TD 1
HOT ORANGE HAMPERS: KEN MADDEN OF THE LISMORE FOO
D COMPANY “To put the kettle on and have something nice and luxurious for yourself as a sort of a comfort is lovely.” In recent years, the Lismore Food Company has elevated the familiar ritual of a cuppa and a biscuit to a whole new level with their signature hand rolled, baked biscuits, snacks and confectionary. Now Waterford’s artisan bakers have upped their game even further, with the addition of 15 gorgeous new products and an elegant new hamper range celebrating the art of afternoon tea. Like many Irish businesses, they took some time over the past few months to consider where they wanted to go to next. Co-founder Ken Madden observes that, “Those few months from March on allowed us an opportunity to put our heads down and become really creative, which is part of the joy of our business.” While online sales were good as people treated themselves and others to some affordable luxuries, the company was keen to broaden their product range. “This is the first time that we’ve brought out a Lismore hamper, so we wanted to create something really special. For us, taste comes first, so alongside our existing products we’ve got some good, solid, flavours with things like tea and coffee, rich hot chocolate, blonde chocolate bars with cacao nibs and some lovely jams and preserves. All the products have a very strong provenance. Our raw honey is made locally and pretty much everything is from Ireland.” As ever, this artisanal creativity extends beyond the food to the packaging. As Ken puts it, “We wanted to create that ‘Wow!’ moment, so we’ve come up with the most beautiful hot orange hat boxes with lovely ribbon, reflecting the hot orange and gold circle of the original biscuit tube.” Such exacting design considerations carry through to their new website, where they teamed up with photographer Simon Watson to create some exciting new imagery. “We all have a love of art, colour and texture and we thought, wouldn’t it be lovely if we could create a dark, moody Vermeer type image with the products on a feasting table? We’re delighted that Simon really helped us nail that shot.” In a nod to the history of Lismore, the names of each hamper reference those who have come and gone before, including Lady Louisa, one of the Lismore Castle set, and author William Thackeray, who regarded Lismore as one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. While it’s a big leap forward for such a small company to increase their product range so substantially, Ken believes that people will love the range. “Hopefully people will be filled with an abundance of joy when they open the hamper, take the products out and taste them.” thelismorefoodcompany.com Image Credit: Simon Watson Simon Watson’s new book, The Lives of Others: Sublime Interiors of Extraordinary People is published by Rizzoli. BITESIZE Martina Murray ED’S BREAD CREAM OF THE CROP There’s a feast of gorgeousness to be had hot out of the oven at Ed’s Bread in Inchicore. Located on the grounds of Rascals HQ, the self-styled Guerilla bakery churns out stunning, soft-crusted everyday sourdough bread made from a wheat/rye blend of French flours, organic stoneground wheat starter and Irish sea salt. The delicate, sour flavour is topped off with a nutty roasted sunflower seed crunch that tastes amazing. Rich butter pastries such as pain a la crème, pain aux raisons and croissants are also available. Orders are available for collection between 9am-12.30pm from the hatch at Rascals HQ, Goldenbridge Industrial Estate, Tyrconnell Road, Inchicore, Dublin 8 Edsbread.clickandcollection.com IG@edsbread.ie The Spring Lockdown forced many in the food industry to take stock and reimagine the future of their businesses, but for one woman the hiatus helped accelerate plans to launch a distinctive new product range. Brazilian chef Giselle Makinde Pereira Goncalves set up Cream of The Crop, a new business based on a ‘zero waste, more taste’ approach, that sees surplus food and rescued imperfect ingredients transformed into delicious artisan gelatos and sorbets. Food that otherwise would have ended up in landfill is now collected on a weekly basis from growers and producers such as Sean Hussey’s Fruit and Veg Farm in North County Dublin and sheep milk yogurt from Velvet Cloud’s herd in Mayo. The Portmarnock based chef then pairs these ingredients with artisan products such as Flahavan’s oat milk and NutShed’s peanut butter to create a tasty range of Italian style milk gelatos, sorbets and 100% plant-based gelatos. Initial offerings include Strawberry & Hibiscus, Avocado & Lemon and Cold Brew Coffee & Peanut Butter sorbets, while future products and flavours will vary depending on the harvest. Delivery is available throughout Dublin city and county, with plans to go nationwide later this year. creamofthecropgelato.com 42