Cork beekeeper on TV food show on Good Friday

EASTER brings with it hope and optimism for the future, a time of renewal... and this year all of that will mean even more to people.

It is a wonderful time of year to celebrate and when this year’s feast falls next weekend, it will be bring a much-needed pep in all our steps.

Timed to tap into that feeling, and provide us with some tips on how to celebrate, is Catherine Celebrates Easter on RTÉ1 on Good Friday at 8.30pm, as Catherine Fulvio uses delicious Irish artisan products to create some fabulous recipes.

She meets three of Ireland’s finest artisan producers that are currently supplying us with unique and superb flavoursome choices. On the menu will be mouth-watering Wild Mushrooms Risotto with Walnuts and Thyme followed by delectable Butterflied Leg of Lamb with Chimichurri served with a Pistachio, Carrot, Grape and Goat’s Cheese Salad.

That’s all finished with a treat for all the family to get involved in — charming Shortbread Easter Biscuits in shapes of Easter Bunnies and Easter Eggs.

In the programme, Catherine meets chef, herbalist and beekeeper Freda Wolfe, who has been buzzing about bees since her childhood on the family farm in Ballydehob, West Cork.

Freda now has native black bee hives dotted around Dublin and Wicklow, producing limited amounts of ‘Clever Honey’.

She combines her culinary talents and herbal medicine training to create a range of tasty therapeutic Intelligent Teas.

Inspired by the aroma’s, tastes and intelligent curative properties of hedgerow plants, Intelligent Teas are carefully crafted blends of loose leaf, organic and chemical free herbs, and Freda shows Catherine how best to blend teas along with introducing her to her bees.

Freda said: “Tasting teas and talking bees with Catherine , beside my hives was a fun and memorable experience. I am very excited to see how she will incorporate my produce into her Easter fayre.”

Catherine also heads to Greystones in Wicklow to celebrate the power of the flower with Adrienn Eber & Marta O’Kelly of Floral Art, and stops off at nearby Glendalogh to meet husband and wife, Aoife Patterson and Pat Reid of Wicklow Willow, a small company which offers a range of traditional basketry products and willow weaving courses.

Catherine said: “I am making a wonderful Easter basket complete with lots of delicious artisanal and local foods and the cutest home-made decorated biscuits.”