Blas na hÉireann is Ireland’s home-grown competition for Irish food and drink producers from across the island. Founded 17 years ago, the judging of produce is performed blind over 150 different categories, and the entire process culminates at the annual Blas Festival in Dingle taking place this week. The event has become a calendar highlight for producers, media, retailers, chefs and food lovers. The following women received winning awards for their produce in four different categories.
Mairín Uí Lionáird
Folláin, Best in Cork
“Things were not simple in 1983 for tiny businesses like us. The bank was very good to us though at a time when it was difficult for women to get a loan. I had to get my husband’s signature on the application, but because my business partner Eithne Uí Shiadhail was widowed, she didn’t need to do that.”
Having spent close to 40 years building up Folláin, a Cork-based maker of jams, preserves and relishes, Mairín Uí Lionáird stepped back in 2020. She recalls the early days in Ballyvourney when she worked side by side with Eithne in their portacabin, making jams from handwritten recipes, supported always by her husband, Peadar.
The first product in the Folláin range was a grapefruit marmalade, which is still available today. “It’s not the biggest seller but there is a cohort of customers who love it.” It was soon followed by sweet and bitter orange marmalades, but things really started to take off with the launch of their whiskey marmalade.
As the business grew, they bought equipment to automate the process, but were passionate about keeping the jam as home-made as possible. “We would prepare all the fruit by hand. If we were handling blackberries, you couldn’t scrub it off afterwards. You’d have to hide your hands behind your back if you were at a funeral or a wedding.”
Because Folláin is based in the small Gaeltacht Mhúscraí, they received great support from Údarás na Gaeltachta over the years. “They offered us a purpose-built factory, which we then leased from them. Eventually we bought it, and then had to build an even bigger factory again in the same estate as we had grown so much.”
Even as business grew, Mairín and Peadar continued to trial recipes in their own kitchen. “Our chargrilled red pepper relish was developed on the barbecue at home. At the time, we were dealing with a very good buyer at Aldi who loved the product and helped get the relish into Aldi stores across Ireland and the UK.”
Folláin is now widely known for its distinctive squat jars capped with pretty patterned lids, which are easily cleaned and reused. Mairín credits sales and marketing manager Laura Hewson with the concept, which was born on a food research trip organised by Bord Bia. She says sponsored trips such as this have proven invaluable over the years, and now that she’s retired, she’d like to get out there, visiting countries with strong food traditions.
When asked about the impact of Blas na hÉireann on her business, she says: “We were already in business for more than 20 years when Blas was founded. However, we didn’t have an advertising budget back then and being successful at Blas gave us exposure. But it was really more about the networking and support offered.”
“The time has come for indigenous Gaeltacht companies. We’re blessed here in Gaeltacht Mhúscraí with a wealth of food and drink producers. Customers are looking for items with a local and unique selling point, and Blas na hÉireann plays a big part in that.”
Anna and Orla Snook O’Carroll
Valentia Island Vermouth, Best Artisan Producer and Best in Kerry
When you think about Ireland’s west coast, you might initially think of wind and rain, grey sheer rocks and bleak headlands. However, the creative duo of Anna and Orla Snook O’Carroll have a very different perspective, creating Ireland’s first vermouth using ingredients foraged on their home of Valentia Island.
The pair met in art college in Bristol, then ran an immersive theatre and fine dining business, before moving to Valentia in 2018 and getting married at the island’s famous lighthouse. Orla credits the relaxed yet dynamic vibes of Bristol for introducing them to the joy of vermouth, with Anna arriving home one evening after a tasting, perhaps just a tad tipsy, and announcing “Orla, we have to make this”.
It took a few years before they would make their first vermouth, which was eventually perfected in their kitchen during the pandemic lockdown. Orla joyfully calls it a “bit of magic, to think that this was created in our tiny island cottage”.
Some imported ingredients such as cinnamon and nutmeg are used, along with a Verdejo wine for the base, but key ingredients such as gorse, with its distinctive coconut and vanilla flavours, come straight from the island. Orla says gorse wine has been made in Ireland for centuries and it just felt right to use it in their vermouth. In addition to the sweet and herbal flavours that are so typical of vermouth, Orla says to look out for salty notes. “After a storm, the windows of our cottage are covered in salt, so tasting salt is perhaps our version of terroir. And of course it’s made with pure love.”
The pair put an equal amount of love into the bottle, working with illustrator Steve Doogan to create a label festooned with mermaids, plants and even the lighthouse. “There is art inside and outside the bottle. Although it’s a secret recipe, all 20 botanicals used are present on the label. You just have to look.”
Plans are afoot for a second vermouth, this time based on a red wine and using native seaweed to replicate citrus flavours. With the help of Blas na hÉireann’s mentorship programme, Anna and Orla have secured a valuable listing in Tesco stores nationwide, and are planning to crack the US with the support of the world famous New York-based cocktail bar The Dead Rabbit.
Valentia Island vermouth won Bronze when it first entered Blas na hÉireann in 2021, and they’ve been finalists every year since. “Of course, we would love to win, but even so, the impact of Blas has been huge. What we do on this tiny little land mass is phenomenal.”
Siobhán Ní Gháirbhith
St Tola Goat Cheese, Best in Clare
Siobhán Ní Gháirbhith has been looking forward to Blas na hÉireann. “Dingle is a great location, well known for food festivals and unique events, and it always attracts people.” The festival offers food producers the opportunity to network informally and mingle with other people in the food industry.
Even though Ní Gháirbhith has won multiple national and international awards over the 25 years since she took over from the original St Tola owners, Meg and Derrick Gordon, she still places high value on the benefits of participating in the uniquely Irish awards. Recognition by Blas na hÉireann helps maintain St Tola’s profile as one of Ireland’s leading farmhouse cheese producers, while also helping build connections to retailers, from both the large multiples and smaller independents. These connections have helped get St Tola cheese into prime locations such as Neven Maguire’s Christmas cheese hampers for the Dunnes Stores Simply Better range.
She’s particularly proud of this year’s entry to the awards, St Tola Karst, a smaller version of their popular St Tola Ash Log, whose gently wrinkled appearance is reminiscent of the surrounding Burren landscape. It was originally developed with input from London-based cheesemonger Neal’s Yard Dairy and is designed for sale in smaller retailers.
All milk used in St Tola cheese production comes from Ní Gháirbhith’s own herd of goats in Ennistymon, Co Clare. It comprises numbers 180 milking goats, six pucks for breeding and about 30 kids. Although allowed outdoors as much as possible, these valuable milking goats are not big fans of the rain and spend damp days indoors munching on grass. Over the years, Ní Gháirbhith and her team have brought herd numbers down, while increasing both the volume and quality of the milk produced through better breeding.
The smooth and creamy textures of the St Tola cheeses makes them especially popular with chefs all over Ireland and abroad, and Ní Gháirbhith loves to see it on menus, giving important recognition to the producer. When asked about her favourite dishes using her cheeses, she recalls a gorgeous summer salad with leaves, summer berries and honey dressing from the now-closed Packie’s restaurant in Kenmare and a unique lamb dish created by Takashi Miyazaki in his Cork-based restaurant Ichigo Ichie.
And the recipe for success? The straight-talking Siobhán (you can tell she was a former schoolteacher) pulls no punches. “Value your time, as if you were paying yourself a wage. Have a broad customer base and be very honest with your customers. Don’t compromise on quality. At the end of day, what I’ve done is not only for myself, but for my farm and my family’s future.”
Mairéad Finnegan
Roll It Pastry, Best in Meath
Before Mairéad Finnegan started making Roll It Pastry, she worked in property management, commuting daily to Dublin from her home in Kells, Co Meath. With a young daughter at home, she was looking for a different lifestyle. Now she walks out her front door and across the yard to her own production kitchen.
“Roll It Pastry was started in the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger. That was a definite period of innovation in Irish food. Many people who attended SuperValu’s Food Academy alongside me in that period were in the same boat.”
Finnegan continued to work full time for the first year, all the while making shortcrust pastry in small batches in her own kitchen. But then she fully committed, adding a puff pastry to the range. “That was more of a challenge. Puff is easy to make at home, but hard to scale. But ultimately, I had the feeling that this was what I was always meant to do.”
She’s passionate about Irish butter – “it’s just the best” – and also uses Irish free-range eggs in her pastry. Recent rising costs for raw ingredients have been problematic, with the cost of sugar alone rising 100 per cent, and unfortunately some prices have had to increase. But she sees Roll It Pastry as a premium product that produces great results. “Because it’s a frozen product, it’s free from additives and preservatives. Consumers are now more open to Irish producers and are actively reading food labels, avoiding ingredients such as palm oil and emulsifiers.”
“Roll It Pastry reminds people of what pastry used to taste like, particularly pastry made by their mothers and grandmothers.” Asked about her favourite recipes, Finnegan says she is a big fan of a tarte tatin. “It looks impressive, but is actually easy to do and really shows off the pastry.” She also loves sausage rolls and cheese straws. “They’re a great way to use up the pastry trimmings, simply twist up with some egg and Parmesan’.
Her partnership with the Dunnes Stores Simply Better range has been a huge boost: “The big supermarkets can be seen as the baddies, we’d all love to shop in local independents, but we need to recognise that they are where people shop.”
Looking to the future Mairéad says “We’re working on reconfiguring the production kitchen. I want to make more use of the space. There is strong demand from the food service industry for my pastry and that will hopefully be the next step.”
