strawberries and more soft fruits. Enjoy all the essentials for a proper Irish feast here.
BEST BERRIES FARMS IN IRELAND
Berries are a tasteful delight during the summer months, they are known for bursting with a sweet flavour and are the perfect natural sweetener for desserts, salads, and even main course entrees. The first sign of summer arriving in Ireland is seeing the pop-up roadside shops selling punnets of fresh strawberries, especially in Wexford and the southeast region of Ireland. These make for the perfect treat on your summer road trips. Also, other soft fruits such as loganberries, gooseberries, and raspberries are now at their very best and they are the perfect ingredients for summer desserts and drinks.
Irish Blackcurrants are also coming into season, these are expertly produced by Des Jeffares, a third-generation blackcurrant farmer in Co. Wexford and the only commercial blackcurrant farmer in Ireland.
The family farm, Ballykelly Farm is ideally located in Ireland’s sunniest region, to produce the most succulent berries that are the perfect balance of sweet and tart with plenty of nourishing antioxidants. Frozen blackcurrants are available to buy all year round. You can order them here.
When talking about berries in Ireland, the first thing in mind is Wexford Strawberries and, Kearns Fruit Farm is one of Ireland’s leading suppliers of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries to a variety of retailers throughout the country. The strawberry crop at Kearns is made up of numerous varieties all of which are sweet, plump and juicy.
Malone Fruit Farm & Farm Shop in Co.Carlow, located on the Wexford to Carlow road is the perfect place to find fresh berries and other local products. Fresh fruits are available in summer, and frozen fruits are also available all year round for smoothies and desserts, jam-making and jellies. They also produce a wide variety of jams, jellies, marmalades, chutneys, fruit tonics and cordials, as well as a variety of hampers and gift ideas for special occasions.
The Apple Farm in Cahir is traditionally known for its apples, however, the Traas family not only grows apples on their farm, but during the summer months, they also grow strawberries, raspberries, cherries, plums, and pears complementing the range in the farm shop, again depending on when they ripen. The Apple Farm Shop is open to the public, so if you’re passing through Cahir this summer, make sure to call in. You can even pick your own in the middle of summer when the farm is bursting with fresh strawberries!
Whatever the variety, fresh berries are the perfect ingredient to impress guests this summer. You can use them in an easy and quick way by adding cream and sugar, in more elaborate recipes and fabulous drinks. Just make sure you’re getting it from the right place.
Have we whetted your appetite for summer dishes with berries? Check out these delicious berries recipes!
Ricotta Pancakes with Mixed Berries & Vanilla Yoghurt
Green Gooseberry & Elderflower Compote
Ballymaloe Strawberry Shortcake
Hedgerow Martini – Sloe Gin, Elderflower & Blackberries
First Batch of this year’s honey
Bees are incredible creatures, aren’t they? Their honey has so many health benefits and is also a must have ingredient in most kitchens.
Over time, the honey colour will darken, and the flavours will slightly change. That’s the reason why food stores require an expiration date for honey, and that’s also the reason why fresh honey is better.
This month James Malone from Malone Fruit Farm & Farm Shop harvested the first honey of this season, made with home-reared Irish bees from his farm which makes it a special batch of honey because it has been freshly harvested so it hasn’t had a chance to crystallize and is softer or even liquid.
Hurry up and make sure to get one!
Now, talking about raw honey, Leahy Beekeeping is a great option to source your honey from, the business produces 100% raw, single filtered and unpasteurised honey which retains all of the pollen’s antibacterial and medicinal properties. They are a small, family-run business from the West of Ireland that produces Sliabh Aughty Honey. You can buy a range of hampers
