Family Business

BiaSol: Create Taste, Reduce Waste

October 11, 2021 By Admin

Guinness is probably the most popular beer exported from Ireland, but back home, it competes with more than 75 small, independently operated craft breweries. St. James Gate produces 50.7 million barrels of beer every year. But these ‘microbreweries’ can’t compete with that. They don’t need to. These beers are appealing to beer enthusiasts who enjoy discovering new flavours of craft beer brewed by knowledgeable and dedicated professionals. Despite its growth, Ireland’s beer sector is creating an increasing amount of food waste. For beer, grain is needed, but once the brewing process is over, the wet and steaming grain is discarded. The grain at this stage is referred to as ‘spent grain,’ but it is still perfectly edible.

In the United States, companies are recycling waste grain into food, but here in Ireland no one is doing it. Siblings Niamh and Ruairi Dooley from Ballykeeran, Athlone have joined forces to start a new food business called BiaSol, which aims to turn spent grain waste from breweries back into food. There has been a lot of research into the benefits of spent grain. I had the pleasure of meeting the brother-and-sister team at their Ferbane Business Park headquarters.

Boora Bainne: From Grass to Glass

September 23, 2021 By Admin

Approximately a kilometre from the hidden treasure of the Lough Boora Discovery Park, the former peat harvesting site turned into an Irish biodiversity project, is the Boora Bainne Milk Company founded by Paul Molloy. Yes, there are dairy cows involved. Yes, those dairy cows will unwittingly contribute to climate change through emissions. But there is a difference. Paul has set-up a milk vending machine where you buy a glass bottle and then fill it with either milk, or flavoured milk of your choice. Using a recyclable glass bottle eliminates the need for any single-use milk cartons or containers and is a far more sustainable way to buy your milk.

Paul is the third generation of Molloys to run the family-owned dairy farm in Leamore, Boora, Co. Offaly. His father Joseph is well-known, and highly respected in the area’s farming circles but it was Paul who came up with the initiative to pasteurise and then sell the milk from his 130 Friesian Jersey cows – directly to the consumer.

From Pompey to Posh Pebbles

May 19, 2021 By Admin

Anyone could be an entrepreneur. You don’t need a degree from a posh university or be an eccentric genius. It’s utter gibberish that your old school report must state that you are someone destined for greatness. Sometimes, all you need is a great idea that’s mixed with a generous streak of self-discipline, an appetite for hard work and a belly full of patience. But remember, instant success never really happens. It takes some entrepreneurs a very long time to finally get their venture off the ground. If you’re lucky enough, it might take a few weeks.

Annette Francis from Baylough, Athlone, only launched her business, Posh Pebbles in mid-April of this year. Despite having no formal business experience, and with the country still not fully out of lockdown, she’s amazed and humbled by how popular her handcrafted pebble art frames have become.

The Pantry: Mother Knows Best

April 29, 2021 By Admin

In the true spirit of Irish hospitality, the only job requirement is to provide excellent service in the hope that your paths will cross again. Add to this mix, a large helping of generosity, delicious food and a quaint notion that any favour is never too big or too small to ask. So, when a guest walks away feeling that the staff went above and beyond, they will keep coming back, again and again. Annette Dalton, the proprietor of The Pantry on Main Street in Moate and The Pantry Dún na Sí could write a book or two on this subject.

Born and reared in Moate, Annette was one of six children and freely admits to being someone who has always preferred the sunshine and fresh air of outdoors life. This suited her in spades, when aged 13, her family moved further into the countryside and took over Coolatore House in Rosemount. Coolatore is now forever linked to the late singer Michael Jackson, who stayed there with his family in 2006.

P.J. McCormack: Photographing Perfection

April 17, 2021 By Admin

‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ is a famous phrase that many of us will have heard at some point in our lives. It means it’s easier to show something in a picture, than to try and describe it in words. So, imagine trying to describe in words, how a particular tree in the middle of a South American rainforest looks like at sunrise? Or describe the view that you see from the top of a mountain that overlooks a river at sunset? Not easy is it.

Yes, you could draw or paint a picture if you are talented enough and until photography was invented, that’s exactly what people did.

It’s Magico from the first bite to the last crumb.

April 7, 2021 By Admin

There is nothing more delicious than the distinctive aroma of freshly baked bread that has come straight out of the oven without preservatives and additives. I’m talking about artisanal bread which is made at the hands of a skilled baker in a traditional way. Bread is one of the fundamental foods of a balanced and healthy diet and can be found right across the world in many shapes, sizes, textures, and tastes.

For baker Matteo Zanardo the smell of Sourdough takes him back every single time to his roots in Pordenone, Italy. As a boy, Matteo watched his grandfather bake naturally leavened Sourdoughs that are the mainstay of every Mediterranean dinner table. With his wife Giulia by his side, Matteo brings the art of good Italian food made by hand from his Moate-based family business, Magico Food.