Festive Food

THE IRISH POST CHRISTMAS FOOD SPECIAL | DECEMBER 17, 2011

A taste of festive Ireland Irish brands for the perfect Christmas

Eat Like A Girl’s Niamh Shields cooks up some delicious seasonal fare

2 | December 17, 2011

The Irish Post

Christmas

Star grazing Nadim Sadek Chief Islander, Inish Turk Beg, Co. Mayo Earliest food memory?

My parents worked with the World Health Organisation, and my earliest memory is around the age of four, when they were stationed in Nigeria, and I simply could not stop eating mangoes. I still love them today. Juicy, big, rich ones! The mess they make of you is amazing as a kid. You find bits of your arm and hands that you can lick for hours, with sticky mango coming back to life all over the place.

Most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

When I lived in Indonesia I ate a rat, in a tiny, rural town. I didn’t know it at the time. It was prepared on a skewer over a barbeque, with peanut sauce, rice and cucumber. It’s odd that I found it delicious, like chicken, and also that I’ve never got over the idea of it — I still retch at the thought.

Steak — well done, medium or rare?

So rare, it’s still almost talking to you. There is nothing like fillet steak chopped (not minced), into a steak tartare — with raw egg, diced onions, Tabasco, some brandy and a few other special ingredients, served with toast. It should always be the plain, white bread toast, not the fancy stuff restaurants are trying to serve up these days!

The perfect meal?

The perfect meal is about the food, the drink, the company and the place. Possibly the greatest pleasure comes from a Sunday lunch out with all the family, in a comfortable place full of light and candles, with traditional lamb or beef, roast potatoes, vegetables, and a pudding that knocks you out at the end, as your body sighs under the weight of indulgence and your tongue happily wags with the drinks you’ve had. It’s satisfying, cheery, and a time to review the week and look ahead to the next. Traditions are there for a reason, and Sunday lunch is a central plank in civilised life.

What’s your favourite restaurant?

People go out for lots of reasons. I like to think of a special restaurant as somewhere that captures the imagination, transports you to a different frame of mind, and that serves up food you couldn’t possibly make yourself. I love our local Italian that feels like a kitchen out of home, and I love Zuma in Knightsbridge for the amazing calamari and its sense of elegance. But most of all, I love the beaches of Inishturkbeg in Co. Mayo, where we grab the lobsters out of the water, the mackerel off our lines, and right there and then, cooking spuds in the Atlantic’s salt water, we have a natural feast more fresh and healthy and tasty than we ever know in a mere building.

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Not so traditional Christmas fare Waterford cook and author Niamh Shields on how to achieve a stress-free and delicious Christmas dinner

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LOVE Christmas, most of the time at least. Those first few days before we are all ground down with the intensity of the silly season, and we are all still very happy to see each other, are joyous.

As I live in London, I see some Irish friends only at this time, so I like to make the most of it. I spend most of Christmas week out and about, calling to friends and family, sharing many a hot port in pubs in my hometown of Dungarvan in Waterford.

It is definitely a time for feasting too. Big Christmas dinners are wonderful, but such hard work for whoever takes on the task. So many people dislike turkey too. My own mother is not a fan of turkey — I am when it is cooked well but that is a whole other story for another time. There are lots of delicious alternatives and I am going to share one of my favourite ones here, along with some nice accompaniments which will make your Christmas dinner preparations less intense. Your oven does the bulk of the work while you sleep, and you wake up to the most delicious smells radiating from your oven, up the stairs and into your bedroom, converting all in your house into early morning bisto kids.

What is this magic I speak of ?

Overnight slow roast shoulder of pork. I adore this dish, both for the day that I make it, and also for the leftovers, which are so delicious that they rarely last more than a day or two at most.

Before I go to bed, I start the pork shoulder, roasting it briefly to start the crackling and reducing to a very low

HOT PORT

Manhattan Peanuts Ltd are proud members of Guaranteed Irish Ltd.

We love hot ports at Christmas, both at home and in the pub.

They’re perfect if you want a quick hot drink too. Mulled wine takes time and needs to be made in relatively large batches whereas it is very quick and easy to make a hot port for one.

Serves 1

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70ml port 70ml just boiled hot water 1 tsp brown sugar 1 unwaxed lemon slice, studded with 4 cloves

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Dissolve the sugar in the hot water and add the port. Lightly squeeze the lemon slice in and add the slice. Serve immediately.

Easy!

temperature, allowing the meat to cook gently while I sleep. I cook it for 12 hours, as I am often up late on Christmas eve, this is the perfect time. You can cook it a bit longer if you like to go to bed earlier too — it can easily take a few more hours and will taste even better for it — at this temperature it is almost impossible to overcook it, as long as you don’t go to extremes.

Pork shoulder is a fatty cut, but don’t let that put you off.

Slow roasted as I do here, most is rendered out leaving delicious rich meat and the fat left in the pan will make the best roast potatoes. Strain it and store it in your fridge if you have any leftovers. The crackling is both tender and crisp, as it gets a quick blast, a very slow roast, and then a quick blast at the end to finish. Get your butcher to score the skin for you, and ensure that he leaves the bone in, this results in the best flavoured and most tender meat.

On the side? I like — of course — some crisp roast potatoes, cooked slowly in the pork fat, although olive oil works well too.

For best results, cook floury peeled potatoes until just done, then bash them around in the pan so you get fluffy edges.

These fluffy edges will become fantastic crisp bits as you roast them.

With the pork itself, I love a spiced apple relish, simply an apple sauce flavoured with nutmeg, chill and cinnamon, with sweet and sour provided by sugar and cider vinegar. If you are not a fan of chilli, you can leave it out, but I would encourage you to use just a little

Niamh Shields. bit for its fruitiness.

I also love a croquette, who can resist them? Homemade of course, and these are very easy too. For a Christmas dinner with a difference I like to use the underrated and fabulous celeriac. Don’t let it’s ugliness offend you, underneath that knobbly skin is a delicious root vegetable.

And there you have it, and easy, different and delicious Christmas lunch. Freeing you up to celebrate with your nearest and dearest and minimising fretting in the kitchen. Happy Christmas to you!

■ Co. Waterford-born Niamh Shields is a food writer and one of Britain’s best known food bloggers.

Her blog eatlikeagirl.com is a foodie’s delight, featuring original recipes. Her debut cookbook Comfort and Spice is out now published by Quadrille.

The Irish Post

December 17, 2011 | 3

food special

but oh so tasty COMFORT & SPICE

Overnight shoulder of pork with spiced apple relish This is a great weekend roast and special occasion dish and I’ve made it for Christmas, which gifted me a stressfree Christmas Day. The pork chugged away nicely on its own and left me with only a small amount to do on the day itself. A 12-hour roast results in meltingly tender pork you can pull apart with your fingers and sensational crackling.

I add cider vinegar to the relish as I find its sharpness great with rich pork. It’s sublime in a sandwich (with the meat and crackling) in a fluffy Irish blaa. When thinking leftovers, think fennel, sage, lemon, beans, cabbage and mustard.

Serves 8 3.5-4kg bone-in shoulder of pork, skin scored by your butcher sea salt For the spiced apple sauce 6 Bramley apples 50ml cider vinegar 50g caster sugar 1 nutmeg 2 cinnamon sticks, broken up 1 red chilli, chopped Method Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7. Boil a kettle and place the pork on a wire rack, skin side up, in the sink. Pour boiling water over the skin and drain. This puffs up the skin so it’s ready to crackle. Wipe the skin bone dry with kitchen paper. Salt it with coarse sea salt.

Roast for 20 minutes, cover with foil and reduce the oven temperature to 120°C/250°F/gas mark 1/2. Roast for 11 hours. Remove the foil, return the heat to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7 and roast for 10-15 minutes.

You should have perfect crackling. Ensure you don’t burn it at this stage and ruin all your hard work! Rest for at least 15 minutes. The pork will be so tender you can serve it with a spoon.

Meanwhile, peel and core the apples and boil with 50ml water, the vinegar, sugar and spices until the apples are mushy. Serve with the spices still in.

Tip: the pork fat rendered out in the slow roasting process is terrific with roast spuds. Even better than goose fat, I say. Save it in a bowl or jar in your fridge.

Potato croquettes are a fond childhood memory.

When we were teenagers my sister started making them with fresh herbs and I never looked back. Potato mash with herbs, breadcrumbed and deep-fried, what’s not to love?

For something a little different I use mashed celeriac and roll it into small ping pong-sized balls to make really good snack food for friends. Celeriac is a little soggier than potato, but it does mash very well.

However, my favourite way of doing these (and the quickest) is to cut the celeriac into chips before breadcrumbing and deep-frying, as I do here. They make perfect grazing food: different, unexpected and delicious.

Celeriac croquettes Enough for 6-8 as part of a spread 1kg celeriac 100g breadcrumbs 1 egg, beaten 100g plain flour sea salt freshly ground black pepper 300ml light oil (groundnut or sunflower), to deep-fry Cut the celeriac into chips about 1cm wide and 3cm long.

Method Place the breadcrumbs in a shallow dish, the egg in another and the flour in a third. Season the flour well.

Coat the celeriac chips first in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs.

Heat the oil in a deep pan, or deep fat fryer, until a cube of bread fizzes and browns quickly when added.

Fry the celeriac until the breadcrumbs brown, drain on kitchen paper and serve with Tarragon Mayonnaise.

Left: Peeling the celeriac.

Right: A perfect roast shoulder of pork.

TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS ROAST CHRISTMAS dinner is the food highlight for most over the festive season. You can’t beat a roast dinner with all the trimmings. A traditional recipe with Roast Christmas turkey Serves 12-14 Ingredients 7 kg turkey, oven ready Salt, black pepper and a little flour 2 tbls. softened butter 8 slices streaky bacon Stuffing 450g bread broken into pieces 6 tbls. fresh parsley chopped 2 tbls. fresh thyme chopped 1 medium onion, cut into quarters Salt and black pepper 100g-150g butter, softened To Cook Cooking time 31⁄2 hours approximately Method To make the stuffing Place the bread, parsley, thyme and onion in a food processor.

Process until you have fine breadcrumbs and the onion is finely chopped. Remove to a bowl, season and mix in the butter.

To stuff the turkey Loosen the skin at the neck end

turkey or beef is often the roast of choice. So we’ve teamed up with Bord Bia to show you how to make the perfect dinner this December 25.

with your hands. Pack the stuffing in, pushing it up between the flesh and the skin, but not too tighlty because it will expand during cooking. Tuck the neck flap under the bird’s back and secure with a coctail stick. Any remaining stuffing can be cooked in a covered baking dish with the turkey. Weigh the turkey and calculate the cooking time. Allow 30-40 minutes per kg. (Allow 20-30 mins per kg for turkeys weighing over 8kg).

Place the turkey breast side up in an oiled roasting tin.

To cook the turkey Set the oven at Gas Mark 7, 220°C (450°F).

Season the turkey with salt and pepper and dust with a little flour.

Rub all over with the butter, then lay the bacon slices on the breast, overlapping each other. Cover the bacon with a piece of buttered grease proof paper. This will keep the bacon in place. Wrap the turkey in foil and roast in the preset oven.

After the first 30 minutes, reduce the heat to Gas Mark 3 (170°C or 325°F). Baste a couple of times

during roasting. For the last half hour, remove the foil.

To check if the turkey is cooked, pierce the thickest part of the leg, the juices should run clear.

When the turkey is cooked remove from the oven and transfer to a large plate. Reserve the cooking juices in the tin to make the gravy. Cover the turkey loosely with foil and allow to rest for half an hour in a warm place until you are ready to serve it.

Guide to good gravy A well flavoured stock is important, so a day ahead, place the giblets, some onion slices and a bay leaf in a saucepan. Cover with water, then simmer gently for 11⁄2-2 hours.

Then strain and season.

After removing the turkey from the roasting tin, pour off the fat and leave behind the juices. Over a medium heat, stir in a tablespoon of flour. Blend well. Add a dash of wine. Continue to cook. Stir in the stock and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

A tablespoon of redcurrent jelly, cream or balsamic vinegar will also add to the flavour. Season to taste.

Roast beef If turkey’s not your thing then beef is a great alternative for Christmas dinner. If you’re looking for top quality, tender beef that’s bursting with flavour, then grass-fed beef is the perfect choice. Irish beef farmers are committed to sustainable farming, reducing their carbon footprint and preserving the environment for future generations. Ireland’s cool, moist summers and mild winters make it perfect for growing lush green grass. The country has the longest grass growing season in Europe — perfect for the cattle

that thrive on the clover-rich pastures, producing great tasting beef.

If you’re unsure of the right cut to choose for your roast season, we’ve asked the experts at Bord Bia for a few hints and tips.

Topside This is a traditional roasting joint that comes from the hind quarters and has minimal marbling, making it extra lean. It’s the most widely available roasting joint found in supermarkets.

Roast slowly with a little liquid, or add an extra layer of fat, which will help tenderise the joint, and

A joint of top quality grass-fed roast beef.

keep the meat moist.

Brisket Low in marbling and generally a less tender cut from the breast — it is ideal for pot roasting over a longer period of time. Prepared in this way, the beef will simply fall from the bone and its rich, distinct flavours will be released in full.

Top Roasting Tips ● For the best flavour and extra tenderness, make sure the beef is aged a minimum of three weeks. ● Remove the meat from the fridge an hour before cooking. ● Use a meat thermometer when roasting a joint — push the thermometer into a thick part of the joint without touching the bone: ● For a rare roast, remove from the oven when the thermometer reaches 150˚F (65˚C). ●For a medium roast, remove from the oven when the thermometer reaches 160˚F (70˚C). ● When calculating the cooking time, allow time for the meat to rest after roasting for up to 20 minutes. Try to slice it thinly so that you can enjoy the tenderness.

4 | December 17, 2011

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December 17, 2011 | 5

Christmas food special Tasty recipes to cook using the best of Irish produce Beef Burger with Ballymaloe Country Relish Serves 4-6 Ingredients: 15g (1/2 oz) butter 450g (1lb) minced beef, flank, chump or shin would be perfect 110g (4oz) chopped onions Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped 1 egg (preferably free range), beaten 55g (2oz) flour, seasoned with salt and pepper Olive oil for frying To Serve: Ballymaloe Country Relish 55g (2oz) grated cheddar cheese Method: Melt the butter in a pan, add the onions, cover and sweat until soft. Allow to cool, place in a bowl with all the other ingredients, mix well. Cook a little of the mixture in a pan and taste to check seasoning. Shape into burgers and toss in seasoned flour, patting off excess. Fry at a medium heat, turning as required until fully cooked. Top with grated cheese and place under the grill. While the cheese is melting toast the burger bun. Serve with Ballymaloe Country Relish.

All your favourite Irish brands now available to buy in Britain

VALEO FOODS is delighted to be working with Tesco UK on an exciting new venture to bring much-loved Irish brands to the British market. Valeo Foods is home to some of Ireland’s leading grocery brands, under one exciting new business. Our enviable

portfolio of iconic Irish brands include Amigo, Batchelors, Bolands, Chef, Erin, Fruitfield, Jacob’s, Lustre, Odlums, Picnic, Roma, Silvermints, Shamrock and Sqeez. Ballymaloe Country Relish is another branded partner of Valeo Foods

Delicious baking recipes to try at home Lustre Pear and Almond Flan

Ingredients Pastry 250g/9oz Odlums Cream Plain Flour 25g/1oz Icing Sugar 50g/2oz Shamrock Ground Almonds 175g/6oz Margarine 1 Egg Cold Water Filling 50g/2oz Margarine 50g/2oz Caster Sugar 1 Egg 50g/2oz Odlums Cream Plain Flour 50g/2oz Shamrock Ground Almonds 2 tablespoons Milk Few drops Almond Essence 1 tin (410g) Lustre Pear Halves (drained)

Method Preheat oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Grease a 24cm/9.5” round tin, preferably loose bottomed.

Make pastry by sieving the flour and icing sugar into a bowl; mix in the ground almonds. Rub in the margarine and bind together with the egg and a little cold water to make the pastry.

Lightly knead, cover and allow to chill.

Next, make the filling by creaming the margarine and sugar together/ Beat in the egg. Stir in the flour, ground almonds, milk and essence.

Roll out pastry and line the prepared tin. Spread filling evenly over pastry.

Arrange the pear halves, with rounded side facing up, on top of filling.

Bake for about 35 minutes until risen and golden brown.

Leave in tin to ‘set’ for 10 minutes, then remove and serve warm with cream or ice cream.

Odlum’s Traditional Brown Bread Ingredients 200g/7oz Odlums Cream Plain Flour 250g/9oz Odlums Wheatmeal 1 teaspoon Shamrock Bread Soda 1 level teaspoon Salt 1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar 1 tablespoon Odlums Oat Bran 1 tablespoon Odlums Wheat Germ 1 tablespoon Odlums Wheat Bran 25g/1oz Margarine 1 teaspoon Honey 1 Egg (beaten) 12-14fl oz/350-400ml Buttermilk Topping (optional): Odlums Pinhead Porridge Oats

Erin Shepherd’s Pie Ingredients: 450g (1lb) lean minced beef 1 onion, chopped 2 carrots, diced 400g can of garden peas 450g (1lb) potatoes, cooked & mashed 50g (2oz) grated cheddar cheese Method: 1. Pre-heat oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas Mark 5. Place the mince, onion, carrots and peas into a saucepan. Cook over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes.

2. Blend the Shepherd’s Pie mix with 300ml of cold water. Add to the mince and vegetables. Cover and cook for 20 minutes.

3. Place in an ovenproof dish. Top with the mashed potato and cheese. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes.

Enjoy a generous helping!

Method Preheat the oven to 210°C/425°F/Gas 7. Lightly grease a 19cm/8” deep cake tin or two 900g/2lb loaf tins.

Sieve the cream flour, salt, bread soda and cream of tartar into a bowl.

Add the wheatmeal, oat bran, wheat germ and wheat bran and mix well.

Rub in the margarine. Mix the egg, honey and buttermilk together and add sufficient liquid to the dry ingredients. Mix to a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured board and knead. Place into the prepared tin or tins and cut a cross on top.

Sprinkle some pinhead on top if used.

Bake for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5 for a further 30 minutes approx.

When cooked it should have a hollow sound when tapped underneath.

Wrap in a clean tea towel to cool.

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The Irish Post

Christmas food special

Tasty recipes for Clonakilty Blackpudding Co C

LONAKILTY Blackpudding Co produces award-winning black and white puddings. And from humble beginnings in a farmhouse in Co. Cork the brand has grown to be one of Ireland’s favourites.

In the late 1880s, Philip Harrington began to produce black pudding, which was often sent overseas to the Irish abroad who longed for the taste of home. The company’s secret recipe has since been handed down through generations and its success has continued to grow. The recipe is now only know to Colette Twomey.

Clonakilty Blackpudding Co’s unique beef-based black pudding is unlike other black puddings, which are pork-based.

And while traditionally a breakfast treat,

Clonakilty Blackpudding Co, Goats’ Cheese and Roast Beetroot tart Ingredients For the pastry: 225g Plain Flour 100g Butter Pinch Salt 2-3 tbsp water 280g Clonakilty Blackpudding Co 300g Soft Goat’s cheese 200g Beetroot Cherry Tomatoes, Rocket and Mixed Herbs to serve Method Rub flour, butter and salt together to form a breadcrumb consistency, add water to form ball and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Roll out pastry, and line a fluted tin, blind bake at 180°C for 20

Clonakilty Blackpudding Co’s black and white puddings can be displayed in a variety of recipes. See below.

In 1986, Clonakilty Blackpudding Co, with the help of the food facility at University College Cork, developed a white pudding to complement the original black pudding.

The white pudding recipe is an original Twomey creation and has also enjoyed great success since its introduction.

That same year a traditional sausage, originally called Blasta and later renamed Ispíní, was also introduced. They were later included under the Clonakilty Blackpudding Co brand in 2001.

The rashers were the last step to completing the Clonakilty Blackpudding Co

minutes.

Quarter the beetroot and roast in a hot oven 200°C for 20 minutes until tender and caramelised.

Slice the Clonakilty Blackpudding Co and lightly fry or grill until warmed through.

Spread the soft goats’ cheese over the base of the tart and arrange the Clonakilty Blackpudding Co and roasted beetroot over it.

Garnish with cherry tomatoes, rocket and fresh herbs, drizzle with some of the beetroot juices

Clonakilty Blackpudding Co Burger Ingredients Makes 4 6oz Burgers 280g Clonakilty Blackpudding Co 400g Good Quality Minced Beef 1 Egg Yolk

Breakfast, when in 2003, two variants of Clonakilty Blackpudding Co Rasher were launched — Dry Cured and Oak Smoked.

Later in 2007, the Mild Cure thicker cut rasher was introduced, later followed by a thick cut Smoked rasher in 2009.

Clonakilty Blackpudding Co is currently running a Christmas Special Offer where you can buy any two puddings for £2.50 (a saving of 25 per cent RRP £1.69) at participating Budgens stores. The offer runs from December 15-31.

Due to great demand Clonakilty Blackpudding Co is expanding into major British supermarkets. For a full list of stores in Britain selling Clonakilty Blackpudding Co go to www.clonakiltyblackpudding.ie

1 Small Onion Salt and Pepper Method Finely dice the onion Mix All the ingredients together thoroughly Divide into 6oz portions Shape firmly to a round burger patty Place in the fridge, covered, and allow to chill for at least one hour Cook evenly on both sides until fully cooked Can be cooked under a grill, on a pan, or best on a BBQ! Serving Suggestion Serve your Clonakilty Blackpudding Co Burger on a warm burger bap, with your favourite relish, crisp lettuce and sautéed onions.

OR why not try some sliced avocado and your favourite cheese!

Valeo’s impressive portfolio

Barry’s Online Tea Shop

V

Miss Ireland sends a taste of Ireland to fellow contestants from around the globe

ALEO FOODS is one of Ireland’s leading food organisations boasting a strong portfolio of established and iconic consumer brands including Batchelors, Chef, Erin, Jacobs, Lustre, Odlums, Fruitfield, Old Time Irish, Sqeez and Shamrock. Many of these brands are steeped in Irish heritage and are indeed household names which have evolved throughout the generations.

Valeo Foods also represents some impressive Irish and international food brands, providing extensive route-tomarket services.

Group Head Office is located in Dublin, while a number of manufacturing and warehousing facilities operate across Ireland. The company is focused on developing these brands within the Irish market and indeed strengthening brand presence on an international stage. As a result, Valeo Foods is delighted to be working with Tesco in a drive to offer greater choice to British shoppers by bringing these much loved brands to the market.

many family meals, from delicious gravies and sauces to savoury rice and meal mixes. Erin allows you to spice up any meal in minutes.

and Apple juice, Sqeez also offers a diverse range of fruity juices such as Cranberry, Blueberry and Tropical juice.

Lustre is Ireland’s favourite canned Bolands has been a leading Irish fruit brand and is synonymous with manufacturer for almost 150 years and top quality produce. Canned is a brand synonymous Fruit is increasingly being with quality biscuits at an used as a convenient yet everyday price. The range healthy snack and most includes cream crackers popularly for desserts, and biscuits, with all time ranging from traditional favourites such as Fig trifle to pear and almond Rolls, Coconut Creams, tart. The extensive range Lemon Puffs and Elite includes fruit in natural Chocolate Kimberley. juice and in syrup. Some popular variants include Chef is a staple brand fruit cocktail, peaches, pears favourite in Irish and pineapple slices. Recent households, which has product innovations include Export manager for been enjoyed since 1921.

Lustre’s Route to Fruit an Chef is different to all the Jacob Fruitfield exciting range of snacking Rosaleen O’Hara Profile. rest as it has a truly pot fruit which are a unique taste that Irish convenient way to include fruit in consumers have grown to love. The children’s diets. unique blend of spices used in Chef Ketchup and Brown Sauce gives Chef a Odlums is Ireland’s spicy flavour. number one home baking Our brands… brand and is an integral Little Chip is Ireland’s favourite Batchelors is the part of Irish baking and marmalade. It’s a great Irish brand leading brand in canned cooking. Odlums is the only that is a unique element of our baked beans, peas and flour miller in the Republic heritage. Little Chip is a modern pulses in the Irish market. of Ireland, and has been day marmalade with a light but Best known for its milling and packing flour specific Little Chip flavour. Old irresistible baked beans, the for over 160 years. Odlums Time Irish is another firm family brand also offers a range of produces premium flour favourite, with a distinct taste. When other tasty and nutritious products in Ireland for it comes to marmalade Old Time Irish products including traditional home bakers, is the connoisseur’s choice- an Processed Peas, Mushy novice cooks, bakeries and intensely flavoured traditional Peas, Marrowfat Peas, Red retailers alike. marmalade.

National Account and Kidney Beans and Chick Export Manager at Valeo Peas.

Sqeez has been Double Centre is a classic Irish Foods Willie O’Toole. established for over 30 sweet assortment which dates back to For over 40 years, Erin has been the years and is the No. 1 ambient fruit 1938. It includes a unique and delicious trusted brand for quality, convenience juice brand in Ireland. In addition to selection of delicious milk and plain and choice. Erin is at the heart of everyday favourites like Pure Orange chocolates and toffees.

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HEN it comes to choosing the perfect winter warmer, Miss Ireland Holly Carpenter has it down to a t. Holly was on hand to help launch Barry’s Tea online store’s Christmas 2011 gift collection. And for the first time ever, custom made, limited-edition Santa’s Tea boxes will be available to purchase on www.barrystea.ie.

Holly, who is fresh off the stage of the Miss World pageant 2011 in London, will be sending Golden Moments to her fellow contestants around the globe using the Barry’s Tea Online Tea Shop this Christmas.

“I made so many friends from across the globe while I was taking part in the Miss World 2011 competition,” the Irish beauty said. “I drink Barry’s all the time and I can’t wait to send the rest of the girls a taste of Ireland from the Barry’s Tea Online Shop this Christmas.”

The Online Tea Shop, which hosts a

range of Barry’s Tea blends, from the flagship Gold Blend and the varied Speciality range, to bespoke Barry’s Tea merchandise has been a huge hit with Irish abroad.

The online store was designed to meet the needs of Barry’s Tea fans abroad who otherwise have no access to their favourite tea brand.

Barry’s Tea fans in Britain are the biggest users of Barry’s Tea online store followed closely by USA, Australia and, in fourth place, Germany.

Spokesperson Camille O’Flanagan said: “So many Irish abroad are delighted that Barry’s Tea has created an Online Tea Shop where they can purchase their favourite blend. It’s a fantastic feeling to be able to send our blends direct from our home in Cork to anywhere in the world.”

To order merchandise and Barry’s Tea online check out www.barrysteashop.ie

Miss Ireland Holly Carpenter knows her tea. Picture by Maxwell’s.