Irish produce Vanessa Kendell From panna cotta made with carrageen moss to seaweed risotto, find out how Ireland's cooks are getting creative with some top local ingredients.

Cooking culture

Ireland's food culture is deeply rooted in the countryside. The cuisine is known for favouring the simple over the sophisticated and ingredients such as the potato remain an essential part of the cooking. The food scene is staying in sight of its tried and tested traditions while constantly evolving.

Seaweed

Seaweed is fast becoming one of Ireland’s specialities and there are several varieties to be found in the island. Chefs are making use of the abundance of this natural resource in surprising ways.

My grandad was always fond of eating dillisk with his pint of Murphy’s. It also adds a lovely smoky sea flavour to risottos

Clodagh McKenna, a stalwart Slow Food campaigner in Ireland and author of The Irish Farmers’ Market Cookbook says, “Few people know that seaweed has been part of the Irish diet for centuries. Smoked dillisk is still eaten in pubs throughout Ireland instead of crisps. My grandad was always fond of eating dillisk with his pint of Murphy’s. It also adds a lovely smoky sea flavour to risottos.”

Carrageen moss, another seaweed variety, is found mostly on southern shores. The extraordinary creamy-coloured fronds have natural gelling properties, making them a vegetarian-friendly gelatine substitute. “I soak carrageen overnight,” Clodagh says, “then combine it with cream, vanilla and sugar to make a wonderfully light panna cotta.”

Farmhouse cheese

County Cork on the south-west tip of Ireland has become an epicentre for artisan food producers, particularly makers of quality cheese made from raw cows' milk.

Durrus, made by Jeffa Gill, one of the champions of small-scale cheesemaking who kickstarted the Irish food revolution in the 1970s, is a washed-rind, semi-soft unpasteurised cheese which, when ripe, has a full, nutty flavour.

Desmond, another raw-milk West Cork cheese, produced by Bill Hogan, is a hard granular cheese with an intense flavour. It can be used in the same way as parmesan - try sprinkling it over a frittata, risotto or your favourite pasta dish.

Further up the county is a relative newcomer, St Gall, made by Frank and Gudrun Shinnick. It's a sweet and slightly spicy cheese, whose flavour has been likened to unsalted peanuts.

Ireland has some phenomenally talented cheesemakers and I'm really excited by the new ones like St Gall and Kilcummin. They have a unique wildness and complexity

Next door in County Kerry is Maja Binder whose Kilcummin cheese, which is slightly softer and yeasty, has attracted the attention of cheese experts such as Randolph Hodgson from Neal's Yard Dairy, who sells a range of Irish cheeses in London's Covent Garden and Borough Market. He says: "Ireland has some phenomenally talented cheesemakers and I'm really excited by the new ones like St Gall and Kilcummin. They have a unique wildness and complexity."

Other producers

Visit some of the farmers’ markets in Ireland today and you’ll discover the extent of this success story. Look out for wild smoked salmon from Belvelly Smokehouse, exquisite handmade salamis, hams and bacon from the Gubbeen Farmhouse and traditional pressed single varietal apple juices from Ballycross Apple Farm.

There are bakers of sourdough breads, producers of organic preserves and hand-churned country butter and serious fruit and vegetable growers, not forgetting the world-class cheeses where it all started.

Clodagh is determined that traditions are not lost in all the excitement. “We mustn’t lose sight of how we got here,” she says. “If we lose old recipes, we lose old methods of butchering, for instance. I still like nothing better than to serve up a good Irish stew.”