CATHY Whitty lives in the small village of Tinahely, near Co. Wicklow.
The mother of six was having a cup of tea with a friend one day when she felt her tongue swelling in her mouth.
She rushed to her local doctor and was taken Naas Hospital fighting for her life having suffered a severe allergic attack, anaphylaxis.
In the days and weeks that followed, she was put on an exclusion diet to identify what was causing the extreme reaction.
Although no one was able to find the exact cause, Whitty was advised to stay away from wheat, leading her to try spelt flour as an alternative.
She began baking with spelt flour and soon her local shop were selling her loaves.
Scroll down for Cathy's Easy Fruit Frumble Recipe...
But it wasn't until her daughter Lorraine nominated her for a Recipe for Success competition being run by Irish supermarket chain SuperValu and RTE that her business,Cathy’s Spelt for Health, really began to take off.
She qualified for the final of the competition and was contacted by stores and people nationwide looking for her spelt breads.
Six years later, her mixes are available nationwide in Ireland, in Wholefoods London stores and Independent Health Food stores.
In recent months Cathy’s Spelt for Health have sent their first orders to Waitrose and further afield to United Arab Emirates and the USA.
Try Cathy's Easy Fruit Frumble Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 kg or 2 lb fruit washed and sliced thinly: apples 200g, blueberries 150g, strawberries 150g, 200g blackberries, 300g raspberries
- 6 oz sultanas
- 1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind
- 50g/2 oz caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 150g/5 oz flapjack mix
- 3 oz butter
To start:
Preheat oven to 160 degrees/Gas 3/325 degrees.
Method
- Arrange fruit in oven proof dish.
- Sprinkle sugar on top.
- Add mixed spice and orange rind to flapjack mix and rub butter into mixture until it resembles bread crumbs.
- Spoon the flapjack mix on top of the fruit and bake on middle shelf of oven until it is golden and fruit is soft when knife is inserted into it.
- Serve warm, with fresh fruit and fresh cream.
