The Story of Ballymaloe Country Relish
WHO WE ARE
We are an Irish, family run business, owned and run by Yasmin Hyde, daughter of Myrtle and Ivan Allen of Ballymaloe House.
With the best quality ingredients we cook using traditional methods, which results in delicious tasting products.
We hate to make exaggerated claims but we think we have the best team in the world. They are long-serving, hard working and extremely loyal and we are truly indebted to them.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Yasmin started producing Ballymaloe Country Relish in her kitchen in 1990 for local shops and restaurants. She quickly out grew her kitchen and moved into purposely built kitchens in Little Island, Co. Cork, Ireland.
WHERE DID THE ORIGINAL RECIPE COME FROM?
In the 1930′s Ivan Allen started growing tomatoes, when he tried to sell them people didn’t know what they were! Myrtle found herself with a glut of tomatoes in her kitchen so started making Ballymaloe Country Relish. The relish was very popular and became a staple part of family meals and, later, a staple part of the restaurant menu. Years later their daughter Yasmin started making it for shops and restaurants.
In 1948 Ivan and Myrtle Allen bought Ballymaloe House.
With all her children reared and Ivan struggling to make ends meet on the farm, Myrtle decided to open a restaurant in their dining room.
Using food from Ivan’s farm and fresh fish from Ballycotton, the local fishing village, Myrtle’s restaurant soon attracted huge recognition for its food and won numerous awards. To get a wine license Myrtle had to open a few guest rooms, so Ballymaloe became a guest house, which, to this day, welcomes guests from all over the world.
BALLYMALOE COOKERY SCHOOL
Darina Allen, daughter in law of Myrtle and Ivan Allen, opened the Ballymaloe Cookery School in 1982. Set in the middle of a 100 acre organic farm, people from all over the world come to learn how to cook using the best of ingredients.
GETTING INVOLVED
We are grateful to our customers for helping us to get to where we are today. We wholeheartedly believe in giving back to the community and getting involved.
Adopt a Road:
Keeping our country clean is important for tourism and Ireland’s image of a clean, green country. So we pay for litter picking on a stretch of the N25.
RNLI:
We also did a campaign to support the lifeboats.
OUT AND ABOUT
Yasmin’s daughter, Maxine, travels to food fairs and events spreading the word about Ballymaloe. This year Maxine and her team travelled to Bloom, The Ploughing Championships, TasteFest Cork, A Taste of Dublin, A Taste of Donegal, The Electric Picnic and many more.