As the seasons start to change, the first weekend of October has, in recent years, become known as Blas weekend.

Food producers, chefs, retailers, food writers and food lovers all head to Dingle to celebrate all that is great about Irish food.

Sadly, for the second year in a row, the Kerry town was quiet as the Dingle Food Festival and the Blas na Éireann awards ceremony was cancelled.

However, across the country, instead of producers travelling to receive their winning plagues, the coveted piece of glass was delivered to them.

Blas na hÉireann is now known as the Irish food awards and this year, there were celebrations in Wexford as Wild About was crowned the supreme champion. It was their so sloe jelly that gained them the top award, made with wild sloe berries picked from the native Blackthorn which is then made into a seasonal fruit jelly conserve with a hint of star anise. It is a beautiful accompaniment to duck, game and venison or even delicious slathered on hot buttered toast.

The company, run by Fiona and Malcolm Falconer, operates from their small permaculture farm in Co Wexford.

There, they grow and forage sloes, haws, rosehips, crab apples and wild pears to create handmade artisan dressings, syrups, chutneys and snacks directly from seasonal harvests.

Speaking about the award, Fiona says: “To be awarded supreme champion will have a great impact on our business. We stand with the hundreds of tiny food producers all over the country doing farmers markets, stocking local shops, creating a real movement, driving quality, sustainability and innovation in Irish food. We spent years doing the Greys Lane Market at the Dingle Food Festival, watching our stall-less friends skip by with blue boxes (Blas crystal trophy), then we picked up one, then another, now we have six gold, two silver, one bronze, best in Wexford, best in Leinster and now supreme champion. Go small producers. So, for a tiny company like ours, this means the world.”

There is also speculation every year about who will take the award for best artisan product and this year, it went to two young Co Laois sisters, Kate and Ruth O’Hara.

The twins set up their own company last year called Temptation Pâtisserie and are off to a very promising start with their Sea Salt Caramel Bar.

The self-taught choclatiers made a big life switch, changing direction from the accounting and finance world and, instead, following their dream to produce luxury artisan chocolates. Made with premium quality and ethically sourced ingredients in small batches in Mountmellick, their hand-painted chocolates are, little pieces of edible art.

Their sea salt caramel bar, a creamy 40% milk chocolate bar shell filled with a homemade salted caramel, is made using West of Dingle sea salt, hand-harvested on the Dingle Peninsula. The bar is splashed with white and blue cocoa butter, illustrating the breaking waves of the sea. Temptation Pâtisserie was also winner of this year’s Blas na hÉireann best start-up award.

Blas na hÉireann in numbers

This is the 14th year of Blas na hÉireann.

Over 1,000 entries were received from artisan companies, while 335 reached the finalist stage and 187 went on to be winners (67 gold, 62 silver, 58 bronze).

We can look forward to more new Irish products on our shelves. This year there were 194 entries from start-up companies, of which 52 went on to be winners (26 gold, 14 silver, 12 bronze).

ABP is the producer with the highest number of awards this year, taking home 11.

Outside of Cork and Dublin, Wexford was the big winner with 37 pieces of glass going to 18 of the county’s producers.

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