By ginger, these are good

FOOD FILE: What makes the marmalades made by Limerick artisan food producer Helen Keown, and sold under her wonderful trade …

FOOD FILE:What makes the marmalades made by Limerick artisan food producer Helen Keown, and sold under her wonderful trade name of Gingergirl, taste so great? Perhaps it's because the oranges and lemons she uses are grown specially for her by her aunt who lives in Spain for part of the year?

Perhaps it’s the trouble she takes to slice each fruit by hand and extract the pips, which she then soaks to extract the natural pectin from them?

Keown, who is a striking redhead, naturally, also fills each stylish jar by hand, writes the labels and decorates them with raffia. During her two-month (January/February) marmalade-making marathon, she makes between 600 and 800 jars, some flavoured with ginger, some with whiskey, and for the purists some made with tart Seville oranges alone.

You can buy Gingergirl marmalades, jams and preserves, which cost around €4, from Riverside Market on Bedford Row in Limerick (Sundays, noon to 5pm, April-December) and at University of Limerick’s Farmer’s Market (Tuesdays, noon to 5.30pm), in the Student’s Union Courtyard. Retail stockists include Alchemist Earth and La Cucina in Limerick; University Court, Castletroy; Fallon Byrne, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2, and 64Wine Glasthule, Co Dublin. Orders can also be dispatched by mail, with next-day delivery.

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See www.gingergirl.ie.