Mouth-watering products hailing from the Isle of Wight have been recognised in this year’s Great Taste awards.
Great Taste, founded in 1994 and organised by the Guild of Fine Food, has judged over 158,000 products in the last 27 years; each one has been blind-tasted by a team of judges who are dedicated to finding the most exquisite tasting food and drink regardless of branding or packaging. The judges then savour, confer and re-taste to decide which products are worthy of a 1, 2 or 3-star award.
This year, 12,777 products from 106 different countries have been judged with a number of Isle of Wight food businesses recognised for their outstanding work.
Cowes-based The Borneo Pantry is amongst the winners thanks to their Christmas chutney. This is the third time The Borneo Pantry has been awarded a Great Taste Award, initially for its Pickled watermelon and then following this for their Proper Piccalilli.
Wild Island received awards for their Cherry Infused Vinegar, Pip & Bean Fruit Chocolate Orange Spread and their Blackberry Infused Balsamic.
Island Roasted picked up awards for their Wight Label tea (a favourite in the Island Echo office!), whilst Tipsy Wight saw recognition for their Crabapple Vodka Liqueur, Medlar Vodka Liqueur and Cherry Vodka Liqueur.
The Garlic Farm’s Creamy Horseradish Sauce featured amongst the winners, as well as Jasper’s Artisan Coffee’s Honduras Yolanda Urrea (organic).
This year’s winners have been found through a combination of remote judging and socially distanced judging sessions, after the lockdown began just 1 week into the schedule. This necessitated a swift and comprehensive reinvention of the Great Taste process to ensure that robust judging standards were maintained and the quality of feedback was not compromised, all in time to provide a much-needed boost for food and drink producers during the all-important Christmas period.
