Country Choice

04/09/2026

The year is definitely turning when our beloved swallows gather on the wires . Africa calls and we wish them gods speed on their perilous journey .
Ní fada go mbeidh said thar nais aris .

04/09/2026

This is a super festival folks and I really recommend a visit .
Make a booking for a pizza or an early supper in town tomorrow when you are out and about .

Taste of Nenagh Tomorrow:
Sat 5th Sept

04/09/2026

A wet night and great for the kale ,broccoli,courgettes and cabbages . Bad for the blackberries,dahlias and geraniums.Its mushroom time and keep an eye out for the big white ones .
Nothing like a butter fried pan of mushrooms with a grain of sea salt on a slab of warm white or brown soda . Poach them in a drop of creamy milk and have them with two nice poached eggs .
Some of life’s great pleasures can be free.
Taste fest in Nenagh town tomorrow and Kenyon street will be full of tasting stalls.
Drop down and say hello .
Maybe we can have a glass of wine and a good piece of cheese together .A failte awaits .

03/09/2026

It’s time for the hedgerow harvest and I’m seeking hips and Elderberries today . We will make a lovely purple jelly with the skins of crabapples a a few fistfuls of elderberry’s and rose hips.This jelly will be superb with our ham hock terrines and our buttery chicken liver pates .We are making store support stocks of jams and chutneys with the Autumn fruits and berries as they arrived daily.

02/09/2026

Wild local Elderberries and our first new oats are today’s thoughts and themes .
We are picking up the first new local oats from the Ballybrado organic farm in Cahir in the next day or so We are picking the wild elderberries to make a dark thick jelly with crab apple skins .
In our mind it’s the king of hedge row berries along with the russet red Rowan..

29/08/2026

Bottling local garden plums and steaming them for later in the year . An age old tradition in Country Choice and one we started in the early 80s when we did not have walk in freezers .
These plums will develop a unique flavour of amaretto ,red wine,cinnamon and vanilla .
We look forward to many lively desert compotes with these fruits .

29/08/2026

A great day of preserving Autumn garden fruits today at Country Choice . We are bottling local plums for winter compotes . The sweet local tomatoes are being roasted with oregano ,local garlic and our very green grassy ligurian extra virgin olive oil.
We will seal them in containers and save them for soups and sauces when the season ends .

29/08/2026

Bottling local garden plums in a pure vanilla syrup today for our winter compotes and crumbles .

29/08/2026

The soft Autumn rain has arrived and the gardens and fields will spring to life .
The Courjettes will bloom and the cabbages and broccoli will shine.
The apples will grow and the plums and sloes will come back to life .
At Country Choice its local garden plum harvest and we are making clear golden jams and chutneys .
The raisins and orange peel is on display and new French and Spanish Cherrys arrive daily.
Put on the boots and the jackets and take a stroll down town. Drop in to us for Coffee and we will find a space for you . A welcome chat with a neighbour will follow and you will feel good leaving .

28/08/2026

Expert thoughts on the current apple season .
Con Trass our national expert and local fruit growing supremo shares his thoughts on how he manages a different dry season here in Tipperary.
Con grows our apples ,strawberries,Cherrys ,plums and raspberry all to the highest standards of sustainable but maintaining always superior flavour over high volumes .
We have the first new red apples today along with a lovely crop of Autumn strawberries. We hope to have lovely raspberries very soon also from Con.
We are harvesting local Victoria plums and making lovely clear jams and compotes .
Our local heritage variety tomatoes are in full swing and you just have to believe the compromise it is to buy supermarket tomatoes when sweet local garden ones from low yield variety’s are available .
It’s always just worth the effort to leave the beaten path for one or two weeks and relish in the taste and flavour of this seasons tomatoes .
We are roasting them with local garlic wild marjoram along with our various good olive oils .We gently poach them is a small drop of water and a k**b of butter with sea salt and they keep for a week to have with some fried eggs and a toasted wheaten scone.
Cmon down to Kenyon street and feel and smell the foods of Autumn.