Recipe: Blackberry Smoothie

This Sunday, while walking by the Grand Canal I found the bramble bushes laden with blackberries. It brought back memories of going 'brambling' with my Granny as a child. We used to go out with carrier bags and fill them. The amount I used to put in my bag only equalled the amount I put in my mouth and I used to arrive home with a smile on my face and purple stained lips.

On Sunday I managed to pick enough to make smoothies with and I thought I would share the recipe with you.

Please note, if you don't have a juicer replace the bag of apples with some good quality apple juice. You can pick up some really good ones at Farmers Markets and specialist food stores.

Ingredients - Serves 2

1 large bag of organic apples juiced
A bowl of freshly picked blackberries
2 Bananas

Method

Wash the blackberries thoroughly
Pour the apple juice into a blender
Break up the bananas into small chunks and add to the apple juice
Add the blackberries and blend in short bursts until smooth.
Strain through a sieve to remove seeds.

If you want it extra cold add a couple of ice cubes before blending.

In The News This Week

I can't let the week slip by without drawing attention to two big news stories about organic food.

I'm a bit late with the first one which is an Irish story. Trevor Sargent, former Green Party leader has left me with very little to complain about since they have been in government. I was delighted to read that he is pushing forward plans to massively increase the amount of land given over to organic production in the next 5 years. If these ambitious targets are met we can look forward to a lot more organic foods of all kinds; on our shelves, in our restaurants and in my hampers!... I am quivering with anticipation.

If you want to avoid pesticide residues in your food and you are living in the UK it seems that, unless go completely organic, you will have to live on a diet of carrots and cucumbers! Scientists working on behalf of the British governments Pesticide Residues Committee found that 70% of the free fruit and veg supplied to schoolchildren contained residues. Although some foods tested contained more that one residue, there were none found in carrots or cucumbers. Slightly less worrying, but still of concern, is that out of 220 organic samples tested 5 were found to contain chemical traces.

Organic Yum-Yum in the Guardian

I just discovered that my post about organic food at the Electric Picnic has made it to the Guardian Unlimited Website.

They do accuse me of ranting, which is probably fair enough, I can be prone to the odd rant!

Congratulations Solaris Herbs

Wandering around the 'Shop' trade show only a few days after the Electric Picnic I was delighted to stumble upon the organic awards. It was great to see the array of Irish produced products on display and even better to see that one of the products that will be featuring in my new hamper range took the top spot. Congratulations to Solaris Herbs for winning with their Organic Earl Grey Tea!

Find out more about the awards here.

Going Organic at The Electric Picnic

I'm posting a bit late this week, probably due to the recovery time I required after a mad and fantastic weekend at the Electric Picnic. For those of you who are not from Ireland or who have been locked in a small room for the last four years, The Electric Picnic is arguably Ireland's best music festival, the 'Glastonbury' of Ireland. Best of all it all happens just a few miles away from my house in Stradbally Co. Laois.

Most people would agree that one of the highlights of attending a festival of this kind is the food. As I wandered through the fields full of food stalls selling everything from chips and burgers to smoothies, paella and sushi I was surprised to find so much organic fare on offer. There was a little cafe near 'The Next Stage' that sold nothing but organic, vegetarian dinners of all descriptions. There was organic falafel, organic coffee and at least three tea shops offering organic blends. The farmers market area had a local organic fruit and veg stall and there was even a chance to enjoy an organic tipple at the stand belonging to Irish organic wine distributor Wilhelm Wines. One morning I found a crowd of people around a bunch of cool boxes, I was delighted to find that they were all full of organic Glenisk yogurts that were being given out for free!

With such a variety of foods and drink on offer at reasonable prices and with crowds of people ready to enjoy it I found myself wondering why prepared organic food is not more readily available throughout Ireland. There is the odd place popping up that offers some organic goodies but nowhere with the variety that was available at the Electric Picnic.

The most obvious reason would be the lack of supply of raw organic ingredients. There simply are not enough Irish grown organic vegetables or meats to ensure a constant supply of meals. Shipping organic foods from overseas has become a contentious issue and even if you only shipped from the UK by sea, ensuring minimum environmental impact, there is still not necessarily enough raw ingredients there to meet our combined needs.

So what is the solution? I guess we need to persuade more farmers to go organic. Although the amount of land here given over to organic farming is increasing, it is at a painfully slow rate. Farmers need to know that there is a market for organic produce. Large companies like Glenisk have been proactive in encouraging farmers to convert to organic milk production for them. But small manufacturers do not have the buying power to do this and to some extent this means we are stuck in a catch 22 situation.

Well done to the Electric Picnic for giving us a three day taste of organic utopia! Hopefully it will inspire some of us to fight for a more organic Ireland.