WITH nine days to go, there is plenty of time to think about Mother’s Day.

Denise O’Callaghan has been baking — and eating — mince pies since August. But then, Christmas has to start early if you want to send a staggering 500,000 hand-finished mince pies to gourmet food markets in Ireland and, for the first time, Europe this festive season.

THERE are a few ways of looking at yogurt as a snack food. On the plus side it is a good way of consuming milk for healthy bone development and it’s better than alternative snack options which are laden with less healthy fats and sugars.

One of Ireland’s largest independent yoghurt producers, the award-winning Glenilen, has forecast a 10% growth in its business for this year.

Ballymaloe Country Relish has secured one of the largest listings for an Irish company with Tesco which will see the brand populate the shelves of more than 900 of the retailer’s UK stores.

The award-winning Cork-based Glenilen food business last year continued its rapid growth with its accumulated profits increasing by €91,277.

While The Menu remains forever enraptured by our glorious West coast, he knows full well that man does not live on scenery alone...

Alan Kingston describes himself as a simple farmer, but his farm has just signed a deal to supply 138 Tesco stores in Britain with a range of desserts.

A feast of fine foods down on the farm

West Cork dairy business Glenilen Farm has invested €300,000 in a new range of yoghurts for children.

More than 150,000 people are expected to throng the Christmas markets on Cork’s Grand Parade and visit festively decorated Bishop Lucey Park before Santa pops down the chimney.

As several thousand happy and sated punters headed for the exits at the Irish Examiner Food Festival in Cork’s Fitzgerald Park yesterday evening, the light mist finally began to thicken, marking the end of the splendid weather that proved a vital ingredient in the tremendous success of a celebration of food and drink on Leeside.

GLENILEN FARM in West Cork has been hailed by Bord Bia as one of the success stories of the growth of Irish food exports.

Behind the clockwork-efficiency of the state dinner for Queen Elizabeth lay tales of last-minute mercy flights to Dublin, six-hour dashes across the country with smoked salmon and ‘forever secret’’ ingredients. Pól Ó Conghaile gets the real story

FOOD entrepreneurs from Cork have swept the boards at the first annual FBD Women and Agriculture Awards.

I HAVE just eaten a wonderful bowl of lightly mashed new season strawberries sprinkled liberally with castor sugar and anointed with cream.