RECOGNISED as a mark of excellence among consumers and retailers alike, The Great Taste Awards, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, value taste above branding or packaging. This way, smaller producers get the opportunity to be taste-tested alongside more mass produced food items. Whether it’s jam, gin, beef or butter, all products are removed from their wrappers, jars or bottles before being tasted by a panel of judges over several months, who then decide which products are worthy of a one, two or three star award.
Bury Market butcher Albert Matthews walked away with two stars for their Galloway Beef Short Ribs
Judged by over 500 of the most demanding palates, belonging to food critics, chefs, restaurateurs, cooks, producers and a host of food writers and journalists, Great Taste is widely acknowledged as the most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan and speciality food producers. In the words of highly regarded food critic and Confidential contributor, Charles Campion, "Great Taste is the only food award worth having”.
Out of the 10,000 products entered, 3,539 were awarded a highly prized Great Taste accolade and 381 are based in the North. Many of these award winning products can be found in local artisan markets as well as the region’s independent delicatessens and garden centre shops.
Manchester's Brew Tea Co.Manchester-based Ten Acre Hand Cooked Crisps won single stars for five of their products; cheese and onion, ready salted, sweet chilli, pastrami and their wasabi popcorn. Urmston-based company, The Smokey Carter, run by Howard Carter (not the one who re-discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb) were awarded stars for their Mexican Chipotle Smokey BBQ sauce and their Chipotle BBQ Spice Rub.
Manchester’s Brew Tea Co were awarded two stars for their Earl Grey blend, while Bury Market butcher Albert Matthews walked away with two stars for their Galloway Beef Short Ribs and one star for their Himalayan Salt Aged Rib of Beef.
Other worthy one star winners include: The Brownie Owl from Reddish, Stockport for their granola Bars; Dormouse Chocolates, Cheetham for their 70.9% dark Ecuadorian Chocolate blended with Rose Oil and Raspberries; Kauri Fine Foods, Heaton Mersey for Caramelised Almonds with Chilli; and The Ash Tea Room, Heaton Chapel for their Christmas Pudding.
Winning producers are allowed to display the distinctive gold and black Great Taste logo with the relevant number of stars on their award-winning products.
All winning producers will have to wait until the 5 September to see if they also scoop the top awards for their region. These awards will be announced at the Great Taste Golden Fork Awards Dinner at The Royal Garden Hotel in London. The Top 50 Foods will be announced on the 6th August on Twitter @guildoffinefood #Top50Foods.
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