After a winter of imports from Spain and Italy, it is finally the Irish season again at Allfresh Wholesale. Barra Sweetnam, owner of the company, prides himself on supplying Irish produce as long as it is available.
"We always strive to be first with the courgette flowers, and we have done it again this year with the first flowers on the market today. We have been supplying Irish strawberries for a few weeks now and are in full flow."
© Allfresh Wholesale
Irish asparagus
Another first for Allfresh Wholesale is Irish asparagus. "This is the first time we have had it; it is a new product for us. There are very few Irish growers, not like in England, where they have lots of growers. I'm not sure if it's a culture thing or because the Irish have traditionally had a different palette. We have a short season similar to that in England.
"The Irish asparagus should be of the same value as the English asparagus, and much more than Spanish or Peruvian asparagus. It definitely deserves a higher price point."
Promoting Irish produce
Barra is very active on social media, where he promotes Irish-grown produce and minimal packaging. "We are getting more and more Irish growers coming to us with their produce; we, in turn, promote this produce to our customers, who are mainly restaurants and food service providers."
© Allfresh Wholesale
To boost awareness and sales of Irish produce, Barra will launch a promotion of Irish-grown edible flowers from May 6th to May 17th.
"The edible flowers are grown by McCormack Family Farms, who supply us with a lot of our Irish-grown produce as well as out-of-season imported produce. We have the edible flowers every year and also import them out of season, but this is a great chance to get them out to more customers. They are popular with chefs, in the confectionery and cake trade, and are becoming more and more popular in the bars and restaurants for use in cocktails."
For more information:
Barra Sweetnam
Allfresh Wholesale
Tel: +353 21 4510526
[email protected]
www.allfresh.ie
