Food and drink made in Gloucestershire, Essex, London, Hertfordshire, Cheshire and West Sussex were among 13 products to pick up a Great Taste Golden Fork Trophy on Sunday 17 October as Great Taste, the largest and most trusted food and drink awards on the planet, reached its exciting finale.
Out of 218 Great Taste 3-star award-winning products to be re-judged to find this year’s regional Golden Fork Trophy winners and the Great Taste Supreme Champion 2021, six producers from England picked up the top award for their region at the Great Taste Golden Fork Reception, held at the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate following the first day of Fine Food Show North.
The Great Taste Golden Fork from the South West was sponsored by Bishop Fleming and the award went to The Artisan Kitchen from Gloucester for its Great Taste 3-star award-winning Tropical Marmalade. Handmade in small batches (just 11 jars at a time), using traditional Copper maslin pans, this thin to medium cut marmalade is packed with sweet oranges, pink grapefruits, lemons, limes, pineapple and passion fruit. They also won the Golden Fork for Small Artisan Producer of the year.
Established in 1994, Great Taste is organised by the Guild of Fine Food and is the world’s largest, longest standing and most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan and speciality food producers. 14,113 different products were entered in 2021 from 108 countries and 355 judges blind-tasted this year’s entries, including; Joanna Blythman, investigative journalist and food writer, cook, writer, stylist and voice of modern vegetarian cooking, Anna Jones, author, Olia Hercules, Kenny Tutt, MasterChef 2018 champion and restaurateur, food writer and cook, Xanthe Clay, presenter, author and tutor, Steven Lamb, baker and author, Martha Collison, and Kavi Thakrar from Dishoom, as well as food buyers from Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and Partridges.
Socially distanced judging took place over 86 days at four venues, including Guild HQ in Gillingham, Dorset and the Guild of Fine Food’s London home.
4,027 awarded a Great Taste 1-star – A food that delivers fantastic flavour. Approximately 30% of entries will achieve this rating each year
1,138 awarded a Great Taste 2-star – Above and beyond delicious – less than 10% of entries will achieve this rating
218 awarded a Great Taste 3-star – Extraordinarily tasty foods – less than 2% of products are awarded a 3-star each year – don’t leave the shop without buying it!
