Food File: The weekly food news round-up

Hats off to talented young chefs
Fiona Drought, a student at Dublin Institute of Technology, is the Knorr student chef of the year 2014, having cooked a "symphony of Irish venison" for a panel of judges including TV cook and food writer Catherine Fulvio. Drought wins a dream gourmet trip to Italy, where she will eat at Osteria Francescana in Modena, and be taken on a gourmet tour of Verona.

Younger cooks might like to enter the Glenisk "Star Chef" to be in with a chance to win an iPad, plus a €500 voucher for Home Economics equipment for their school. The competition was launched at Cloughjordan House Cookery School (above), which runs courses for Transition Year students. The closing date is March 31st. See facebook.com/GleniskOrganic


Interesting bubbles
A carbonated drink with no sugar, no fat, no calories, that also happens to be good for you, and isn't H2O – could it be too good to be true? Mariko sparkling green tea is made with sencha green tea leaves, which are high in antioxidants, and low in caffeine. It is brewed in Belmullet, Co Mayo by Christine McAndrew and is now available in 140 outlets across the country including some SuperValus, Spars, Londis, Costcutters, as well as health food shops. The 250ml bottle costs from €1.99 and the 750ml costs from €3.99, depending on retail mark-up.

Egg it up
At first glance, plastic bottles of liquid egg and liquid egg white, seem like a convenience too far, but Cavan free-range egg supplier, O'Egg, has secured a contract to supply 58 Tesco outlets with the equivalent of half a million eggs per year, in bottles.

The eggs are pasteurised and come in bottles each containing either 15 egg whites (€4.29) or 10 whole eggs (€3.99). Scepticism turned to sneaking admiration when I found myself reaching for the plastic bottle almost as soon as the sample took up residence in my fridge – first to bind a panko breadcrumb and Parmesan crust to chicken fillets, and later to glaze a tart. The egg whites went into the freezer, awaiting a pavlova moment.

mcdigby@irishtimes.com