Food file

Prize-winning pastry:A WELL-STOCKED freezer can make all the difference between enjoying a relaxing festive period and being first in the queue for the supermarkets' reopening.

Christine Jordan has opened a small farm shop, stocking local, seasonal produce at her Tasteworks Cookery School in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, and the handmade, all-butter frozen pastry, for which she won Most Innovative New Product at the Savour Kilkenny Food Festival, is flying out the door. She is also making and selling all-butter crumble toppings, slice-and-bake cookie dough, and flavoured butters including chilli ginger lime, and rosemary and garlic – all of which can be frozen and will be useful in the weeks to come. Eggs from Tasteworks’ own hens, and a selection of homemade cakes, biscuits and bread are also sold in the shop.

The pastry, which is imprinted with a butter stamp that belonged to Jordan’s grandmother and is dated 1865, comes in a range of flavours including shortcrust, plain and sweet; traditional puff; wholewheat mature cheese and mustard seed; vanilla bean and orange, and Green Blacks chocolate. Prices range from €4.50-€7. At the moment, the pastry is only available from the Tasteworks farm shop (noon-7.30pm, Thurs-Sat, or by appointment, tel: 059-972 2786), but in the new year, Jordan plans to sell some of her products online. www.tasteworks.ie.

And so to pud . . .

STIR-UP SUNDAY is long gone, but if you didn’t manage to make your own Christmas pud, don’t fret, there are lots of really good ones on sale, and many can be ordered online and delivered to your door.

Peter Ward of Country Choice deli and coffee shop in Nenagh makes some of the very best puddings in the country, all mixed by hand in the shop’s vegetable sink. The quality of the fruit, which Ward imports from specialist suppliers all over the world, makes these puds stand out, and the texture is crumbly and light, rather than stodgy. They can be ordered online at countrychoice.ie, or picked up in the shop, and the prices are €15 (€25 online to include pp) for the small one and €26 (€36 online) for the large.

Arun Kapil of Green Saffron Spices in Midleton, Co Cork, uses his family connections in India to source top quality, ultra-fresh spices. Dried fruit and nuts are mixed with his Christmas mixed spice blend and soaked for 60 hours in Beamish stout, Jameson whiskey, and freshly squeezed orange juice to make his distinctive, spicy puddings, which he describes as having a “funky twist”. Green Saffron produced its first batch of puddings 12 months ago, and Kapil says this year’s batch are even better. In addition to puddings, Green Saffron has developed a mulled wine mix, and a lovely little spice blend called Turkey Delight, which promises to transform your leftovers into something magical. The puddings are available from good delis and country markets all over the country (for stockists see greensaffron.com), and by mail order, tel: 021-4637960. The RRP is €23 (2lb) or €10.75 (1lb). Mail order is €20/€10, plus pp.

Florrie Purcell’s old-style plum puddings, part of her gourmet gifts range sold under The Scullery label, are always in great demand, and this year she has expanded her offering to include cute little individual puddings which are on sale in Spar, Euro Spar, petrol station forecourts and coffee shops (€1.95-€2.20), so Christmas pudding doesn’t have to be a once-a-year treat.

Even the smallest gift looks ultra-stylish wrapped in Donnybrook Fair’s sophisticated packaging. and their Christmas puddings are surprisingly well priced this year. The smallest costs €5.70 and the largest, a 2lbs monster, costs €15.95. www.donnybrookfair.com.