Show Filter
19
-
Eat
Cocoa Loco
Wilde Irish Chocolates On the shores of Lough Derg in Co Clare, the team at Wilde Irish Chocolates turn the finest milk, dark and white chocolate into... -
What's New
We Irish love milk. The second highest consumers in the world after Finland, for many of us it is intrinsically linked to happy childhood memories, sipping a glass of delicious, nutritious, cold creamy milk with mum’s baking or downing a warming mug before bed. For some, glass bottles were delivered daily to your door, sometimes even by horse and cart; others will remember drinking a warm creamy glass milked from a cow just minutes before. Our memories may differ, but the grasslands that dominate the Irish countryside remain a constant – lush green pastures that allow us produce some of the world’s finest milk, butter, cheese and yoghurt. Milk has always been part of our culture, but we lost our way, according to Noel Barcoe of The Village Dairy. “Forty years ago, milk had real flavour, and it had unique flavours depending on where it came from. It all depended on the soil, the grass and the weather. Milk from Cork tasted very different to Donegal milk. But somehow, we lost the flavour.” Noel started off life as a milkman, with a round delivering milk, cheese, yoghurts and other produce. “After the Celtic Tiger, myself and a group of other milkmen needed to reinvent ourselves.” Forming a buying group, they took on a premises on the Carlow Laois border. “I have always listened to customers, and they seemed very interested in where their milk came from and how it was made. We had all these artisanal cheese and butter companies but I saw nobody was doing milk.” “I approached a few local farmers I had gone to school with. We installed the machinery for a little dairy – The Village Dairy – in Killeshin. We deliberately didn’t buy smart new machines, but old ones that don’t process the milk too intensely. It allows you to leave some the flavours in. We started off with 300 litres from two farmers five minutes down the road in 2014; now we are up to 30 thousand litres a week, mostly sourced from farmers very close to us. The three main ones are within 5 minutes of the dairy.” They source organic milk from two famers, and Jersey milk from another two. “Overall you can really taste the difference and people notice it.” There were some teething difficulties; “People used to say, ‘Your milk goes sour’ and I’d say, ‘Of course it does! Fresh milk is meant to. Real fresh milk doesn’t keep 16-18 days’.” The Village Dairy now employs 18 and, so far, Noel hasn’t been tempted to diversify. “We will stick with milk for the moment and get that right first. We will keep it simple and let our milk do the talking.” The Irish dairy business has seen huge changes in recent years, not just brought about by the abolition of milk quotas, but also through a growing interest in more sustainable local artisanal products. The Village Dairy is leading the charge in reintroducing Ireland to real milk and it seems likely that more will follow. “The Village Dairy simply reintroduced the flavour to milk, the way it used to be. There is no reason that there shouldn’t be another six to ten other dairies doing this,” Noel offers. “The more the merrier, as far as I am concerned. There is no reason milk can’t be like cheese or meat and other foods that have the unique taste of the region they come from.” The Village Dairy produces a variety of dairy products including Jersey milk and cream, organic milk and cream, fresh milk, low fat, skimmed milk, cream and buttermilk. They regularly win awards and are of course members of Good Food Ireland®.
-
6 Sexy Irish Foods That Are Aphrodisiacs
Valentine’s Day is approaching. The Irish are well known for their ability to do the hearts and flowers thing. This nation is just a bunch of old romantics... -
What To Do With Your Leftover Turkey
In the days after Christmas, the whole nation will be staring gloomily into the fridge, wondering when it’s ok to say they don’t want any more turkey... -
Christmas Celebrations at Brooks Hotel
Set amongst the city’s top shopping destinations and in the glittering atmosphere of twinkling Christmas lights, Brooks Hotel is the ideal venue... -
Featured Location
Waxing Lyrical About Mayo’s Laden Larder
Located just five miles from Westport, Croagh Patrick soars above the surrounding countryside and dominates the landscape. Its conical shape and craggy... -
Featured Location
Aw shucks! Fall In Love with Achill Oysters
“He was a bold Man, that first ate an Oyster,” wrote Jonathan Swift in 1738, but Irish people have been slurping these silky molluscs for thousands... -
Featured Location
Take a Bite out of Mayo for a Real Taste of the West
The Mayo landscape provides plenty of things to do and opportunities for a phone full of photos. It inspires the heart and imbues the senses. But the landscape... -
Featured Location
Keeping it Local with Kelly’s of Newport
In Seán’s small abattoir, artisan practices are just as important for the welfare of the animals as for the end product. When animals don’t have to... -
Featured Location
A Warm Welcome Awaits in Westport at An Port Mór
Then there’s the Achill Mountain lamb. “It has got such a unique taste”. This is Martina Calvey’s lamb that is grazed down on Achill Island. “The... -
Featured Location
Calvey Achill Lamb
Everywhere you went today, you saw the recognisable Achill Mountain sheep and you wouldn’t mind trying some for your dinner. They are the 100% purebred... -
Featured Location
On their night of arrival my mother would cook a traditional Irish dinner of bacon and cabbage. She’d cook the bacon in cider first and finish it like a glazed gammon with mustard, brown sugar and cloves. My brothers would take them for a tour of the farm, to see the calves, the hens and the sheep, always accompanied by the family dog Rex. After dinner my father would take them uptown to our pub. One of my mother’s American cousins Shaun (a director of a paint company in Jacksonville) offered to paint the back bar for my father for a pint an hour. What I’m trying to say is that Mayo people truly love making visitors welcome and at home, so even if you haven’t relatives ask the locals what to do and what to see. A trip to lough Carra (the largest marl lake in Ireland) was a must for my family as we swam and picnicked there during the Summer and my brothers went fishing, sailing or windsurfing. Driving visitors to the lake I was always surprised at the comments of my companions on the beauty of the landscape. I love seeing my county through new eyes. Parking in the carpark we would explore Moore Hall opposite the lake and take one of the many walks leading to and from the house. Walking around the nearby Doon Peninsula is another magical walk. Tom Quinn has written a fifteen stop guide to the Doon Experience which is available on the internet. Lough Carra has many islands and is joined to Lough Mask by the Keel River. We would try to swim out to one of the islands and when my brother got a boat we visited Church island. I have lovely memories of standing on the edge of the lake watching large murmuration of starlings flying and swooping with amazing synchronization.
-
Food for Thought
Import Substitutions – Producing Results
So often people forget to even ask where their food comes from and if what they are picking up in a grocery store is actually Irish grown or just packed...