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Blas na hÉireann has announced a perfect pair of Bretzel Bakery and Irish Gourmet Butter as 2020 award winners.
Often dubbed the Oscars of Irish Food, Blas na hÉireann, the Irish Food Awards, is the largest food awards on the island, open to all 32 counties.
Bretzel Bakery, a local Dublin business for over 150 years, was crowned Supreme Champion for the Pain de Maison Boule, a large, round, naturally fermented sourdough bread using whole wheat and rye flour.
La boule is the culmination of 15 years of hard work by Bretzel’s team of bakers.
“At Bretzel Bakery we are delighted to be crowned Supreme Champions of our Pain de Maison Boule,” says bakery owner William Despard.
“It has been a very disturbing time for growers across the country and our own experience echoes that of many others.”
He added: “By reorienting our hospitality business towards retail, we have been able to ensure that Bretzel not only survives this crisis, but thrives.
“A Blas Supreme Champion award is a great recognition of the incredible hard work and laser focus of all the wonderful staff at Bretzel Bakery.”
Irish Gourmet Butter, established in 2017, takes home the Best Artisan Product award for its lightly salted butter product.
Lightly salty, beaten the traditional way, this year’s winner is made at Dunhill Co Waterford, using grass-fed milk with ground sea salt.
“Our first award with Blas na hÉireann in 2017, shortly after we started the business, was a huge boost at the time,” says Mary Sharpe, who runs Irish Gourmet Butter with her husband Billy.
“It was a vote of confidence and it made a real difference in our business for customers to see the Blas medal logo on our butter,” he said. “We couldn’t be prouder or happier.”
The evaluation took place in Dingle during July this year and the finalists were notified in August.
The team behind Blas na hÉireann is delighted with the way the awards were brought together this year due to increased restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Artie Clifford, President of Blas na hÉireann, said: “Faced with restrictions on college campuses and current meetings, our evaluation of Blas this year was very different from our usual format.
“We are delighted how this year worked so well under challenging circumstances, and we are very excited to announce our perfect pair of winners.”
He added: “Blas’s founding mission, to set quality benchmarks for Irish products on a level playing field, has been strictly adhered to and measurably implemented again this year, despite the challenges we have all faced.”
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