Real Ciders from the Cider Mill and Apple Farm. Each is an honest expression of the orchard and the fruit.

The Cider Mill Ciderkin, 4.0% ABV, 

500 ml bottle, Dunnes Stores

amongst the finest drinks produced in Ireland.

A cider for harvest-time or indeed any other celebration. The aromas are not as delicate as some reviewers write; they are expressive, undoubtedly so, and hint strongly enough too of

Taste of the Week. On the double. At last, a bit of colour in the garden

Taste of the Week

On the double

Once the sun comes out, you don't have that long to enjoy, so best to be prepared.

I took my own advice and bought a bottle of Kriek, a Belgian cherry-infused lambic beer, from Bradley's in North Main Street, a few weeks back. The weeks went by, no real sign of summer. 

But it turned up last

Taste of the Week. The Apple Farm’s Apple Crisps

Taste of the Week

The Apple Farm’s Apple Crisps

Have you had the opportunity to try the Apple Farm Apple Crisps? If not, do look out for them as they are our Taste of the Week.

Con Traas makes his delicious product with slow-dried Irish Elstar Apples.  He grows some sixty varieties of apple in Cahir and the October ripening Elstar is the one chosen for these gorgeous crisps.

They are little circles of delight. The first “feel” on your tongue may lack promise. But just give it a second or two. Then the dried apple softens and the magical apple juices start to flow across the palate.

Quite a delight and glad to mention it here as Taste of the Week.

Check out their website, including online shop, for more details.

Taste of the Week. Cherries from The Apple Farm

Taste of the Week

Cherries from The Apple Farm

The juicy and delicious cherries grown on Con Traas’s Apple Farm are simply superb! It's been four years since I featured these beauties as Taste of the Week.

Easy to appreciate these juicy fruits. But not easy to grow. If that were the case, you’d find them in every farmers market. When grown in Ireland, cherries need protection for a number of reasons, and typically most growers use some form of simple tunnel to grow them in. 

Thanks to Con and his team for making the extra effort. Put these cherries on your list if you’re anywhere near the Apple Farm, just a few minutes off the M8 on the N24 (Cahir-Clonmel Road)! Lots of other fruit available too, in season.

We bought a few boxes during a recent visit and, of course, the first thing to do is to eat a few simply as they are. Step it up a bit by making the classic French dessert flan called Clafoutis.

This time, I "discovered" another delicious way. As the Clafoutis was being prepared, I remembered I had a bottle of Rutherford Muscat produced by the Pfeiffers of Rutherford Glen in Australia. The Glen is rightly famous for its dessert wine and you'd be hard pushed to find a better wine to go with the Tipperary cherries!

As I write this, I'm finishing off the final cherries - the Clafoutis long gone. The wine from Oz is also almost gone. So I enjoy  the last few sips with raw cherries. Cheers and cherrio!

"More pétillant than fizzy". Another amazing new cider from Killahora:

Another amazing new cider from Killahora: "more pétillant than fizzy"

Killahora Orchards Bottle Conditioned Dry Bittersweet Cider 2019, 5.9%, 750ml (champagne style) bottle

Colour is close to that of apple juice. Quite murky though, so you won’t see the bubbles rising unless you look down on top of the glass. Remember though that the goal here was “to be more pétillant than overly fizzy” and that has certainly been achieved.

Aromas are definitely of the orchard. There’s quite a posse of flavours on the palate, delicious light fruit flavours (not just those of an Irish orchard), moderate spices too, and just the slightest hint of the oak. Amazingly well balanced and a long dry finish. 

Be sure and swirl this around on the palate, the better to appreciate the many qualities of a rather special drink, a flavourful and honest record of the south-facing Killahora slopes where the apples were grown and the cider made.

This is a “first production” version, a blend of some of their finest ciders from 2019 (mostly), barrel-aged and allowed to mature in the cellar. “It is our first production of a pure dry bottle conditioned cider made from 100% juice, wild fermented and with nothing added. Serve at 8-10 degrees and with spicy foods or meat.”

That blend? Killahora: It’s a ‘3 year blend’ inspired by Belgian Oude Gueze – so takes c. 30% from 2018 barrel aged cider, 55% from 2019 barrel aged and the remaining 15% from our 2020 harvest from the fermentation tank.  This hadn’t fully fermented so gave a bit of residual sugar but more importantly a fermentation kickstart – we didn’t want to add commercial yeast.” The final label will have a gold foil on it and will be based around a 2020 blend, but with very similar characteristics.

The producers recommend a serving temp of 8-12 degrees.  “Chill horizontally and pour first few glasses without pause to minimise sediment if the aesthetics are preferred – however there is a lot of goodness in the lees so don’t be shy to drink it!”

“As a pairing,” they say, “this is robust in taste so would go well with pork belly, Korean chicken wings, Mexican, oily fish like mackerel and funky cheeses.”  We tried it with Pork Belly (with some apple sauce made from The Apple Farm’s Bramleys) and it worked a treat.

Killahora have noted “more interest internationally in these natural wine style productions which really show off the potential complexity of cider when we step away from the more accepted methods of industrial production.  Would appeal to natural wine and lambic drinkers as well as seasoned cider drinkers.” Personally, I’m not too sure you need to be a seasoned cider drinker to enjoy this beauty, our Taste of the Week.

Taste of the Week. Clafoutis, with Plums from the Apple Farm

Taste of the Week. 

Clafoutis, with plums from the Apple Farm  

Clafoutis, that easy and classic French dessert, is usually made with cherries. We missed out on the recent cherry harvest at The Apple Farm.

But we weren't going to miss out on their plums. Con Traas and his team grow Opal plums and you can now get them at their farm shop on the road between Cahir and Clonmel. We called up last week and packed our bags with fruits and juices and included plenty of those plums of course.

So what do you do with a lot of plums aside from popping them into your mouth one at a time? Clafoutis, of course. You'll find many recipes on the internet. Ours turned out very well indeed, a superb Taste of the Week.

Time for a trip to Tipp?

All the details  (directions, opening times) here at The Apple Farm

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

CORK FOOD: NEW PRODUCTS, NEW PLACES

CORK FOOD: NEW PRODUCTS, NEW PLACES

Interesting stroll around town yesterday, after fuelling up with a coffee and scone at Electric on the Mall.

Called into Nash 19   for Karmine’s new product: Cider

SUGARLESS SEVILLE ORANGE MARMALADE (2)

Tipperary apple grower Cornelius Traas of Tipp's Apple Farm has been in touch after our recent article where apple juice concentrate was used in the making of marmalade instead of sugar. (read original post (a short one) here)

Cornelius wrote: "We now have one apple grower (Calderpotts Highbank Farm and Orchard near Kilkenny) making an apple juice concentrate that could be used as a sugar substitute like you suggest Billy. However, the low cost of Chinese concentrate (which is probably what Meridian are using) compared to the high cost of growing the apples and making the concentrate here would probably push that jar up by about 4 euros, almost trebling the price to the consumer. At the moment I use the Highbank apple syrup in Glenilen natural yoghurt. Beautiful, and a great way to get small kids to eat natural yoghurt." 


Reply: Thanks for that. Can't beat inside knowledge. I was just highlighting it in case there was an opportunity. 

Cornelius: "And I would not rule it out in the future Billy. Things change over time, and we may become more competitive as our costs fall and their costs rise. It's good to be considering things all the time." 


Just in case you don't know, Cornelius makes what I consider one of the best Irish artisan products. It is a Sparkling Apple Juice. Do yourself a favour and try it out.

The Apple Company in Cahir

THE CHAMPAGNE OF APPLE JUICES

This is my favourite apple drink: The Apple Farm of Tipperary Sparkling Apple Juice. I have previously called this the champagne of apple juices and see no reason whatsoever to change my mind after my most recent tasting which came at the weekend when I bought a couple of bottles (€2.50 for a small bottle but well worth it) of this premium apple juice from The Pantry Stand in the Midleton Food Market. The Pantry obviously has good taste as this is available in their Midleton restaurant.

How is it made?