Food and drink producers in the Isle of Man are being offered a helping hand to bid for the industry’s top accolade.
The Great Taste Awards, run by the Guild of Fine Food and sponsored by such leading names as Aga, Harrods and Selfridges & Co, are the Oscars of the food world.
Leading chefs, restaurateurs, food buyers, writers and retailers put entries to rigorous taste tests, awarding three stars for ‘exquisite’, two for ‘outstanding’ and one for ‘simply delicious’.
This year, more than 10,000 products were submitted in 35 categories, only 31 per cent winning an award and just 130 earning the top rating.
Entries for the 2016 Great Taste Awards open in January 2016.
The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) will stage a free workshop this autumn for producers interested in submitting products.
The Island enjoyed considerable success in the 2015 awards, which have just been announced.
Berries Luxury Pudding Makers and Confectioners won an impressive nine awards for its Christmas puddings and cakes, including three stars for its Sicilian orange Christmas pudding. It’s the fourth year Berries has topped the Christmas pudding category.
Bride beef farm Ballavair Galloway won a one-star award for its traditional beef burger, having won a two-star award for its rib of beef in 2014.
Greeba Mushrooms is also a previous winner of two Great Taste Awards.
DEFA aims to grow the value of the food and drink industry by ?50 million over the next decade.
Dr Peter McEvoy, Director of Agriculture, said: ‘That such a small Island has done so well in the Great Taste Awards reflects the momentum there is in the food and drink sector at present and the quality of our products.
‘The Great Taste Awards are assessed by those with expert knowledge of food and drink and the quality mark is recognised the world over, so they are something to strive for.
‘There’s inevitably time and effort associated with entering products for the awards, so we will run a workshop free of charge, with winners passing on their knowledge of the process.’
Karl Berrie, of Berries, said: ‘The Great Taste Awards have worked exceptionally well for us. They have really helped our product stand out in the marketplace. We have phone calls from retailers as soon as the results are published. The Great Taste Awards are also an excellent way to get honest and straightforward feedback from the country's leading chefs, food buyers and retailers. I would definitely recommend any food producer to enter these awards.’
Alison Teare, of Ballavair Galloway, said: After winning our award for a rib of beef in 2014, we were keen to enter something different in 2015 and with this in mind we produced the new Ballavair Galloway traditional burger. We were thrilled to achieve this accolade and will be using the feedback we received to make small adjustments to the recipe. We see this as part of a learning process and listening to honest feedback from experts can really help. After all, the Great Taste Awards are about creating products that consumers will love.’
To register your interest in the workshop, contact Audrey Fowler, Marketing Officer at DEFA, via Audrey.Fowler@gov.im or 01624 685856.
To find out more about the Great Taste Awards, visit https://gff.co.uk/awards/great-taste-awards/
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