Achill gets smoking hot with its recycling
Achill Island Sea Salt has moved from plastic to recyclable glass packaging, and has launched a new smoked sea salt product. The hot smoking, over oak and beech, is done by Carr & Sons in Killala, which produces a range of seafood products including smoked salmon.
The O’Malley family revived hand-harvested salt-making on Achill Island in Co Mayo in 2013. The 75g glass jars of original and smoked sea salt have a recommended retail price of €4 and are available from SuperValu, Avoca and independent food stores.
Marjorie O’Malley, co-founder of the company, said: “Our raw material is the ocean, and plastic is clogging up our oceans. We simply did not want our single-use plastic tub to contribute to this pollution, so we decided to make a change.”
Eco-friendly Dollard
Dollard & Co, the restaurant, cafe and food emporium on Wellington Quay in Dublin 2, is offering a selection of four wines “En Vrac”, dispensed into reusable one litre or 500ml screw-top bottles.
WineLab supplies an increasing number of restaurants in Ireland with its wine on tap, and the move to retail sees it offer two Italian and two French wines at Dollard & Co.
"We look for wines that are bright and aromatic, with fresh natural acidity and pure flavours," says Ronan Farrell of WineLab.
The wines on offer are Itynera, Grillo (Sicily, Italy); Stocco, Refosco (Friuli, Italy); Château la Coste ‘Frigousse’ Blanc (Provence, France), and Château la Coste ‘Frigousse’ Rouge (Provence, France).
They each cost €9 for 500ml and €17 for a litre, and you can try before you buy. The Dollard & Co branded reusable glass bottles must also be purchased, for €2.
The move is in line with the company’s decision to remove plastic straws and offer 30 cent discounts on coffee served in reusable cups.
Clonakilty food tour
Food writer and blogger Kate Ryan’s Clonakilty Walking Food Tour relaunches on May 18th and will run every Friday in June, July and August. Now going into its fourth year, the walk brings participants into contact with the west Cork town’s vibrant food community, including butchers, bakers, cheese and ice-cream makers, a craft brewer and a bean-to-bar chocolate maker.
The four-hour stroll (11am-4pm) costs €45 per person, including tastings, and can be booked up until 4pm the day before each Friday walk, atflavour.ie.
Wine Buff opens in Portlaoise
Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan is lined up to formally open The Wine Buff, a food and artisan food shop in Portlaoise on Saturday, May 12th. It is the ninth in the Irish chain of Wine Buff wine shop franchises.
Tony Byrne, owner of the shop on the Dublin road, previously worked in retail with Nestlé, PepsiCo and Boyne Valley Group. The shop's wine offering is sourced from what he describes as "small, family-run operations, across Europe and further afield". It is, he says, "the kind of wine that you might drink on holidays and wonder why you can't find at home".
The food selection majors on local, artisan, small-scale producers. He has the full range of pestos, sauces, relishes, soups and dips in Le Skinny Chef range, made in Portlaoise by Normandy-born Aymar Gourdet. Also on the shelves is organic, gluten-free porridge made by The Merry Mill; Rossmore Farm Ice-Cream from Rathdowney; Grange jams and marmalades, made in Emo, and Cocoa Couture Belgian-style chocolates from Mountmellick, from which you can select your favourites rather than having to accept a standard box.
