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Don’t miss these incredible food experiences next time you’re in West Cork…
Treat your tummy and taste buds to a gourmet getaway in the culinary capital of Ireland. From melting chocolate to smoking fish, touring, tasting and making, here’s our round-up of delicious food experiences to whet your appetite in West Cork.
Kinsale Food Tours – Walking Tour
Kinsale’s reputation for passionate people creating fabulous food is world renowned, but with so many places to eat and drink, you can often get analysis paralysis.
So, let gourmet guru Suzanne Burns guide you through the town. From chocolatiers to cheese and mead makers, fishermen to foragers, the town’s artisan producers will regale you with wild tales as you sample sumptuous treats. This walking food tour is a brilliant, hunger-busting way to get to know this colourful town and learn all about the local ingredients that come from the land and sea – Kinsale is bountiful as well as beautiful.
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Exploding Tree Chocolate – Visit and Workshop
Delight your taste buds and discover the wonder of chocolate making with a visit to the Exploding Tree bean-to-bar chocolate factory in Clonakilty.
Chocolatier Allison Roberts and her team make a delicious range of Fairtrade chocolate bars from the bean. No doubt you’ll want to stick your face in the vat of melted chocolate, but somewhat surprisingly, that isn’t allowed. However, during a visit and workshop, you’ll get a taste test and make a selection of chocolates to take home. This really is the stuff of dreams, and you don’t need a golden ticket to enter, just book online.
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The Woodcock Smokery – Smokery Tour and Tasting
Sally Barnes is a world-renowned artisan. She smokes wild Irish fish in the Keep, an active smoking facility located in the rural hills close to Castletownshend. On an incredibly interesting and engaging tour and tasting, you’ll learn about the near-lost art of preserving wild food and you’ll get to taste her legendary cold-smoked Wild Atlantic Salmon as well as her other award-winning smoked fish. This truly is one of the most unique gourmet experiences in Ireland – a must-do for lovers of local food traditions.
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O’Tuama Tours – Buffalo Farm Tour
Walk with water buffalo on a guided tour of Macroom Buffalo Farm with ‘buffalo lady ’ Dorothy O’Tuama. Enjoy the fresh air and identify the local flora and wildlife on your way to meet the first herd of water buffalo in Ireland, including the energetic baby buffalo! You’ll then learn all about the alchemy that turns buffalo milk into melt-in-the-mouth mozzarella and the farming family’s heritage and sustainable practices. The tour ends on a very tasty note as you get the chance to try the buffalo milk cheeses that are made each day on the farm.
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West Cork Farm Tours
Experience rural life on the Wild Atlantic Way with a West Cork Farm Tour, which is a unique way to get to know this unspoiled region. On the tour you’ll visit heritage sites and local museums and discover that the history of West Cork is as rich as its food. You’ll also meet the farmers who share stories about their farms and show you what it’s like to live sustainably. There’s also terrific tastings of food and drink infused with the wildness of the area. It’s a great way to connect with the land and life on the edge of Europe.
Clonakilty Blackpudding – Visitor Centre Tour and Tasting
Clonakilty Blackpudding is one of the most famous food brands in the country, and if you can’t get enough of this delicious stuff, book a tour and tasting in the visitor centre. On an interactive, self-guided tour, you’ll discover the story of Ireland’s favourite black pudding and its secret recipe that dates back to the late 1800s. You’ll also get to see the puddings being made. It’s mesmerising! When you are finished with your tour, head to the cafe for some Clonakilty samples and don’t forget to exit through the gift shop and stock up on your favourites.
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Two Green Shoots: Garden of Reimagination – Garden Tour and Tasting
The temperate climate of West Cork enables a wonderful variety of edible plants and trees to flourish in the gourmet garden of Kloë and Adam in Glengarriff. On a tour, Adam, an RHS Horticulturist, regales you with stories about the different plants, trees and flowers, and you’ll pick up plenty of gardening tips too. You then get to feast on the rare edible delights of leaves, flowers, tubers, nuts, berries, botanicals and even weeds, which Kloë has reimagined into delicious dishes and drinks that tickle your taste buds with wild flavours of West Cork.
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So, are you waiting for? Now is the perfect time to discover the Wild Atlantic Way in West Cork.
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