THE APPLE FARMER

THE APPLE FARMER

Driving along the tree lined avenue to the Apple Farm in Moorstown (near Cahir) on the last day of November, I was expecting everything to be very quiet. Instead, it was quietly busy.

Con, with a fairly mature plum tree

The fruit trees, mainly apple and plum, may be more or less dormant but the maintenance work goes on. That was especially evident in the strawberry beds, raised on metal supports, where the dying vegetation was being trimmed back, leaving the crowns.

Technique and timing are each important in the out of season work, especially in the pruning of the trees, and owner Con Traas is confident in the skills of his crew.

Con, whose family came here from Holland in the late 60s, was at his desk, working on the winter edition of The Apple Club Newsletter. Typical of the man, the 1500 copies are printed on recycled paper.

He plays a leading role in the food community in Tipperary, always keen to promote a good product (not just from Tipp) and always keeping an eye on the big supermarkets, especially on their “special” offers.

Con may be vastly experienced in fruit farming but is always willing to learn. He had a PhD student in during the summer studying the bumble bees on the farm and Con learned that he had five species. The student learned a lot and so did Con: “I now know for sure that, if I want plenty of bees to be there to pollinate my apple trees, that I must do my utmost to ensure…plenty of flowering plants to feed my bees when the apples themselves are not in flower.”

Con took time off from the computer to take us on a tour, starting in the shop which is so well stocked with fruit, jams and juices. Then we saw his new processing shed, white and bright and nearing completion. While much of the work in the fields is manual, processing is largely mechanical as we saw when we visited the sorting and juicing areas.

Apple Storage too is pretty high-tech as they are kept in a Controlled Atmosphere within the containers. The amount of oxygen, controlled within the container, plays a big role here in keeping the apples nice and fresh and crispy for you when you need them, even a few months from now.

Then, back to the shop to fill the bags with loads of juice, including my favourite, The Sparkling Irish Apple Juice, fruit (eating and cooking apples) and also lots of jam (mainly the plum, another favourite).

THE APPLE FARM

THE APPLE FARM


Enjoyed some exceptional plum jam at lunchtime. Spread it out on some pieces of a sliced bloomer from ABC in the English Market and..Wow!!.


Bought the jam last week from the Apple Farm in Tipperary. Just brilliant. If you can’t find it in stock in Cork, drive up to Cahir. It is only up the road. Worth it! It is very easy to get to and something to do on a bad day.


The shop is on the edge of Con Trass’ fruit farm and is a few miles outside of Cahir on the main road to Clonmel. Of course, you may also buy online.


Con makes one of my all time favourite Irish drinks: Sparkling Apple Juice. They were actually bottling some of it as I visited.


Stocked up on that (plus one of Sparkling Apple and Blackcurrant Juice)  and also loads of the well known Karmine Apple Juice. Jars and jars of jam: apple, strawberry and that fabulous plum!


The apple harvest doesn’t begin until later this month and we were between strawberry pickings and there were none ready but should be there in abundance this week. But there were lots of those plums and we got a pack or two.


Soon we were on the road with two big boxes full of fruit drinks, jam and fruit. Apples have been grown in this area for hundreds of years, and since 1968, Con Trass has been planting more orchards to increase supply. Read all about this fascinating venture here. Every county should have at least one fruit farm like this. Maybe Con might start a chain!

SUPER DRINKS

SUPER DRINKS

It was in the poems of 1963 Nobel prize winner Giorgos Seferis, a Greek, that I first remember coming across the exotic word pomegranate. And it was a long time after that that the fruit, especially its juice, became generally available in this country.

I was reminded of this as I was tasting some samples from the widely available Pomegreat range, not just your plain Pomegranate but some unexpected blends. I tasted two of these, the first with Blueberry and the second with Beetroot. The Blueberry was fine but I must admit that I was more than pleasantly surprised by the Beetroot blend, quite a nice rounded drink. The plain also was fine.

The range is widely available (including Dunnes and Superquinn) and costs around two euro a litre.

A recent study by a group of doctors at St. Bartholomew’s and the Royal London Hospital has been particularly important in supporting the claim that Beetroot is of super food status. Read more here.

Pomegreat, the makers of the pomegranate super juice drinks, claim that these drinks can help in the lowering of blood pressure and you may study that report here 

The Apple Farm in Cahir

CAHIR'S APPLE FARM
No shortage of wine as the Good Food Week opened in the English Market but it was a humbler liquid that provided me with one of the most memorable tastes of the event. And that was a glass of sparkling apple juice made by the Apple Farm in Cahir, Co. Tipperary. I have tasted some lovely apple products, mainly in Austria and Switzerland, but this is the champagne of the type and well worth seeking out.
The Apple Farm, warmly praised in the 2010 Bridgestone Irish Food Guide, has been in business for over a decade but the sparkler is a recent addition. Welcome it with open mouths!
The Farm is NO 127 on our photo while you’ll find Whelan Butchers (also Good Food Ireland member) at 124.

Get your Apple Farm products at:

Good Things Café, Durrus, West Cork

Well & Good Healthfood shop, Broderick St., Midleton, East Cork

Waterfall Farms, Waterfall, Cork

O'Keeffe's Shop, 3 Wellington Road, St. Lukes Cross, Cork City

Ballymaloe House, Shanagarry, Co. Cork

Nash 19 Restaurant, 19 Princes St., Cork

Check out my review of The Apple Farm - I am cork - on Qype