A taste of Christmas: Festive food gifts to give this year
Here is his list of edible essentials to keep you well fed and watered throughout the holiday period
A feast is never a proper feast without a good cheeseboard and a good selection of Irish farmhouse cheeses can be world-class. Milleens, Durrus, Coolea, Gubbeen, Hegarty’s Templegall, Lost Valley Dairy’s Sobhriste and Carraignamuc — and those are just some Cork cheeses! Other fabulous cheeses from around the country include: Tom Burgess’ Coolattin Mature Cheddar and Mount Leinster Cheddar, Cashel Blue, Cáis na Tíre, Ballylisk Triple Rose, Corleggy, Cratloe, Rockfield … and I could go on in this vein for quite some time.
To source, see the superb Iago’s (iago.ie), in Cork, Sheridan’s (sheridanscheesemongers.com), On the Pig’s Back (onthepigsback.ie) and The Little Cheese Shop, in Dingle (thelittlecheeseshop.ie).
Once the ‘big cook’ is done for the day itself, the home chef deservedly downs tools and a jar of something savoury, spicy or even a bit sweet is essential to creating the perfect Christmas sambo.
Iconic Ballymaloe Relish is near compulsory but the range (ballymaloefoods.ie) also includes my new favourite, Beetroot Relish, and their Mulled Wine Cranberry Sauce is dancing with my turkey on Christmas Day.
Turkey curries are now banned in my house but a turkey tamale works very well with produce from any of the splendid new wave of Irish chilli sauce makers, my current faves being Mic’s Chill (micschilli.com) and Cork company, Brazen (brazenhotsauce.ie), including some fine chilli jams. Wexford’s Wild About (wildabout.ie) do a lovely range of chutneys and a simple dish of stirfried turkey and Brussels sprouts is transformed with White Mausu Peanut Rayu (whitemausu.com).
The sweet side of Christmas is about more than chocolates and toffees and there are times when it’s hard to beat a slice of hot, buttered toast and a gorgeous spoonful of handmade jam or raw local honey, especially when it is produced by Native black Irish honey bees.
Hanna’s Bees (hannasbees.ie) have a tidy little gift pack for under the tree including a jar of Hanna’s wildflower honey, a wooden honeydripper and a beeswax candle.
Folláin’s (follain.ie) continue to offer a fabulous selection of jams, flavours ranging from conventional to adventurous, and I am especially partial to their passionfruit curd, and they have a great selection of gift packs from under the tree. Veronica Molloy, my most favourite jam maker in the country, continues to grow her Crossogue (crossoguepreserves.com) range without ever losing the quality and in addition to splendid jams, marmalades and preserves, she also does fine mincemeat for the pies and brandy butter for the pudding.
You’re welcome to your Quality Street and Cadbury’s Roses but round these parts it’s all about the very finest of Irish chocolate and confectionery when it comes to Christmas. Waterford-based Judit McNally (cocoabyjudit.ie) has a lovely gift set including Christmas Advent Bar, Chocolate Christmas Tree and Christmas edition chocolate selection.
Lorge Chocolatier (lorge.ie) always offers a good Christmas selection of handmade chocolates but why not go the extra yard for the chocolate fan on your Christmas list and treat them to one of Benoit Lorge’s chocolate making courses, which have kickstarted the careers of several Irish chocolatiers. Butler’s (butlerchocolates.com) Chocolate Truffles are always a popular choice with cross-generational appeal.
Bean & Goose’s (beanandgoose.ie) special Christmas 500g-1.5kg sharing slabs come with almond, hazelnut, orange, cranberry, roasted in honey with winter flavours, available as Frosty Walks (milk chocolate) or Winter Nights (dark chocolate), with the ‘hammer of joy’ also available for breaking up these gargantuan choc-fests. Beyond chocolate, Mella’s Fudge (mellasfudge.com) is my go-to for fine fudge while Miena’s Handmade Nougat (mienas.ie) carries a stunning range of nougat produced in Co Wicklow, and I’m seriously addicted to the Dark Mint Chocolate version of Second Street Bakeshop’s Irish Toffee Brittle (secondstreetbakeshop.com).
Sally Barnes’s Woodcock Smokery (woodcocksmokery.com) smoked wild salmon is a must for my Christmas Day lunch and Hederman Smokery’s delicious range of hot and cold smoked fish, as well as smoked Irish farmhouse butter and smoked chillies (frankhederman.com). I am very fond of Burren Smokehouse’s (burrensmokehouse.com) smoked mackerel but to taste the full range from the West Clare company, spring for one of their hampers.
I still have time for the old school box of USA Assorted but when it comes to Christmas biccies, then Seymour’s (seymours.ie) Christmas Medley is a real step up, as are their very popular raspberry and chocolate shortbread, and West Cork Biscuit Company’s (regale.ie) lemon and poppyseed shortbread is buttery brilliance in a bite, though there is so much more to their wonderful range.
If you’re looking for crackers to scoop up oozing soft cheeses or to add backbone to a bit of cheddar, then Sheridan’s (sheridanscheesmongers.com) Brown Bread Crackers and Ditty’s (dittysbakery.com) range of oat biscuits fit the bill. And what about crisps for the sandwiches? There’ll always be Tayto in our house but we’ll also ensure a steady supply of Joe’s Farm Crisps (joesfarmcrisps.ie) are also to hand, as well as some of the other gourmet Irish crisp makers, including Keogh’s (keoghs.ie) and O’Donnells (odonnellscrisps.com).
Many of us kick off the big day with a glass of fizz but I prefer a big bowl of milky café au lait and some panettone from my old comrade Pasquale di Vivo, of Cork-based Italian food suppliers, Boot’s Specialties (facebook.com/boots.specialities) and something from Tony Speight’s West Cork Coffee (westcorkcoffee.ie), Mark Kingston’s Golden Bean (thegoldenbean.ie) or new kid on the block, Five Mile Coffee (5milecoffee.ie), and their excellent El Salvador Christmas Blend.
Elsewhere around the country, I relish roasts from Anam Coffee (anamcoffee.ie), in Co Clare, and Cloud Picker (cloudpickercoffee.ie) and Imbibe (imbibe.ie), in Dublin. The cupán tae is equally important and my latest discovery, Lunula Tea (lunulatea.com), in Midleton, carries a sublime range.
Steering clear of alcohol entirely, either for a night or two or permanently, is no longer to the detriment of the designated driver when it comes to beautiful beverages. One of my finds of the year, Sips by Tom (sipsbytom.ie) offers a whole range of super syrups to make non-alcoholic cocktails (mind you, they are pretty mind-blowing with booze as well!)
Irish kombucha and kefir is really coming into its own, with Niamh Hegarty’s BKultured (bkultured.com) range of water kefirs as excellent for solo sipping as they are for food pairing. King of Kefir (kingofkefir.ie) is another keeper while All About Kombucha (allaboutkombucha.ie) have dizzyingly delightful range of options.
Irish apple juice is always a treat, especially from The Apple Farm (theapplefarm.com), in Co Tipp, or James Scannell’s Mealaguala Orchards. Made from foraged ingredients, Majken Bech Bailey’s Baek (baek.is) is a serious non-alcoholic alternative to wine for the Christmas dinner. Finally, why not ditch the mainstream fizzy drinks and look out for Palestine Cola (palestinedrinks.com) with 100% of profits going to charities in Gaza.
If you don’t have time to shop for individual items, there are some excellent hampers on offer to do the heavy lifting for you.
Ardkeen Quality Food Store (ardkeen.com) is one of the original pathfinders when it comes to supporting specialty Irish food producers, and carrying a superb range of hampers.
If you fancy a dash of French flavour running through your hamper of fine Irish products, then On the Pig’s Back (onthepigsback.ie) hampers combine Isabelle Sheridan’s French roots with her decades of retailing premium Irish products.
