Features
Organic Eating - Bunalun Organic Products
The range of organic products on supermarket shelves has increased dramatically in recent years. Most are imported as few Irish companies have yet launched an organic line. The market for these products is still quite limited as many are prohibitively expensive. I expect, therefore, that processed organic products should justify their price premium not only on the grounds of higher cost ingredients but also that they should taste better than similar conventional products.
One Irish company that has made an impact in supermarkets in recent times is Bunalun Organic, based in Co. Cork. Their products, easily recognisable in plain black and white labelling, are now available almost everywhere. The majority of their product lines appear to be re-packaged imported produce such as rice, pasta and honey. Because it is not compulsory to identify the country of origin on packaging its difficult to know if any of the ingredients are Irish. I generally make the effort to buy organic products wherever possible so I recently sampled three of Bunalun's product range - penne pasta, mini chocolate rice cakes and orange and cardamom marmalade.
Penne or quills are my favourite pasta shape. I find them very versatile and suitable for most sauces. I cooked the penne according to the instructions but tried them before the recommended number of minutes as cooking times can be very variable. Pasta when cooked should have a bit of bite to it and a good firm texture. Unfortunately, the majority of commonly available pasta brands are of poor quality. Bunalun's was not significantly better. The texture was slippery and it quickly lost any firmness. Definitely not one for my top ten.
Rice cakes have penitential connotations, often justified. Some taste like dry cardboard. The Bunalun mini chocolate rice cakes were a delightful surprise. The chocolate coating was of good quality and the rice cakes had a chewy texture with a good hint of sesame seed.
Marmalade is another staple that has been murdered by mass production in recent times. Even the better quality brands often fail to live up to expectations. The Bunalun marmalade had a high orange content with a strong flavour of lemon mixed in. The tartness that marmalade should have was however masked by excessive sugar content - too sweet for my liking. The cardamom dominated the flavour leaving a metallic aftertaste in the mouth. Less sugar and less cardamom and this could be a very good marmalade.
The penne costing €1.35 for 500 grams compares reasonably with conventional brands costing about €1 for the same weight. The rice cakes at €2.55 for 100 grams are excessively expensive for what they are and will definitely be limited to an occasional treat. The biggest shock however was the marmalade: at a whopping €3.29 it costs about 70% more than the most expensive comparable conventional brand I could find.
It looks like organic products will remain a niche market until manufacturers and retailers are prepared to market at realistic premiums.
Nonetheless, I am a big fan of the Bunalun porridge oats; they take longer to cook than the traditional brands but have a much better flavor and texture. I also love their Tomato and Chili Sauce, which I use straight out of the jar for homemade pizza.