Welsh producers celebrate True Taste trophies

By MICK WHITWORTH

Artisan producers Pant Glas Bach Preserves, Claire’s Kitchen and Inner City Pickle topped the speciality food categories at this year’s Wales the True Taste Food & Drink Awards.

Pant Glas Bach Preserves, based on a smallholding near Llanasa in Flintshire, took a gold award in the jams, marmalade & honey section for its blackcurrant & liquorice jam.

Co-owner Brian Horwich is pictured (left) collecting his trophy from John Farrand, managing director of the Guild of Fine Food and associate publisher of Fine Food Digest, which sponsored the speciality food categories.

Cardiff’s Inner City Pickle won the condiments, sauces & chutney section with its dried-fruit-and-mustard Mostarda di Frutta, based on a Sardinian recipe.

Claire’s Kitchen of Chepstow in Monmouthshire, run by Claire Compton, also took a gold award with its lemon curd.
Among other category winners were Trethowan’s Dairy, which won the small cheese producer section with its Gorwydd Caerphilly, and Trealy Farm Charcuterie, which took a gold in added-value meats with its Merquez salami with Welsh lamb.

The 11th Wales the True Taste Awards, run by the Welsh Government, were presented at the food hall of the Royal Welsh Showground at Builth Wells, continuing the recent policy of moving the event to different venues around Wales.

With the True Taste programme currently under review, the 2012-13 ceremony could be be the last of its kind. However, deputy food minister Alun Davies, speaking at last Thursday’s event, said he was committed to doing all he could to deliver a “thriving and sustainable food sector that is able to support and sustain employment and prosperity across the whole of Wales.”

“The Welsh Government will continue to provide significant commercial benefits to food sector businesses by enhancing their capacity to compete and achieve profitability,” he said.

This year’s True Taste Awards saw 830 entries from more than 250 companies.