FOUNDED by a husband-and-wife team on a whim, a Mid-Wales smokery whose proud boast is ‘making really good food even better’ captured the Golden Fork for Wales award at the Great Taste Awards ceremony – widely known as the ‘Food Oscars’ – at Battersea Arts Centre.
Jo and Jonathan Carthew, of the Black Mountains Smokery in Crickhowell, saw their Smoked Duck Breast achieve the ultimate accolade, beating off competition from Chorizo, from Moch Coch, of Carmarthen, and Dà Mhìle Absinthe, from Dà Mhìle Distillery, of Llandysul.
The smokery specialises in producing a wide range of delicious oak-smoked foods, including salmon, fish, meats and cheese as well as food gifts and luxury Welsh hampers. Their products are crafted using traditional methods and the finest ingredients, ensuring exceptional taste and quality.
The Golden Fork award marks the culmination of a dream nurtured since Jo and Jonathan returned home to the UK in 1995 after a decade spent in Botswana drawn by their memories of a 16th century Welsh long house where they honeymooned.
Yet it was a trip to Scotland, when a fish Jonathan had caught was treated at a local smokery, which planted the seeds of setting up a similar enterprise in Wales.
“We started from scratch, from very small beginnings, building the panels in our smokehouse ourselves with our 18-month-old daughter handing us rivets to put it together,” Jo recalls.
Jonathan attributes the rise of the Black Mountains Smokery to huge local support. Over the years the business has also developed into a mail order operation taking in orders from all over the world. Their smoked Gressingham duck breast – lightly cured and gently hot smoked over Welsh oak – was described by Abby Allen, of Pipers Farm, as a great example of traditional smoking.
“The meat really shone,” she said. “It had a subtle smokiness and the cure was absolutely exceptional, creating this lovely velvet melt-in-the-mouth texture.”
Although Dà Mhìle Distillery failed to claim the regional title of Golden Fork for Wales, they still had cause to celebrate as their Absinthe took the Nigel Barden Heritage Award for highlighting traditional production methods and heritage.
Glynhafod Farm (‘Remarkable Valley’ in Welsh), the home of Dà Mhìle Distillery, has been owned and run by the Savage-Onstwedder family since 1981. John, Opatrice and Paula came to west Wales from their native Holland with the intention of setting up an organic farming centre.
Their first venture, using Paula’s renowned cheese-making skills, was the celebrated Caws Teifi Cheese, which is still made on the farm to this day.
A decade or so later, John spotted a gap in the market for organic whisky and in 1992 commissioned Springbank Distillery to make him a whisky, establishing Dà Mhìle to create the first organic whisky of the modern era. Twenty years later the family opened their very own distillery on the farm.
Since then, they have continued to make not only whisky, but also other organic spirits from Dark Skies Rum to Seaweed Gin, all inspired by local history and surroundings.
Yet it was their hand-crafted Absinthe, with its stunning warm-green natural colour with umami flavour, which did rather more than simply catching the eye at this year’s Great Taste Awards.
Said to fill the glass with aromas of aniseed and delicious herbal undertones, beneath its bold 67 per cent ABV, its finish was described as ‘smooth and long with a fresh zing and precious little burn’.
Whilst traditionally enjoyed with ice-cold water poured over a spoon of sugar, John recommends it is diluted with coconut water to an ABV of around 40 per cent and, if sweetened, use organic sugar cubes. He also declares it works well with organic lemonade.
Great Taste judges evidently adhered to his advice, describing the drink as ‘a truly excellent example of authentic, classic absinthe’, the prized result of ‘brilliant craftmanship’.
These, then, were the stand-out successes as producers from Wales won 149 awards at the world’s largest food and drink awards with seven taking home the gold stamp of approval with 3-stars.
Their recognition follows hard on the heels of recent statistics confirming the food and drink sector in Wales grew by 10 per cent in the last year, with businesses reporting a total turnover of £24.6bn in 2023, compared to £22.3bn in 2022.
Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, said: “The remarkable success of our producers at the Great Taste Awards is a clear reflection of the exceptional quality and innovation that our producers bring to the global food and drink scene.
“These awards are not just accolades; they are a testament to the hard work, dedication, and rich culinary heritage that Wales is known for. I look forward to working with these producers as we continue building on the recent successes of the industry and elevating Wales as a beacon of food and drink excellence.”
The Great Taste Awards are organised by the Guild of Fine Food, and every entry was blind tasted by the Guild’s expert judging panel of over five hundred food critics, chefs, recipe creators, buyers, retailers, and other specialists in the field of food and drink.
Entries were analysed across 92 judging days, each receiving detailed feedback, whether or not they obtained an award.
As Great Taste is the world’s largest and most trusted food and drink accreditation scheme, producers putting their food or drink to the test before the judges find it a quick way to receive honest, straightforward and impartial feedback from chefs, buyers, food writers and retailers.
Whether a product receives a 1-, 2- or 3-star accolade, Great Taste stars are coveted and highly respected seals of approval.
Winning a Great Taste award not only encourages confidence and commercial success for small businesses, it also motivates their teams, as well as generate greater awareness for products locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Accreditation means a producer’s food or drink will stand out in a crowded market. This, coupled with extensive consumer and trade promotion by the Guild of Fine Food, will lead to increased sales and brand awareness.
The Guild of Fine Food has been described as ‘a community of over 12,000 business owners sharing the same passion for good food and drink’.
The Guild’s raison d’etre is to support, celebrate and encourage independent food and drink retailers and the producers that supply them while at the same time promoting excellence in all sectors of the trade.
And this year’s awards are by no means isolated Welsh successes. Welsh products to receive recognition last year included Brecon Chocolates’ Whisky and Pecan Praline and Vale of Glamorgan Brewery Ltd’s VOG Jackson’s Black Oyster Shell IPA.
The previous year saw success for 182 Welsh products at the awards, including small independent artisan producers and large-scale distributors.
This year’s Welsh 3-Star award winners included Anglesey Fine Foods Ltd’s Black Label Shoulder of Anglesey Fat Tail Lamb. Founded in Holyhead by Adam and Joanne Parrott in 2017, after Adam gave up his corporate career in the north west to return to his farming roots and support Joanne with her new venture. They are a traditional butchery ‘providing meat the way meat should be’ by offering a bespoke service with sustainability, animal welfare and provenance at its heart. They buy from many local Welsh suppliers, support local non-food businesses and supply many local hotels and restaurants while offering a refrigerated delivery service to the door.
From one farm to another. Moch Coch, of Carmarthen, who saw their Chorizo effectively bring home the bacon, make great tasting cured and air-dried meats and salamis. Hand-crafted using the finest natural ingredients, the meats are slowly air-dried over several months. Also available are a small number of meat boxes. Caring for their animals and ensuring they have extensive natural environments in which to roam is central to how they farm. As for their prize-winning Chorizo, hot smoked Spanish pimentón and fresh garlic create warm and intense flavours in this delightful fully cured sausage. Ready to eat, this Chorizo is perfect for tapas or as part of a starter board.
Another award-winning farm – and one dating back to the 1550s – is Black Welsh Lamb, of Abergavenny, whose Organic Pasture-fed Mutton Shoulder also tickled the judges’ taste buds. Award-winning organic, purely pasture-fed Black Welsh lamb, hogget and mutton are produced on the edge of the Black Mountains in Monmouthshire. Famous for its flavour and lower fat, their meat can be bought frozen from the farm or delivered fresh in a small or large box anywhere in the UK. Their aim is to farm as naturally and sustainably as possible and their meat comes from a closed flock of pedigree Black Welsh Mountain Sheep developed over a 15-year period.
Welsh Wildflower Honey earned sweet success for Gwenyn Gruffydd honey makers, of Carmarthen, who were founded in 2010 when Gruffydd Rees decided to follow his dream of keeping bees. The solitary hive in the back of his parents’ garden quickly multiplied into over two hundred beehives dotted around south Wales all producing 100 per cent pure, minimally filtered, unpasteurised (raw) Welsh honey. Their winning honey has been memorably described as a taste of Welsh summer in a jar; created from a mix of wildflowers and blossom.
‘Naughty, but nice’ could perfectly sum up the Welsh Whisky and Chocolate Tart of Cardiff’s Patisserie Verte, a company who specialise in traditional, high-end French patisserie with a twist. Each product is designed by the award-winning pâtissier, Thibault Courtoisier, to bring beauty, decadence and sophistication to the palate – and all products are 100 per cent plant-based. Their Welsh Whisky and Chocolate Tart – AKA ‘The Posh Tarte’ – which earned them their first 3-star Great Taste Award, is made using a winning combination of Penderyn whisky and Valrhona chocolate to form a tartlet extremely rich in chocolate, but also really creamy and clean in the mouth.
In total 97 Welsh products achieved 1-star status and 45 bagged 2-star awards with the following deserving a special mention:
Famed for its pristine marine environment, Pembrokeshire is home to the UK’s only marine nature reserve at nearby Skomer Island. So, it should come as no surprise that Atlantic Edge Oysters saw their Pembrokeshire Rock Oysters – grown amongst seagrass beds within a marine protected area – make a splash.
And Barry Island Spirits Company can be forgiven for toasting themselves after their Welsh Dry Gin made waves too. The Barry Island Spirits Range are made by blending the finest botanicals with the purest Welsh water from the Brecon Beacons to create premium Welsh spirits. Their Organic Welsh Vodka also won a 2-star award.
And if gin or vodka do not float your boat, perhaps Seren’s Classic Gluten Free Brownie, the latest tasty little morsel to emerge from Bubbling Stove/Charrington’s Deli, will? This award-winning piece of confectionery was described by judges as ‘harmonious and exquisite’ and will undoubtedly help put Seren Charrington-Hollins’ Welshpool business on the foodies’ map.
“A lovely colour and just the right amount of fizz.” That was the verdict of the judges on Radnor Hills’ Spring Water’s Heartsease Farm Apple & Rhubarb.
“We loved the effervescence and fruity notes on the nose,” they added. “The drink is so refreshing, with the rhubarb notes arriving first and then the apple appearing and filling the mouth with wonderful, gentle fruitiness.”
Way out west, Cardigan Brewery Ltd’s acclaimed Dai P A Cloudy Mountain, is clearly brewing up a storm. Described as a ‘cloudy Mountain India pale ale with pine aromas and rich with a citrus fruit taste’ this fine beverage left Great Taste judges both suitably impressed and refreshed!
The number and quality of our Great Taste winners, coupled with the natural bounty of Wales, the hard work and skill of producers and the support available to them, bears testimony to a culinary success story.
So why not support them in the best way you can? By buying Welsh!
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