The weekly food news round-up

Edible jewels
Belazu, the UK spice and condiment company that made its name with its novel rose petal harissa, has come up with another trendsetting product: balsamic pearls. They are made in Modena with top-grade vinegar and can be used wherever you want the deep, sweet-and-sour flavour of balsamic, without the dark splodges on the plate. The pearls burst in the mouth and are an excellent addition to Caprese or goat's cheese salads. They are a sure-fire way to add a bit of fun to a dinner party too. They are available in Cavistons in Glasthule, Dublin, where they cost €6.99, and you'll also find them in Mannings Food Emporium in Ballylickey, Cork; and Sawers and Arcadia Deli, both in Belfast. See belazu.com for more ideas on how to use them.

Oh, so buttery
Elaine Lavery and Hannah O'Reilly are graduates who have come up with a clever idea. Improper Butter combines Irish butter with a wide range of flavours including roast garlic, sweet chilli, blue cheese and chocolate. There is also a version in which butter is creamed with tarragon, ground almonds, lemon juice and zest, chives and salt to make a wonderful topping for grilled fish or chicken.

These are not just butters flecked with a few bits, they are packed full of fresh and dried herbs and other ingredients so they take on colour and texture as well as flavour. Use about half what you think you will need to get the hit you want.

Law and business graduate Lavery, who has interned at Food & Wine magazine and worked as a chalet cook in the Alps last winter, is in charge of production and recipe development, while marketing is in the hands of commerce graduate O'Reilly. Improper Butter is on sale at the Honest2Goodness market in Glasnevin, Dublin, on Saturdays, 9.30am-4pm. The 120g slabs cost €3 each.

Guilt-free tubs of taste
Where would we be without pesto and hummus? Both are easy to make, especially if you have a food processor, but sometimes it's tempting to pick up a tub rather than start from scratch. Westport nutritional therapist Angela Carney makes a range of three types of hummus and two of pesto which she sells in delis and health food shops under the Harvest Moon brand. They don't contain any salt, sugar, wheat or dairy (with the exception of the fresh pesto which has Parmesan), and are made in tiny batches of just 10 tubs. The star performer is the Harvest Moon sweet potato and coriander hummus, but the red pepper and basil varieties are also good. The fresh pesto is made with walnuts rather than pine nuts, and the apricot and sundried tomato pesto is an ultra-rich paste with almost 60 per cent fruit. There are 25 stockists nationwide including McCambridge's in Galway, Kate's Kitchen in Sligo, Country Choice in Nenagh and Nolan's, Morton's and Supervalu Mount Merrion, in Dublin.