Private Ennis Tasting History Tour with Dr Jane O'Brien

We start the tour in the picturesque courtyard shared by the Temple Gate Hotel and the Clare Musuem/Ennis Tourist Office where we are introduced to the history of the vibrant market town of Ennis, and how food and attitudes to food have shaped its history and society. We explore the importance butter and butter making once played in Irish life, and participants get a chance to experience the magic of churning their own butter on the tour!

Francis Street was once the ancient Causway of the town linking the castle of the O'Brien Kings to the 13th century Old Abbey. At this stop we explore the importance and traditions of banquets and feasting amongst the Celtic Kings of Ireland, as well as some of their more unusual entertainments! We get to taste the famous honey Mead, the drink of the High Kings, whose influence was so great that the halls of Tara, where the High Kings of Ireland ruled, were called the house of the Mead circle.

We explore the history of the Old Abbey (circa 1240), and what daily life was like for the friars that once lived here. Despite their simple monastic lifestyle the friars could enjoy a rich diet including oats, fish, poultry, eggs and beer. We know from traces of medieval hives that they were also bee-keepers, and we get to sample some locally made traditional oat-cakes drizzled with local honey made from Ennis bees!

We stop into one of Ennis's atmospheric "bow-ways" that once connected the main streets to the poorer tenement areas of the town. These laneways were once busy routes, and during Ireland's Great Famine of the 1840s the town saw much overcrowding with people flooding in from the courtyside to seek refuge in the town's workhouse. We explore the reasons and outcomes of this potato famine which saw over a million people in Ireland die of starvation and disease. Shortage of food and the fear of hunger has been an crucial part of the story of food in Ireland, and there is much folklore which surrounded it.

The O'Connell Monument stands in the busy heart of Ennis. It was also once the site of the old town courthouse, and the witchcraft trial of the infamous wise woman of Clare, Biddy Early. As a folkhealer Biddy used local herbs to mix her magic potions - we try an ointment made by a present day herbalist Emma Willcox. As well as being used for their medicinal properties, wild herbs and plants could also be used to flavour food, and were an important supplement to the Irish diet. From the seashore too there was dillisk, a type of dried sea vegetable often eaten as an addictive salty snack today, and we get to sample some harvested off the coast of Co Clare by fourth generation seaweed harvesters.

The McParland House (circa 1620) on Parnell Street is the only know surviving timber framed house in Ireland and the oldest house of the town to be in continuous use without any major alterations to its structure. The original quaint shopfront and half-door evoke an earlier time in the market town - the half-door could be used to keep out the town's pigs, and we explore the importance of the pig in Irish society, and get a chance to sample some of the fresh blood pudding made the traditional way by a local rare breed pig breeder and pork producer.

We stop beside the building housing the Chapel Lane market, once a church built in 1735 during the penal times. Beside us is the old pioneer society, a temperance movement which was established in the 19th century to help the Irish abstain from alcohol. Poitín (from the Gaelic "Pot Still") was a type of (once illegal) moonshine, a magical white spirit with a rich history, frequently served at Irish wakes, funerals, weddings and fairs. We are lucky enough to be able to taste the real thing - produced (now legally!) in the traditional way by a sixth generation poitín maker in a local micro-distillery using 100% peated malted oats and barley. We soften it with a treat of a sample of locally made chocolate.

As the main market town for Co Clare, Ennis was a main centre for markets for hundreds of years. As well as buying and trading of livestock and produce these markets were also social occasions, with people meeting up, matchmaking...and sometimes engaging in the infamous faction fighting! Here we get to sample some freshly baked soda bread - an Irish classic, traditional made by the women of the house on griddles over the turf fires. Served thickly spread with the golden butter that we have made it is a taste of heaven!

We finish our tour with a visit to the very special Ennis Gourmet Store to sample some of the amazing fresh local produce that we are known for today. This store is a pure delight for foodies, and you can sit a while and enjoy local cheeses and Burren smoked salmon in the company of store owners Ann and David. Food is more than itself...it is identity, and culture, and history. It really is the most important matter in our lives!