The Great Taste Awards highlight the excellent food and drink produced across over 100 countries and Wales can hold its head up high with the number of winners.
Welsh Country cannot think of any better Christmas Gift than an excellent bottle or delicious food or even accompaniment to food & drink. Over the next few weeks coming up to Christmas we look at a few of the winners in more detail.
Starting with Jin Talog from Carmarthenshire.
Jin Talog was awarded one of only 208* 3-star Great Taste awards, some of the judges described it as ‘kind of perfect!’
Other judges comment’s included:
Marked and resonant juniper on the nose, spicy with a nutty base. Gloriously smooth on the palate, and expressive of juniper, even at the level of the bark on the bush. What a relief, and an unexpected pleasure. Loved the length of juniper lingering on after sipping the tonic. Surely a fantastic base for a dry martini – you find your perfect vermouth and add that perfect twist of juniper – just what the judges have been looking for.
Judged by over 500 of the most demanding palates, Great Taste is widely acknowledged as the most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan and speciality food producers. As well as a badge of honour, the unmistakeable black and gold Great Taste label is a signpost to a wonderful tasting product, which has been discovered through hours and hours of blind tasting by hundreds of judges.
Anthony Rees and David Thomas Co-founders and directors of Jin Talog explain ‘We only launched in June 2018 and being judged as worthy of 3 stars by independent experts is humbling.’ This year, only 4 gins were awarded the coveted 3 stars and Jin Talog is the only one from Wales.
Jin Talog is available to purchase online at www.jintalog.wales or at some of the best specialist shops, delis, bars and restaurants in Wales.
*The 208 3 Star winners where from across the whole competition with 12 being awarded in Wales.
No Christmas table is complete without a salt cellar and these spectacular salts from The Pembrokeshire Salt Company make the most amazing gifts or stocking fillers. With two products a Saffron Sea Salt & a Wild Garlic Salt, judges described the Saffron sea salt as:
“A very beautiful looking product – vibrant. … a stunning product brilliantly executed. The salt itself has the honeyed, smokey aroma of saffron and then there is the added bonus of the strands themselves. This is clever and attractive. The salt is excellent quality too – crumbles well. This would be so wonderful sprinkled over white fish – streaking yellow and red perfectly across it.”
Of the Wild Garlic salt, judges commented on the:
Large flakes of salt, which crumble well and are an interesting colour; would look attractive sprinkled across a cream cheese or used in a variety of other ways. There is a well-judged level of garlic aroma and flavour. A good-looking product.
Sherrill Evans, director & founder of Pembrokeshire Sea Salt Company, explains:
We are ecstatic to have been awarded Great Taste Awards for two more of our salts this year. As small artisan producers it really does feel like a reward for hard work and dedication, and also recognition of the quality of our products; this is so important to us as we create our salts from scratch, harvesting sea water by hand from a small, local cove, and make everything ourselves in-house. It is a labour of love.
We launched Pembrokeshire Sea Salt Co. in 2016, so to have four Great Taste Awards, within the space of two years, really helps us to stand out, gives weight to our declarations of purity and quality, and spurs us on to continue growing as a company. It also reassures us that we are on the right track with our range, aspirations and inspirations, and that we haven’t just had a little too much fresh sea air!
In 2018 we were awarded two stars for our Sichuan Pepper Natural Sea Salt, and one star for our Natural Sea Salt. This year we have been awarded stars for our Wild Garlic and Saffron Natural Sea Salts and it was a delight to hear such enthusiastic and complimentary comments from the panel of judges. The fact that the judges really know about great food, and that judging is ‘blind’ without packaging or branding makes it even more of an accolade. We put a lot of thought into how our Sea Salts will look on your dish, will taste and smell, and how the Sea Salt flakes crumble between your fingers, so it’s wonderful to know that we’re not the only ones who think that we have a great product.
Follows is a list of those winners selected by Welsh Country (in alphabetical order) of those businesses based in Wales that won Great Taste Awards in 2019
Blas ar Fwyd Cyf – 2 star – Welsh Baked Cheesecake
Blas ar Fwyd Cyf – 1 star – Beef Lobscouse
Blas ar Fwyd Cyf – 1 star – Leek and Potato Soup
Blas ar Fwyd Cyf – 1 star – Lemon Cheesecake
Blas ar Fwyd Cyf – 1 star – Blackcurrant Cheesecake
Blas ar Fwyd Cyf – 1 star – Date and Walnut Flapjack
Carmarthenshire – 3 star – COPA – Blue
Carmarthenshire Dairy Products – 2 star – COPA – White
Castle Dairies – 1 star – Castle Dairies Welsh Salted Butter 250g
Castle Dairies – 1 star – Castle Dairies Welsh Spreadable Butter 500g tub
Castle Dairies – 1 star – The Butterworks Softer butter 250g
Castle Dairies – 1 star – The Butterworks Butter with Hillfarm Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil 250g
Caws Teifi Cheese – 2 star – Celtic Promise
Caws Teifi Cheese – 1 star – Saval
Caws Teifi Cheese – 1 star – Teifi – Organic Welsh Halloumi
CK Food & Drinks Ltd (The Coconut Kitchen) – 1 star – Coconut Milk
Clam’s Handmade Cakes – 1 star – Florentine Slice
Conti’s Ice Cream – 3 star – Welsh Whisky Ice Cream
Conti’s Ice Cream – 2 star – Traditional Dairy Ice Cream
Conti’s Ice Cream – 2 star – Pistachio Ice Cream
Conti’s Ice Cream – 1 star – Coffee Ice Cream
Conti’s Ice Cream – 1 star – Vanilla Ice Cream
Crwst – 1 star – Crwst Salted Caramel Sauce
Da Mhile Distillery – 3 star – Da Mhile Apple Brandy
Da Mhile Distillery – 2 star – Da Mhile Oak-aged Whisky
Da Mhile Distillery – 1 star – Da Mhile Seaweed Gin
Da Mhile Distillery – 1 star – Da Mhile Orange 33
Daffodil Foods Ltd – 1 star – Daffodil Foods Vegan Chocolate Dessert
Farmers Food At Home – 2 star – Summer Berry Jam
Forte’s Ice Cream – 1 star – Cherry Sorbet
Gower View Foods – 2 star – Shirgar Welsh Salted Butter
Llaeth Y Llan Cyf (t/a Village Dairy) – 1 star – Llaeth Y Llan Natural Bio-Live Yogurt
Llaeth Y Llan Cyf (t/a Village Dairy) – 1 star – Llaeth Y Llan Bio-Live Natural Yoghurt with Honey
Llaeth Y Llan Cyf (t/a Village Dairy) – 1 star – Llaeth Y Llan Bio-Live Rhubarb Yoghurt
Maggie’s Exotic foods – 1 star – Naija Spiced Biltong
Monty’s Brewery Ltd – 2 star – Monty’s Figgy Pud
Monty’s Brewery Ltd – 2 star – Monty’s Magnitude 8.0
Monty’s Brewery Ltd – 2 star – Monty’s Dark Secret
New Quay Honey Farm / Afon Mêl – 3 star – Afon Mêl Heather Mead
New Quay Honey Farm / Afon Mêl – 1 star – Afon Mêl Medium Honey Mead
Pembrokeshire Sea Salt Co. – 1 star – Sea Salt with Wild Garlic
Pembrokeshire Sea Salt Co. – 1 star – Sea Salt with Saffron
Sim’s Foods Limited – 1 star – Samosaco Punjabi Cholay Chickpea Curry
Siwgr a Sbeis – 1 star – Bara Brith Flapjack
Ty Gwyn Jams – 2 star – Ty Gwyn blackcurrant coulis
Welsh Lady Preserves – 1 star – Sos coch – Tomato Ketchup
Welsh Lady Preserves – 1 star – Raspberry Curd
Welsh Lady Preserves – 1 star – All Butter Lemon Curd
Welsh Lady Preserves – 1 star – Champagne Marmalade
