Taste of the Week. Roughty Foodie: Barnabrow Christmas Pudding

Taste of the Week

Roughty Foodie: Barnabrow Christmas Pudding

Photo via Barnabrow

The Barnabrow Christmas Pudding from Roughty Foodie in the market is a stunning Taste of the Week. Taste of the Season really but I have to start early to let you know where the good things are.

The recipe may be old, over a hundred years in the family at Barnabrow, but this East Cork twist, while traditional, is more suited to the 21st century, dark not black, and definitely not like the old heavy sticky ones.

It is packed full of flavour and some great texture too. Lots of fruit, bound with butter, laced with spices, sprinkled with fairy dust (what, hold on there!), local honey and carrot from their walled garden and further “reinforced” with Jameson and Guinness.

It’s a good thing for sure and available in various sizes. Of course, Margo Ann has all the trimmings at Roughty Foodie including a terrific Brandy Butter from Crossogue Preserves. 

A small stall but just packed - fully stocked as she is looking forward to a very busy Christmas. So packed, you could spend half a day poking around and still not get to the end of it. Perhaps you’d be better off ordering one of her Taste of Cork Food Boxes and have it delivered!

The Roughty Foodie  

English Market

Cork

Tel: 087 6352415

Great Taste reveals trophy nominations, as Golden Forks go virtual on October 22nd

 

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Great Taste reveals trophy nominations,

as Golden Forks go virtual

 

Following a record-breaking 12,777 entries judged over 14 weeks, Great Taste has named this year’s Golden Fork nominees, with the big winners set to be announced during a virtual ceremony on Thursday 22 October. Taking place across the Guild of Fine Food’s social media channels and website from 10am – 6pm, this online event will allow more people than ever to share in the drama and excitement of Great Taste’s grand finale, as the world’s most trusted food and drink awards shines a spotlight on the best of the best. 

 

Coming later in the year than usual, after the lockdown interrupted judging just one week into the schedule, the Golden Fork trophy announcements will provide a vital boost for the industry during the all-important run-up to Christmas. Following many weeks of remote judging, followed by socially distanced judging in London and Dorset, the virtual Golden Fork event will be the final instalment in a Great Taste calendar that has been reinvented at every stage, in order to stimulate much-needed consumer support for independent retail and hospitality over the challenging months ahead. 

 

Beginning at 10am with the first regional trophy, the Golden Fork winners will be shared at 30 minute intervals throughout the day, building to the announcement of the Great Taste Supreme Champion 2020 at 6pm. A host of Great Taste supporters and judges will reveal the winners, with a line-up including food writer and cook, Xanthe Clay, baker and author, Martha Collison, wine writer and presenter, Jane Parkinson, food and drink broadcaster, Nigel Barden, and James Golding, Chef Director of THE PIG hotel group. 

 

Food lovers, producers, retailers, buyers and chefs can keep up with all the Great Taste Golden Fork announcements via the following channels: 

Facebook: @greattasteawards 

Instagram: guildoffinefood 

Twitter: @guildoffinefood 

YouTube: Guild of Fine Food 

Website: gff.co.uk/greattaste 

#GreatTasteAwards 

 

Great Taste 2020 Golden Fork awards and nominations: 

 

10:00 Golden Fork from London & the South East, sponsored by Stoke Park 

Bermondsey Street Honey for Royal Albert Dock Honey 

Iain Spigs for Cumberland Sausage 

Moving Mountains Foods for Moving Mountains® Sausage Burger 

 

10:30 Golden Fork from East Anglia 

Alder Tree for Blackcurrant Fruit Cream Ice 

Linden Leaf Botanicals for Le Rêve Organic Molecular Absinthe 

SO Drinks for Seville Orange Gin 

 

11:00 Golden Fork from the Midlands 

47 Degrees Coffee for Colombian Supremo 

The Coffee Collaborative for Coffee Collaborative Genius Blend 

Redhill Farm Free Range Pork for Free Range Pork Shoulder 

 

11:30 Golden Fork from the North of England, sponsored by Fine Food Show North 

Di Meo's Ice Cream for 100% Pure Bronte Pistachio Gelato 

The Lost Barn Coffee Roasters for Bloomsbury Blend 

Poetic License Distillery for Northern Dry Gin 

 

12:00 Golden Fork from Scotland 

Sarah Gray’s for Sarah Gray’s Raspberry Jam 

Shortbread House of Edinburgh for Pea Green Boat Cheese Sablés - Fennel and Chilli 

Tayport Distillery for 1992 Raspberry Liqueur 

 

12:30 Golden Fork from Northern Ireland, sponsored by Invest NI 

Baronscourt Estate for Wild Sika Venison French Rack 

Craic Foods for Black Garlic & Porcini Sea Salt 

The Little Bakehouse for Abernethy Lemon Curd  

 

13:00 Golden Fork from Ireland, sponsored by Bord Bia 

Crossogue Preserves for Gooseberry Spread 

James Whelan Butchers for Heritage Cure Ham 

Ummera Smoked Products for Smoked Irish Organic Salmon 

 

13:30 Golden Fork from Wales, sponsored by Food and Drink Wales 

Conwy Kombucha for Blighty Booch Kombucha Organic Ginger 

Mario's Luxury Dairy Ice Cream for Mario’s Red Cherry Sorbet 

Wenallt Hive for Honey Vinegar with Raspberries 

 

14:00 Golden Fork from the South West, sponsored by Bishop Fleming 

The Artisan Kitchen for Pink Gin Marmalade 

Capreolus Fine Foods for Smoked Pancetta 

Jess's Ladies Organic Farm Milk for Jess's Ladies Organic Double Cream 

 

14:30 Golden Fork for Best Imported Food, sponsored by Speciality & Fine Food Fair 

Anchoas Hazas for Anchoas Hazas | Anchovies (Spain) 

Caseificio Il Fiorino Srl for Riserva del Fondatore Fiorini Duilio (Italy) 

Embutidos Ferju for Cecina de León IGP (Spain) 

 

15:00 Ambient Product of the Year 

 

15:30 Nigel Barden Heritage Award, sponsored by Dunbia 

 

16:00 Great Taste Startisan of the Year, sponsored by Partridges 

 

16:30 Charcuterie Product of the Year, sponsored by Fine Food Digest 

 

17:00 Small Artisan Producer of the Year 

 

17:30 Contribution to Fine Food, sponsored by the Guild of Fine Food 

 

18:00 Great Taste Supreme Champion 2020 

 

Details of this year’s 1-, 2- and 3-star winners can be found at www.greattasteawards.co.uk and a wide range of award winning products are available to buy in delis, farm shops and independent retail outlets across the country. 

press release

 

 

Ummera's Anthony Cresswell (right) is a happy man today as his Irish Smoked Irish Organic Salmon is awarded 3-stars at the Great Taste Awards. Ten years ago, his Smoked Duck won a similar award. Ummera is just one of an amazing 396 Irish based winners this year.

The Press release 

Time-honoured tradition takes top honours, as Great Taste stars go to Ireland’s coastline, pastures and hedgerows  

 

Following 14 weeks of judging, the results of the world’s most trusted food and drink awards, Great Taste, have been released, with many producers in Ireland now celebrating. Out of a record breaking 12,777 entries from 106 different countries, 42% were awarded a highly prized Great Taste accolade and a remarkable 396 are based in Ireland. 

 

Among the Great Taste 3-star winners from Ireland are a number of traditional products that make the most of what the land and sea provides, including; the “plump, glossy, soft and remarkably sweet” Carlingford Oysters from Carlingford Oyster Co, “a real taste of the sea” that led one judge to say, “it is hard to imagine better tasting, better looking oysters”; a “simple but really well made” Gooseberry Spread from Crossogue Preserves in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, praised for having “notes from the flesh, skins and pips all present” and ending in style with a “lovely hedgerow finish”; and Traditional Ham on the Bone from James Whelan Butchers in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, a “whopper of a ham with a light piggy aroma” and “oozing pig flavour”, with the judges agreeing that this “was obviously a happy pig.” 

 

While these producers enjoy their success and begin displaying the unmistakable gold and black Great Taste logo, with 1-, 2- or 3- stars, on their award-winning products, they will wait with much anticipation to see if they also scoop the top awards for their region. These final honours, including the Great Taste 2020 Supreme Champion, will be announced at the virtual Great Taste Golden Fork awards event, set to take place in October. 

 

Recognised as a stamp of excellence among consumers and retailers alike, Great Taste, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, values taste above all else, with no regard for branding or packaging. Whether it is cake, coffee, kippers or kombucha being judged, all products are removed from their packaging before being tasted. The judges then savour, confer and re-taste to decide which products are worthy of a 1-, 2- or 3-star award. 

 

This year’s winners have been found through a combination of remote judging and socially distanced judging sessions, after the lockdown began just one week into the schedule. This necessitated a swift and comprehensive reinvention of the Great Taste process to ensure that robust judging standards were maintained and the quality of feedback was not compromised, all in time to provide a much-needed boost for food and drink producers during the all-important Christmas period. 

 

The panel of judges included; cook, writer and champion of sustainable food, Melissa Hemsley, cook, writer, stylist and voice of modern vegetarian cooking, Anna Jones, celebrated Spanish chef, José Pizarro, Kavi Thakrar from Dishoom, food writer and cook, Xanthe Clay, and baker and author, Martha Collison, as well as food buyers from Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and Waitrose. These esteemed palates have together tasted and re-judged the 3-star winners to finally agree on the Golden Fork Trophy winners and the Great Taste 2020 Supreme Champion.   

 

Details of this year’s winners can be found at www.greattasteawards.co.uk and a wide range of award winning products are available to buy in delis, farm shops and independent retail outlets across the country. 

 

Facts and figures about Great Taste 2020: 

• Great Taste is widely acknowledged as the most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan and speciality food producers 
• A record breaking 12,777 different products were entered in 2020 
• Entries were sent in from 106 different countries, including Estonia, Greece, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Madagascar, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the USA and Vietnam 
• 144 judges took part this year. Less than usual, due to the pandemic and to ensure social distancing in both locations. However, the same number of judging layers were applied, to maintain the rigorous and robust process. Judges included the most demanding palates, belonging to food critics, chefs, restaurateurs, retail buyers, cooks, producers and a host of food writers, journalists and social media influencers 
• Judging took place over a total of 14 weeks. Having begun as planned in March 2020, the process was then halted due to COVID-19. Judging resumed in early May, when remote judging was able to take place in judges’ homes, before Great Taste returned to the judging rooms in both Dorset and London during July 
• Judging took place at the following locations: 
• Guild HQ in Gillingham, Dorset, as well several other Dorset venues 
• The Guild of Fine Food’s London home, No. 42 Southwark Street, SE1 
• The homes of regular judges, as Great Taste continued during lockdown 
• 3,818 awarded 1-star  
• 1,294 awarded 2-star 
• 205 awarded 3-star 

 

As the judges searched for the stars of 2020, waste was kept to a minimum, with unused products being donated to local food banks and hampers made up of excess products for local businesses to raffle in aid of charities. No plastic plates or cutlery were used during the judging rounds, reducing plastic waste by almost 100%. The Guild of Fine Food also donates surplus computer equipment, used to record the judges’ comments, to community-based projects across the UK, which are then refurbished and used to facilitate after school clubs and many other initiatives designed to support underprivileged families.  

 

A full list of winners is available from sam@freshlygroundpr.co.uk.

Tipperary Food Producers launch Artisan Food Hamper

Tipperary Food Producers launch Artisan Food Hamper                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Offering a taste of Tipperary to the nation of Ireland, The Tipperary Food Producers, a network of Tipperary’s artisan food and beverage producers has launched a new “Taste of Tipperary” Hamper in conjunction with Hampers & Co, Ireland’s leading luxury hamper company which was founded in Tipperary in 1993. 

The luxury hamper features products from ten Tipperary producers, with many award-winning products among the selection. 

Creating a Tipperary Hamper offering has been a goal of the Tipperary Food Producers said Con Traas, Chairman of the network which was established in 2008. Commenting, Con said, “We are delighted to launch our first ‘Taste of Tipperary’ hamper and to share some of the fantastic food and beverage products produced here in Tipperary. As a network, we have discussed on many occasions about creating a Tipperary hamper offering, available year-round. I guess you could say that the recent lockdown has given us that extra “push” to get this initiative up and running and we are thrilled to be working with Hampers & Co on this Tipperary collaboration. We are very proud of our homegrown produce here in Tipperary and we hope that everyone can enjoy a taste of Tipperary no matter where they are in the country.”

With something for everyone to enjoy in the hamper, products include; The Apple Farm – Con’s Apple Cider; 3 Men in a Trailer - Artisan Ketchup; Cooleeney Farmhouse Cheese; Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers - Cashel Blue Cheese; Crossogue Preserves Chutney; Vera Miklas Freeze Dried Strawberries; Rivesci’s Cashew Chilli Crush; Irish Hedgerow, Elderflower Refresher drink; Galtee Honey Farm, Wildflower Honey and Ayle Farm’s homemade granola. 

Commenting on the collaboration, Thurles native Emer Purcell and founder of Hampers & Co said, “I am very proud to partner with the Tipperary Food Producers to create this wonderful Hamper. Since I established Hampers & Co over 27 years ago, I have featured many products from Tipperary’s food producers in our hampers and they have always been much loved by everyone. When the opportunity came around to collaborate with the Tipperary Food Producers to create ‘A Taste of Tipperary’, I jumped at the chance. It’s great to reconnect with my home county and to celebrate Tipperary’s wealth of artisan food and beverage producers.”

The “Taste of Tipperary” Hamper is €70 and for more information and to purchase visit www.tipperaryfoodproducers.ie or hampersandco.com

Taste of the Week. Crossogue’s English Market Apricot Jam

Taste of the Week

Crossogue’s English Market Apricot Jam

“Creativity runs in the family.” That’s what you read on the Crossogue website. But I think there’s a fair bit of magic there too in that Tipperary kitchen.

Take their English Market Apricot Jam, for instance. You look at the ingredients and they are more or less the same as any other pot: sugar, apricots (41%), natural pectin, and citric acid. So how does this product turn out so spectacularly, so deliciously different from the norm. 

Spreading goodness, they say on top of the jar. Sprinkling magic, methinks. In the event, the result is superb and is our Taste of the Week. For a little more magic, try it on one (or two!) of those amazing Jerusalem Bagels by Cork’s Bread & Roses.

This English Market Apricot Jam is available from Roughty Foodie in the market, along with quite a few more offerings from the Molloy family in Crossogue.

Crossogue Preserves 

Ballycahill

Thurles

Co. Tipperary

Taste of the Week. Crossogue's Clementine & Limoncello Marmalade

Taste of the Week

Clementine & Limoncello Marmalade

by Crossogue Preserves

Regular winners at the World Marmalade Awards, Tipperary’s Crossogue Preserves keep coming up with new combinations. I got the latest, a Clementine & Limoncello Marmalade from Margo Ann at the Roughty Fruity Stall in the English Market and it is now our Taste of the Week.

One of the other ingredients is Lemon so there is something of a tang there along with the sweetness of the Clementine (the fruit is not as bitter as some other oranges) and the Limoncello (made from the zest rather than the more bitter fruit). Indeed, the marmalade seems to carry an almost Asian sweet and sour touch and Margo Ann suggests it may be handy around Christmas time.

I’m not waiting until then. Nor should you. Lather it over a slice of fresh sourdough and enjoy the current Taste of the Week! And don't forget all those other award winning marmalades from Crossogue!

Crossogue Preserves 

Crossogue House

Ballycahill

Thurles

Co. Tipperary

Tel: 00 353 (0)504 54416

Taste of the Week. Crossogue’s Loganberry Jam

Taste of the Week

Crossogue’s Loganberry Jam

Having been born and spent my early years in Kenya, I moved to Ireland to marry a wonderful Irish man and together we run the family farm Crossogue. Now 50 years of marriage later with six children and thirteen grand children, I am still here and have enjoyed the journey it has all taken me on!

That is briefly, very briefly, the story of Veronica of Crossogue Preserves. The preserves are a relatively recent addition to the farm, just over twenty two years. And they just get better and better as the flow of prizes and awards (sixty alone from Great Taste) underline.

Must say I'm not sure that their Loganberry Jam features among the prize-winners but it is a beauty. I got mine at the Roughty in the English Market and Margo Ann told go home now and try that out and then tell me it's not “the real thing”. I never had a doubt. It is top notch and our Taste of the Week.

And here’s a tip to get even extra out of it. Use it with cheese, with sheeps cheese in particular. I had this in mind in the market and bought a wedge of Vincenzo’s Pecorino (made in Toonsbridge by an Italian). Serve that with a dash of the loganberry and you have an even better taste of the week. Enjoy!

Margo Ann’s A Champion. And So Are Her Producers

Margo Ann’s A Champion
And So Are Her Producers

Family affair.

Cork Business Woman of the Year 2017

This award is to recognise the outstanding achievements of one business woman in Cork who has demonstrated exceptional ability in her business and proven her desire to succeed is of great benefit to their business and community. Our winner this evening comes from a business family that are well known throughout Cork and having taken over the family fruit business of her parents in the English market, she was Ireland's first female bookie, and today runs her business that stocks the largest range of artisan food products in the South of Ireland. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Cork Business Woman of the Year 2017 is Margo Ann Murphy of the Roughty Fruit King.

When Margo Ann heard these words on the recent Business Cork Awards night, she “was in shock”. “I was the outsider of the field.” It was a competitive category and she didn't expect to win. Her sister noticed: “Will you be able to go up?” Of course she would; the shock was temporary!

She told afterwards that it was a great boost to her food business in the heart of the English. Over the past six or seven years (from 2011), the focus has shifted from fruit to quality artisan food and Margo Ann says the award is a boost for her many producers. “They are small producers, most of them in rural Ireland which is dying. We need to support them.”

And it's a two way street. She is loyal to the producers and they to her. When I interviewed Margo Ann’s brother Garrett a few years back he listed some of the suppliers for me and most, such as the Big Red Kitchen, are still going strong in the market. 

Sometimes in the past year, I've found it hard enough to find honey around town. But never a bother at the Roughty (now becoming known as the Roughty Foodie!). It was the same earlier in the week when I met Margo Ann. There were at least three suppliers on the shelves; Galtee (their bees explore the mountain flowers and heathers), Ballyvourney (mainly from blackberry flowers) and Youghal (coastal flowers mainly). “The honey is not heated, not pasteurised. It is raw,” she told me.

And speaking of blackberries, she told me she used to pick blackberries when she was a kid of eight and her foraged berries ended up at the Michelin starred Arbutus Lodge in the city. And not too far from the Arbutus she also picked fruit at the Rathcooney Fruit Farm and has been making jam at home for years.

So, if Margo Ann says that the blackberry jam made by Nicola of the Big Red Kitchen is good, and she does, it is an opinion based on long experience. Indeed, she has praise for all the Big Red Kitchen jams which come in a choice of small and large jars. And Margo Ann also pointed to the home made mincemeat as a good one for this time of year. And got even more excited when highlighting the Spiced Plum and Port. “This is great, especially with duck, with cheese, with the turkey and ham.”

One of many hampers

Tipperary’s Crossogue are also mainstays at the Roughty. They have won dozens of awards for their innovative products and Margo Ann has great time for Veronica. Veronica’s Damson and Port Jelly won Triple Gold at the 2016 Great Taste Awards and more recently her Lime and Tequila marmalade won gold at the World’s Original Marmalade Awards. There is quite a selection of Crossogue products in the stall here and Margo Ann highlighted the Orange and Damson marmalade.

At the very start I had asked Margo Ann what was the product most in demand. And she did surprise me by saying it was jam. “People are very interested in homemade jams. They are aware of what they want.” Margo Ann may not be picking the fruit herself anymore but she sure knows where to source good quality food in Ireland.

There are too many foods and drinks to mention them all but these are some that I spotted. Didn't know that Highbank Orchards now have an organic treacle as well as their apple syrup, both are here. Spices from Green Saffron, seaweeds from Wild Irish Sea Veg, gift hampers of different kinds and sizes, ginger beer and more by Black Castle, chocolate from Skelligs and O’Conaill’s, biscuits from Seymours and Lismore……

Syrup. And treacle

And it is not just food you’ll find in this packed stall. There is an outstanding display of colourful candles from Valentia Island, all containing essential oils (citrus, cinnamon, honey, lime, to name but a few). You’ll see colourful knitted mitts from Sneem, soaps from Ballinskelligs, even a goats milk soap from County Clare.

So produce from all over, good stuff and certainly the producers deserve major kudos. But well done to to the lady that brings it all together in the heart of the English Market, Margo Ann Murphy, the Business Cork Businesswoman of the Year 2017!

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