Even parents with the best of intentions to make fresh and healthy puréed meals every day for their babies know it isn’t always possible. Some days (and weeks) standards slip, and when that happens Irish company Pip & Pear have been filling the void. Now the company has rebranded as Pipin Pear and have expanded their range of baby foods which are 100% organic and free of all preservatives and additives. These include dishes such as spaghetti bolognese, mighty mango and chicken, cottage pie, hearty beef stew, creamy chicken, peas and pasta and vegetarian superstar pasta. Their current range is already much loved and they swept the board at the Blas na hÉireann Food Awards last month. Now they are expanding, bringing their offering into new European markets so Irish babies won’t be the only ones enjoying the taste.
Pipin Pear (Pip & Pear at the time) launched in the summer of 2015 and it’s the kind of innovative Irish food story we love here in Irish Country Living.
Founder Irene Queally from Waterford always loved good food and cooking and presumed once her babies were weaned that she would be making delicious dinners every day for them. However, she quickly discovered this wasn’t always possible, especially after she had her second child.
She says: “I noticed a gap in the market for chilled, nutritious and tasty baby food, which offered time-pressed parents a guilt-free alternative to home cooking, so I decided to create something myself as I felt other parents were the same.” It’s the next best thing to homemade and this home-grown success is set to go far in other European countries. Pipin Pear range in price from €2.19 to €2.99 and are available in the dairy fridge of your local Tesco or Dunnes Stores.
Irish Quality Food &
Drink Awards 2019
Awards season is in full swing and fine food was the order of the day at the recent Irish Quality Food & Drink Awards at the Clayton Hotel in Dublin. With a packed house full of producers, retailers and wholesalers, there were awards in 50 categories. The rigorous judging took place earlier this year in the University of Limerick and included a panel of over 50 food experts.
The full list of winners can be found on www.irish.qualityfoodawards.com but the top award of the night, the Gold Q Winner, was a celebration for the dairy industry as North Cork Creameries in Kanturk, Co Cork, took home the prize for their Pure Irish Creamery Butter.
O’Neill’s Dry Cure Bacon from Enniscorthy in Co Wexford took the prize for Small Producer of the Year and part of their prize is to work with retailer Dunnes Stores to get their product listed in store. Last year’s winner, Wildberry Bakery from Balineen in west Cork will have their cakes on sale in Dunnes Stores this month and they also took home the Christmas Gold Q Award for their Jewelled Christmas Cake.
Other winners on the night included:
The Cotter Brothers, producers of Cotter Organic Lamb at Dromtrasna North, west Limerick who won the Rising Star Award (sponsored by Lidl Ireland).Oonagh Monaghan editor of Money For Jam and founder of Alpha Omega Consultants, Manorhamilton, Co Letrim, who won the Food Hero Award (sponsored by Aldi Ireland).Ballymaguire Foods, Lusk, Co Dublin, who won the No Time for Waste Aware (sponsored by Tesco). They will be given a year’s mentoring with Tesco Ireland’s technical team to help their company reduce or even eliminate food waste.
Starting to build up your stock of fine wines for the festive season? This weekend, SuperValu have a deal not to be missed. With a silky sensation, Flor de Sara Reserva 2014, a Rioja Alavesa is full-bodied with a long and persistent after taste, an ideal wine for enjoying by the fire with a cheese board. A six-bottle case usually costs €89.94 (€14.99 a bottle) but from 7 November, a case is reduced to €50 bringing it to €8.33 a bottle. A good deal to stock up on.
From the farm to the fork, Irish food needs excellent advocates every step of the way and one of Ireland’s leading chefs, Ross Lewis from Chapter One in Dublin has been helping to drive this forward. He has established a €3,000 student bursary for University College Cork’s (UCC) new food course, the postgraduate diploma in Irish food culture.
Sinead Sheehy and Ross Lewis.
Sinéad Sheehan from Dingle was recently chosen as one of the recipients for the research work she is carrying out on Irish food culture through sources written in the Irish language. Sinéad is a native Irish speaker and her first language gives her an edge in this regard.
She is aware of how food has helped to shape our national identity and is eager to research more about how our food heritage is part of what makes us Irish.
Sinead says: “I hope the course will help me develop my ideas around building a tourism product combining food and the Irish language.
“Being from the west of Dingle, I am very proud of my mother’s family history on the Blasket Islands and I’d like to see if I can research further the whole food culture of this part of Ireland.”
The postgraduate diploma in Irish food culture introduced in September of this year is Ireland’s first university programme of study that has a dedicated focus on the evolution of Irish food and culinary culture. It comes on the back of the Inaugural Myrtle Allen Memorial Lecture in May of this year, hosted by the Food Institute in UCC.
For further information on UCC’s postgraduate diploma in Irish food culture, please visit the website. C
See www.ucc.ie for more information.
Even parents with the best of intentions to make fresh and healthy puréed meals every day for their babies know it isn’t always possible. Some days (and weeks) standards slip, and when that happens Irish company Pip & Pear have been filling the void. Now the company has rebranded as Pipin Pear and have expanded their range of baby foods which are 100% organic and free of all preservatives and additives. These include dishes such as spaghetti bolognese, mighty mango and chicken, cottage pie, hearty beef stew, creamy chicken, peas and pasta and vegetarian superstar pasta. Their current range is already much loved and they swept the board at the Blas na hÉireann Food Awards last month. Now they are expanding, bringing their offering into new European markets so Irish babies won’t be the only ones enjoying the taste.
Pipin Pear (Pip & Pear at the time) launched in the summer of 2015 and it’s the kind of innovative Irish food story we love here in Irish Country Living.
Founder Irene Queally from Waterford always loved good food and cooking and presumed once her babies were weaned that she would be making delicious dinners every day for them. However, she quickly discovered this wasn’t always possible, especially after she had her second child.
She says: “I noticed a gap in the market for chilled, nutritious and tasty baby food, which offered time-pressed parents a guilt-free alternative to home cooking, so I decided to create something myself as I felt other parents were the same.” It’s the next best thing to homemade and this home-grown success is set to go far in other European countries. Pipin Pear range in price from €2.19 to €2.99 and are available in the dairy fridge of your local Tesco or Dunnes Stores.
Irish Quality Food &
Drink Awards 2019
Awards season is in full swing and fine food was the order of the day at the recent Irish Quality Food & Drink Awards at the Clayton Hotel in Dublin. With a packed house full of producers, retailers and wholesalers, there were awards in 50 categories. The rigorous judging took place earlier this year in the University of Limerick and included a panel of over 50 food experts.
The full list of winners can be found on www.irish.qualityfoodawards.com but the top award of the night, the Gold Q Winner, was a celebration for the dairy industry as North Cork Creameries in Kanturk, Co Cork, took home the prize for their Pure Irish Creamery Butter.
O’Neill’s Dry Cure Bacon from Enniscorthy in Co Wexford took the prize for Small Producer of the Year and part of their prize is to work with retailer Dunnes Stores to get their product listed in store. Last year’s winner, Wildberry Bakery from Balineen in west Cork will have their cakes on sale in Dunnes Stores this month and they also took home the Christmas Gold Q Award for their Jewelled Christmas Cake.
Other winners on the night included:
The Cotter Brothers, producers of Cotter Organic Lamb at Dromtrasna North, west Limerick who won the Rising Star Award (sponsored by Lidl Ireland).Oonagh Monaghan editor of Money For Jam and founder of Alpha Omega Consultants, Manorhamilton, Co Letrim, who won the Food Hero Award (sponsored by Aldi Ireland).Ballymaguire Foods, Lusk, Co Dublin, who won the No Time for Waste Aware (sponsored by Tesco). They will be given a year’s mentoring with Tesco Ireland’s technical team to help their company reduce or even eliminate food waste.
Starting to build up your stock of fine wines for the festive season? This weekend, SuperValu have a deal not to be missed. With a silky sensation, Flor de Sara Reserva 2014, a Rioja Alavesa is full-bodied with a long and persistent after taste, an ideal wine for enjoying by the fire with a cheese board. A six-bottle case usually costs €89.94 (€14.99 a bottle) but from 7 November, a case is reduced to €50 bringing it to €8.33 a bottle. A good deal to stock up on.
From the farm to the fork, Irish food needs excellent advocates every step of the way and one of Ireland’s leading chefs, Ross Lewis from Chapter One in Dublin has been helping to drive this forward. He has established a €3,000 student bursary for University College Cork’s (UCC) new food course, the postgraduate diploma in Irish food culture.
Sinead Sheehy and Ross Lewis.
Sinéad Sheehan from Dingle was recently chosen as one of the recipients for the research work she is carrying out on Irish food culture through sources written in the Irish language. Sinéad is a native Irish speaker and her first language gives her an edge in this regard.
She is aware of how food has helped to shape our national identity and is eager to research more about how our food heritage is part of what makes us Irish.
Sinead says: “I hope the course will help me develop my ideas around building a tourism product combining food and the Irish language.
“Being from the west of Dingle, I am very proud of my mother’s family history on the Blasket Islands and I’d like to see if I can research further the whole food culture of this part of Ireland.”
The postgraduate diploma in Irish food culture introduced in September of this year is Ireland’s first university programme of study that has a dedicated focus on the evolution of Irish food and culinary culture. It comes on the back of the Inaugural Myrtle Allen Memorial Lecture in May of this year, hosted by the Food Institute in UCC.
For further information on UCC’s postgraduate diploma in Irish food culture, please visit the website. C
See www.ucc.ie for more information.
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