[caption id="attachment_4783" align="alignleft" width="300"] Spring grasses give off pollen[/caption] Summer is certainly coming! Great news for most of us as we welcome the lengthening of the days, unfortunately for others this means the start of the dreaded hay fever season. Personally I have never suffered from this condition, but I have some family members who do and I know it can be really miserable. Hay fever is caused by an allergic reaction to pollen causing the release of histamine, which causes inflammation around the nose and eyes. Characteristic symptoms include red, itchy eyes, and a runny or congested nose, and can include a cough and an inflamed throat. Continue reading →

When my father Alan opened Organico I was 16, my sister Rachel was 13, Aoife was 10 and Jaime was only 7. We all absolutely LOVED playing shop, and we took to working Saturdays and school holidays like ducks to water! Thankfully 25 years later Rachel and I still love it and this month we are celebrating Organico’s 25th birthday and having big celebration to say a huge Thank You to all our friends, customers and suppliers. Our parents, Alan and Caroline Dare, were involved in a Wholefood Cafe and community center in Brighton - so you could say Organico completed that circle.

In 1980 our parents moved to West Cork where they bought a small farm to start a family and a new life. My father was very industrious and started Glenlough Yoghurt, a live natural yoghurt business. He bought milk directly from local farmers that he trusted Read More...

I don’t know about you, but I love looking after my skin these days. Where brushing teeth can (wrongly I know!) feel like a chore, taking care of my skin feels like a treat, especially when I find natural products that suit me. Unfortunately many of the compounds in beauty products are not good for us and some are downright toxic. The problem with applying products laced with petrochemical compounds on your skin is that our skin is a really good delivery system for things we want to get into our body (think insulin patches, nicotine patches, hormone patches). So what you put on your skin is going to end up in you blood stream as sure as if you injected or ate it.  Therefore it’s important to look for skin care products that contain ingredients which have the same purity and quality you’d look for in the foods you choose to eat, and In terms of having beautiful and well-nourished skin, products containing high-quality plant-based ingredients are simply a better choice. Read More...

Let’s face it: many of us love our coffee! But is it a guilty pleasure or a healthy drink that is good for us? It feels like one day we see studies that support coffee and the next day we see 10 reasons why coffee is bad! What’s the truth about this aromatic beverage that so many of us love? I’ve been reading some very interesting articles on coffee by Dr Mark Hyman (an American Physician). Coffee contains antioxidants and can be the number one source of antioxidants in the modern diet (a sad state of affairs considering we ought to be eating 6-9 portions of antioxidant rich fruit and veg every day).

A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology showed improvements in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and cholesterol when mice consumed coffee and fat together. (More on that combo in a minute.) They also found coffee can help reduce gut permeability or leaky gut.

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We're currently looking for a baker for our Bakery in Bantry. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced baker who has an interest in handmade sourdough breads.

We're looking for a skilled cook to come and join our happy team at Organico Cafe in Bantry. If you love healthy eating, are excited by cooking real food, and would like to be part of a dynamic team, this could be the job for you!

We're so excited to have won the Retail Shop of The Year Ireland award from the McKenna's Guides!

Hello everyone! Sorry we totally forgot to post about our Opening times this holiday season. So here goes: Our Shop re-opening on Wednesday the 28th; and is open until 6pm Saturday the 31st. We won't have fresh bread on the 28th but we will on the 29th, 20th and 31st. On Tuesday the 3rd we re-open for 2017. Fresh veg...

Shakespeare is known for saying our eyes are the windows to our soul. I was squinting recently to watch an escaped helium balloon disappear into the blue sky when it struck me just how precious my vision is. It’s a cliche but our vision is one of the things we can easily take for granted until it starts to desert us, and at the same time it is something that many of us simply assume will degenerate as we get older. But if you do some reading you realise that much of what happens to our eye health is under our control, despite what we have been led to believe. When I was first prescribed glasses I was told to wear them as little as possible. My Optician was also very reluctant to give in to my pleas for contact lenses, only prescribing them when I promised to wear them for only the occasional wedding or festival, when I wanted more freedom. He explained that where I might take off my glasses and give my eyes a break, with contacts this wasn’t possible and my eye muscles would weaken through lack of use if I wore contacts constantly. I think this is pretty sound advice, and now 20+ years on my vision has actually improved slightly (my prescription has decreased). While researching this article I have been reminded of another eye specialist from the 1860’s called Dr Bates who routinely smashed his patient’s eyeglasses and instead taught various exercises to strengthen eye muscles which he claimed would make glasses unnecessary. His methods made him hugely unpopular - perhaps because he challenged a large industry - but his methods are still being practiced today and while I’m not advising you throw away your driving glasses it certainly seems to makes sense to try some exercises out - especially if it costs nothing and causes no harm. Read More...

Soup is one of the simplest, most satisfying and economical meals to make. If you can make a good soup you can always feed your family and friends whatever you have in the cupboard. Unlike salads which need to be made from the brightest, most vibrant vegetables, soup can be made using up all the veg you have left at the end of the week, which means they will always be slightly different - but if you get the base right they will always be tasty. A good bowl of soup is like a hug from an old friend, something that brightens up even the dullest of days! This recipe will easily serve 2-4 people depending on hunger levels. Continue reading →