Taste the Nation: From carpentry to mixology for man behind flavours of Ballyhoura
Maurice Gilbert with a selection of apple products. Picture: Ballyhoura Apple Farm
When Maurice Gilbert set up Ballyhoura Apple Farm (ballyhouraapplefarm.com) in Churchtown, Co Cork with Gerry Murphy in 2004, he never expected what was to come - from discovering a flair for finding flavours to uprooting a 4,500 tree orchard to move it over the border to Co Limerick.
Gilbert, who has seen his career path change from carpenter to CEO and chief mixologist, says they saw a gap in the market when they first started selling their product at a farmers market.
“I went from the building industry to the apple juice business. It was really a product of the collapse in the economy at that time. I started and I was lucky enough to get into Mahon Point Farmers Market in Cork. I started doing plain apple juice and by the first winter I realized that the apple juice wasn't selling, people wanted something a little bit different.”
An award-winning mulled apple juice was the first sign that they were on to something good, Gilbert says, but he didn’t want to follow the obvious route of blending apple juice with other fruits.
“I said I need to be a little bit different. So we went with apple juice mixed with vegetables. I started with an apple and beetroot juice. The colour was fantastic and it drew people to the stall and it started selling very well in the springtime. Beetroot is a natural detox but it's supposed to be blended with a juice that's high in vitamin C, like apples or oranges. That one took off. We then did apple and parsnip, apple and nettle, apple and green tea. I found that I had a bit of a flair for finding different blends and different varieties.”
After winning gold seven times at the Great Taste Awards in London, Ballyhoura Apple Farm began to supply shops and supermarkets, starting with SuperValu and growing to include Aldi and Lidl, and began to grow their range of wellness products further.
“We always said we would do wellness products, we always had a healthy vein and we were doing a little bit of vinegar as well. We decided to concentrate on the vinegar. We got a premises in Kilfinane and we moved our orchard from Churchtown to Kilfinane around 2014.”
Their apple cider vinegar continues to sell well and Gilbert says they saw more interest in wellness products from consumers during the pandemic.
“Our vinegar is now available in 180 Lidls, 140 Aldis and through SuperValu and Centra. It's reputed to have health benefits and it has become very, very popular, especially since the pandemic. People see it as healthy and they’ve picked up on it.”
He is grateful for the support they received through programs with the supermarkets nationwide that gave their product a bigger platform and helped their business to grow.
“They were a big help to us because it's no good, no matter how much product you have, if you're not able to sell it or if you don't have somebody who will distribute and sell it for you. Those programs were important because they give a leg-up to the small producer to go with national distributors and see how they work. It's quite demanding and you have to have your finger on the pulse and be on top of things at all times. But the thing about it is that you get paid, and you will get paid promptly. It makes a huge difference to any business.”
Gilbert says the tried-and-tested recipe they use for their apple cider vinegar has been in use for one hundred years. It is made from 100% undiluted Irish apple juice and undergoes a double fermentation process, which produces enzymes and preserves many of its health-promoting characteristics.
“It’s a century-old recipe that we're using. We have developed a very good culture, which is the basis of the apple cider vinegar. If you have a good culture, it just makes the whole thing easier.”
Gilbert sees more awards on the horizon for Ballyhoura, particularly for some upcoming products in the pipeline, and says he is always tinkering and testing new flavours.
“We're working on a number of products that have the potential to be award-winning. We're working on a number of syrups, in particular, and on a couple of specialty vinegars as well. You have to be innovating all the time, you have to be thinking all the time.”
