Next weekend, over 500 of the best Irish food and drink products in Ireland will pass through the final judging stage of the Blas na hÉireann awards in Dingle. Irish Country Living speaks to two previous winners – Lullaby Milk and Skeaghanore Duck – about their recipe for success.

Lullaby Milk

The fact that Gerald Burns is used to getting up as early as 2am to milk his Holstein herd has definitely come in handy since the arrival of their first baby, Oisín, this summer.

“It’s funny how some of the feeds tend to work around it,” laughs his partner in life – and in Lullaby Milk – Julian Twomey.

Julian and Gerald live in Dromtarrife, north Cork, where Gerald’s family – known for the Ardrahan cheese brand – have farmed their pedigree herd for over 100 years.

However, the couple have been making their own name in the food industry with Lullaby Milk – so-called for its slumber-inducing properties – which won a gold medal and the best artisan award at Blas na hÉireann last year.

It was actually Gerald’s late father, Eugene, who came across a Finnish study that showed that when cows were milked before daybreak, their milk contained a higher level of melatonin, which is a natural hormone produced in the body to prepare for sleep. Therefore, drinking a glass before bedtime, the research argued, could help promote a restful night’s sleep.

Intrigued by the idea, Gerald won the licence to use the Finnish research and began to produce Lullaby Milk in 2005.

Issues such as distribution and marketing, however, proved challenging, but the decision by Julian – who previously worked with Ulster Bank – to join the company over two years ago brought new impetus to the project. After completing SuperValu’s Food Academy programme, Lullaby Milk was relaunched in SuperValu and Centra stores nationwide in January.

The cows are milked before daybreak (2am in summer to 4.30am in winter), with the milk transported to North Cork Co-Op, where it is packaged at 6am and collected by Musgraves for central distribution. Retailing at €2.35/litre, the main market is parents whose children (aged 12 months plus) are struggling to sleep.

Indeed, one customer was willing to drive from Dublin to Cork one June bank holiday weekend after she ran out.

“She said she wouldn’t have been able to cope for the weekend without it,” says Julian, who arranged to get a delivery to her.

And it’s obviously not just customers who love Lullaby Milk. The judges at Blas na hÉireann gave it the gold award in the milk category as well as the best artisan producer title at last year’s ceremony, which Julian says meant so much to Gerald.

“Just to be named best producer was such an honour for him,” says Julian. “It was very close to his heart in that sense, it was something that he had followed and monitored over the years.”

Lullaby Milk is shortlisted in this year’s milk category, and the couple are currently looking into export opportunities. Though what we want to know is whether they have been hitting the báinne themselves since the arrival of baby Oisín?

“When it’s your first child, you’d be half afraid to take it in case you wouldn’t wake up,” jokes Julian.

Visit www.lullabymilk.com

Skeaghanore Duck

No fuss – or fatty pans. That’s what Helena and Eugene Hickey promise, with products like their award-winning Skeaghanore west Cork duck leg confit.

“You can just impress your friends by having it for a starter ... without having the dirty pans,” laughs Helena.

The Hickeys first started rearing ducks on their dairy farm in Ballydehob in 1994, with Field’s SuperValu in Skibbereen among their first customers. Today, they supply over 40 SuperValu stores, having added a processing unit in 2015 on the farm to meet demand. However, their ducks are still hand-reared in the traditional manner for up to eight weeks on a natural cereal-based diet to ensure the original high quality and flavour.

Many of their customers are chefs, who order everything from the livers for pate to the duck fat for roast potatoes through companies like La Rousse. However, Helena and Eugene have worked hard to introduce products for the everyday consumer, such as their smoked breast of duck, which won the gold award, chef’s choice and best artisan title at Blas in 2013, and the duck leg confit, which took silver and gold in 2014 and 2015.

This year, they have been shortlisted again for their smoked duck breast, as well as for their latest offering – smoked chicken using poultry from local farms.

“We had great sales out of it and great promotion and it did a world of good for us because it put our name out there a little more,” says Helena of their success with the food awards to date. “It’s been a great journey.”

Visit www.skeaghanoreduck.ie

duck.ie/

>> Join the party

Join the party at the Dingle Food Festival’s 10th Birthday. The Blas na hÉireann awards will take place at the Dingle Food Festival, which runs from 30 September to 2 October. Highlights include the festival’s famous taste trail offering culinary delights in over 60 locations, a pop-up drinks academy at the famous Dick Mack’s, gin and whiskey masterclasses at The Dingle Distillery, cookery demonstrations from chefs including Neven Maguire, a farmers’ market, street entertainment and much more. Visit www.dinglefood.com or www.facebook.com/DingleFood