Awards for local food producers
Jeffa Gill and Sarah Hennessy from Durrus Cheese, Bantry, Co Cork. Picture: Johnny Bambury
Munster foodies are celebrating after companies in the province won seven of the top 16 awards going to the Republic of Ireland in the prestigious 30th Great Taste awards. Six of these awards went to Co Cork.
Judges appointed by the UK-based Guild of Fine Foods tried out 14,195 foods and drinks from 109 countries for the awards.
They whittled the entries down to 248 products rated three-star, 1,568 rated two-star, and 4,088 products rated one-star.
On Monday, September 11, at the Great Taste Golden Forks ceremony in London's Battersea Arts Centre, the best of the rated products will win awards for a 2023 Supreme Champion, the best in each region, and a number of other special awards.
The seven from Munster vying for these top awards include the Durrus Óg cheese handmade by Jeffa Gill and her family since 1979 on their farm in the Coomkeen valley near Durrus village in West Cork.
Having studied and worked in fashion design in London and Dublin, and originally from a farming family in Worcestershire, Jeffa was part of a small group of creative and pioneering women, spearheaded by her friend, the late Veronica Steele of Milleens, who experimented with small-scale farmhouse cheese making. Durrus Cheese uses milk sourced from local farmers. Great Taste Awards judges described Durrus Óg as, "a sublime cheese" and said "care has clearly gone into the making".
The other three-star Co Cork cheese in the Great Taste Awards is the Macroom Buffalo Ricotta made by Macroom Buffalo Cheese Products.
Folláin Teoranta, situated near Ballyvourney, Co Cork, got the three-star accolade this year for their Folláin Passion Fruit Curd.
A similar product from Munster, the Granville Raspberry Jam, comes from the Granville Hotel in Waterford, a frequent food award winner over the years for the jams and marmalade made in the hotel.
Great Taste judges were also impressed by another Co Cork condiment, the Bangin’ Barbecue sauce made by the Cork Chilli Company which makes its frequently award-winning sauces from fresh chillies grown in Cork.
Irish Yogurts Clonakilty is another frequent award winning family-run Co Cork business, making live yogurts and crème fraîche since 1994. Featuring prominently in the Great Taste awards year after year, they are in the top three-star tier this year with their Half-Fat Creme Fraiche.
Completing the Cork and Munster three-star winners is Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland, with its Signature Tastes Smoked Rack of Bacon. Ireland’s leading food retailer and wholesaler, it is delighted to announce winning a huge 121 products among the 5,904 star-rated entries this year.
Honey and Brown Sugar Slow Cooked Ham on the Bone has won three stars this year for Oliver Carty & Family, the Athlone company specialising in pork and turkey products.
In Galway, the Birdhouse Sauce Company is a Great Taste three-star winner for its Mango Mazzaleen.
The other Irish contenders include two who are double-handed in the hunt for the Supreme Championship.
This is a great achievement for Boyne Valley Cheese, thrilled to announce three stars each for its Rathkenny and Boyne Valley Blue cheeses, plus two stars for Boyne Valley Bán. Michael and Jenny Finegan established Boyne Valley Farmhouse Cheese in 2010 on the family farm at Slane, Co Meath. They farm cattle, tillage and dairy goats.
Also double-handed among the three-star winners is Lidl Ireland, with their Irish Angus Rib Roast on the Bone 28-day Matured, and Irish Deluxe Angus 3-Rib Roast on the Bone.
Irish Country Meats, the specialist sheep meat processing division of Slaney Foods, is a three-star winner with their Aldi Specially Selected Wicklow Leg of Lamb.
Based at Kerlogue, Co Wexford, the family-run Scúp Gelato luxury ice cream business, which supplies the country’s finest hotels and restaurants, is a three-star winner with their Natural Yogurt and Blackcurrant Sorbet.
Silver Hill Duck, the premium duck producer based at Emyvale, Co Monaghan, has simultaneously announced its Confit Duck Legs are a three-star Great Taste winner, and its Whole Duck, Crispy Duck & Pancake, and Duck Fat, have all been shortlisted as finalists in the Irish Quality Food Awards at the Mansion House, Dublin on Wednesday, September 6.
The 18% Sour Cream made by Green Pastures, Donegal, completes the Republic of Ireland three-star Great Taste Award winners in 2023.
