Tasty selection of local finalists in Blas awards

WEST Cork is well represented on the shortlist for this year’s Blas na nÉireann finals which take place next month.

This is the 14th year of the awards which seek to highlight the best of local food produce.

The team Blas at na hÉireann worked harder than ever this year to make sure the awards went ahead, moving the blind-tasting judging system from the campus in UCC to Dingle to work within government guidelines and the constraints of social distancing.

With the blueprint for this new system developed last year, the team were able to seamlessly ensure the judging was handled with the same care and attention as always. They said that was especially important in a year where they had a record entry level from producers.

The West Cork finalists include Bandon Vale Cheese, Caherbeg Free Range Pork, Cape Clear Island Distillery, Clonakilty Food Company, Clonakilty Gluten Free Kitchen, Coolmore Foods, Durrus Cheese, Follain, Gloun Cross Dairy, Irish Yogurts Clonakilty, Jude’s Chocolates, Keohane Seafoods, Kepak, Kinsale Mead Co, Kinsale Spirit Company, Macroom Buffalo Cheese Products Ltd, Maggie’s Homemade Jam, Malay Kitchen, Shannonvale, Shellfish Ireland, Skeaghanore West Cork Farm and West Cork Distillers.

The awards will be announced on October 2nd on the Blas website irishfooodawards.com and across social media channels.

Meanwhile, West Cork Distillers and Keohane’s Seafood have been acknowledged for their outstanding sustainability efforts in Lidl’s inaugural Supplier Recognition Awards.

Keohane’s Seafood, based in Bantry, was recognised for Packaging Reduction Supplier of the Year. The family-run business reduced its plastic packaging by 17.4 tonnes in 2021 alone.

West Cork Distillers were recognised for Best Covid-19 Response by a supplier in recognition for the pivotal role they played in the suppression of the virus through the production and distribution of hand sanitiser. Within six days of making the decision, they had produced thousands of litres of alcohol-based hand sanitisers which were distributed through Lidl’s stores, regional distribution centres and head office.