GOLD, GOLD, GOLD!

When it comes to taste, the people’s vote gave the golden thumbs up to The Black Farmer Sweet Mature cheddar at the hugely competitive Royal Bath & West National Cheese Awards last week.

The ‘People’s Choice’ category was judged by a panel picked at random from visitors to the show. The panel was asked to give their comments on taste, appearance and overall presentation and the GOLD award was presented to the entry gaining the most points – The Black Farmer.

“This has to be one of the most reassuring awards to receive!  To know that the general public has tasted my Sweet Mature cheddar and voted it head and shoulders above the competition is very great praise indeed,” says Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, The Black Farmer.

“The Black Farmer Sweet Mature brings real flavour differentiation to the shelves. As with all my other products, great flavour is what sets them apart from anything else available.  This cheese has the depth of flavour you expect from a mature cheese, but with a delicious sweet finish, rather than the generic flavour often associated with mature cheddar.”

The Black Farmer Sweet Mature Cheddar uses 100% British milk and is made using the traditional craft of ‘cheddaring’ by hand-piling and turning the curd.

The Black Farmer Sweet Mature cheddar is currently available in southwest Asda stores and Ocado on-line.

The Black Farmer Gets Well Dressed

Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, aka The Black Farmer is taking rural fashion by the scruff of the neck and injecting style and elegance with his launch range – introduced at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.

“It’s no secret that I love clothes and have become known for my own particular style.  But I have always been frustrated that I cannot find items that cross the urban/rural divide. I want practical good quality fabrics but in stylish cuts.  Just because I spend a lot of time in the rural community doesn’t mean I have to dress to fit the stereotype,” says Wilfred.

Known for his trademark Fedora hat Wilfred has always cut a dash whatever his environment.  His profile as producer of the country’s second largest super premium sausage brand, and latterly as Conservative candidate for Chippenham in Wiltshire, has attracted much comment about his sartorial style with many wanting to follow his lead.

His range – including jackets, suits, moleskin trousers, shirts and leather accessories – is available online at www.theblackfarmer.com and at shows around the country, details of which will be listed on the website.

This is a terrific accolade and one that I am proud to accept. I have worked hard to build The Black Farmer and with your support it has become the leading British premium gluten free brand. To be named ‘Britain’s Best Sausage’ is a fantastic bonus.

I am again sponsoring the Hampshire Down Sheep Class at the 2010 Woolsery Show, North Devon on Monday 26^th July.

It is with real pleasure that The Black Farmer is again sponsoring this Class.  Without a doubt the breed is gaining popularity and we hope to see a healthy level of entries this year.

I have long supported native and indigenous breeds – regularly keeping North and South Devon cattle on his Devon farm.  People are gradually starting to appreciate the benefits of well-reared traditional breeds.  The meat really tastes better having benefited from good husbandry and slow, natural growing.

Hampshire Down flocks were established more than 150 years ago.  The breed originated by crossing the Wiltshire Horn and the Berkshire Knot with the Southdown.  Usually consigned to the ‘any other breed’ class, this is the second year that Hampshires are able to claim a class of their own.

Picture shows Rose Haynes, winner of the 2009 Woolsery Show Hampshire Down Class with Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, The Black Farmer.

I have launched my first food products for sale via the online shop at www.theblackfarmer/shop/sauces_shop

Three gluten free sauces: Spicy Muscovado; Ginger & Lime, and Sweet & Spicy Tomato form the initial line up. I’ve been longing to make these sauces available online to The Black Farmer supporters. They epitomize everything about The Black Farmer brand – bold interesting flavours, gluten free, good ingredients. The recipes are featured in The Black Farmer Cookbook, but they are so versatile that it’s worth having a jar or two in the fridge at all times!

Spicy Muscovado A rich combination of dark Muscovado sugar, red wine, gluten free soy sauce, chilli and Chinese Five Spice create a sauce that is the perfect accompaniment for sausages or can be added to a stir fry, used as a dip, a marinade for meat or fish or as an accompaniment for any number of meals.

Ginger & Lime This zingy sauce has plenty of ginger and lime combined with sweet honey and a dash of paprika. A perfect accompaniment to any Indian dish; great base for a stir-fry, marinade for fish, or, mixed with a little crème fraiche, an exciting dip.

Sweet & Spicy Tomato Classic ingredients of tomato, onion and garlic are pepped up with some hot chilli and red wine. Versatile, this sauce can be stirred through pasta, top a pizza, a dip or as an accompaniment to any number of meals.

The Black Farmer^® Supports

Coeliac Awareness Week

10 – 16 May, 2010.

I will be championing a range of initiatives supporting Coeliac Awareness Week.

“Get Tested” will be my mantra encouraging people not to suffer in silence.  All The Black Farmer® packs will have eye-catching stickers during this period.  Visitors to The Black Farmer website www.theblackfarmer.com can view mini-films with experts explaining what symptoms to look out for, as well as the first hand views of sufferers.  They can get advice on what foods to avoid as well as find a directory of support groups up and down the country.

I am also launching a series of Awards to highlight companies and individuals for their role in providing useful information, products and facilities for sufferers.

There are many hidden heroes out there who are doing amazing things to support Coeliac sufferers in the UK – from enthusiastic bloggers who provide extraordinary amounts of useful information, to restaurants with delicious gluten free menus and holiday hotels who are happy to cater for Coeliacs, to supermarkets who are putting more and more gluten free products on their shelves.  I want to help showcase their work to the benefit of all Coeliac sufferers.

People can log on to www.theblackfarmer.com and vote for their particular hero in the following categories:

Best Gluten Free Menu

Best Gluten Free Holiday Hotel

Best Gluten Free Information Provider

Coeliac disease is a wheat intolerance that affects the lining of the gut. Sufferers experience a number of symptoms, which can often be put down to other things.

At least one in one hundred people suffers with Coeliac disease, with more being diagnosed every year.  Modern medicine has advanced sufficiently that anyone who worries that they may have the disease can “Get tested” with a simple screening blood test.   The Coeliac Screening blood test measures antibodies in the blood to Gluten or Gliaden in the diet and the damaged Endomysial muscle of the bowel.

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* Coeliac UK, the country’s leading authority on Coeliac disease, conducted a sausage tasting for its Crossed Grain magazine Spring issue.  The panel tasted 17 of the leading gluten free sausages out of which The Black Farmer was voted clear ‘Favourite’ and ‘Best All Rounder’.  Tasters were asked to rate the sausages on the basis of meatiness, texture, flavour, appearance and value for money.

And the Kids Choice?  The Black Farmer’s Daughter Premium Pork chipolatas got the thumbs up from the youngsters thanks to their great texture.

Read the full article here.

So please support these inaugural awards by voting for your unsung hero. It could be a supermarket, for offering the best range of gluten free foods. Or a website or blogger who goes out of their way to provide useful information for sufferers. Maybe for you its a restaurant that offers a good range of gluten free dishes on its menu, or a UK based holiday destination that welcomes and caters for Coeliac sufferers. We know they are out there, but we need your help to find them and showcase them on The Black Farmer site.

If you would like to support my Awards and help get your Gluten Free Hero duly praised, please vote now. Simply click on the category of your choice and let me have the name and location of your Gluten Free Hero, together with your reasons for the vote. I know how passionate many of you are about finding services that support a gluten free diet, so I look forward to hearing from you.

Best Gluten Free – MENU

Best Gluten Free – HOLIDAY HOTEL

Best Gluten Free – RETAILER

Best Gluten Free – INFORMATION PROVIDER

Or go here to cast your vote…

http://www.theblackfarmer.com/email/glutenfreeawards.htm

In our bid to get listed in the supermarkets we tend to ignore one potential outlet for our produce that could help provide an income stream and a mutually beneficial marketing platform – our local restaurant industry.  We all know that eating out of the home is a huge market, and growing, but in our hurry to hit the ‘big time’ we often overlook this potentially excellent market on our doorsteps.

I’m encouraged that despite the recession I find that many eating establishments – particularly high street cafes and pubs serving food – are doing good daily business.  It strikes me that for local producers this offers a wonderful marketing opportunity. What better way to spread the word about named regional produce than to have it featured on the menu?  And it would seem a good solution for these eateries to have good, reliable, top quality local ingredients that they can identify and promote.

When a person is going out to eat their expectation of what’s being served to them is far greater than of a meal purchased from a supermarket.  More and more restaurants want to develop and promote the fact that they are supporting local and regional producers, yet they are finding it difficult to find small independent producers who will supply them.  I believe that for anyone wanting to find a loyal customer base who wants quality and provenance, their own local restaurants could be a great start.

Recently I had the pleasure of eating at a top restaurant, Roast, in the heart of the City of London.  Their mantra is to support local and regional suppliers and not only is the food quality fantastic but the consumer feels good that they are helping the farming community by frequenting this restaurant.  In the past organic was the route that many restaurants went down in order to communicate to its customers their concern for good ingredients.  Now organic is seen as less important than traceability and provenance.  Local quality produce represents value for money without the logistical nightmare of national distribution.  Consumers are looking for food that is linked to the actual producer, and restaurants are a way of providing that.  A menu comes alive when it can state the name of the farmer who produced the meat and it shows that the establishment has gone to some lengths to source produce locally.   This really is a winning partnership.

The Black Farmer Sweet Mature Cheddar

I am set on shaking up the pre-packed cheese market with the launch on March 15th of my Sweet Mature Cheddar, made in cooperation with Somerset-based Lye Cross Farm.  The cheese will be available in selected Asda stores in the south west.

There is a plethora of pre-packed cheese dominating the Mature Cheddar position, with nothing to tell them apart except the packaging.  The Black Farmer Sweet Mature brings real flavour differentiation and will create a distinct sector within the category.  As with all my other products, great flavour that sets them apart from anything else available is paramount.

This Sweet Mature Cheddar has the depth of flavour you expect from a mature cheese, but with a delicious sweet finish, rather than the generic flavour often associated with mature cheddar.

The Black Farmer Sweet Mature Cheddar uses 100% British milk and is made using the traditional craft of ‘cheddaring’ by hand-piling and turning the curd.

From March 15^th The Black Farmer Sweet Mature cheddar will be available in South West Asda stores.  It is available in 400g packs with a rrp of £3.79.

My sausages are made from Freedom Food Outdoor Bred 100% British Pork.

Animal welfare is very important to me and, like me, more and more people are thinking about the provenance of the food we eat. Freedom Food is the RSPCA’s farm assurance labeling scheme, and is the only farm assurance scheme dedicated to animal welfare.

The scheme covers every stage of an animal’s life, from diet and handling to transport. The animals are given a stimulating environment to live in that enables them to exhibit their natural behaviour. What’s more, these pigs are outdoor bred so you can rest assured that the pigs I use to make my sausages have been reared using trusted and approved quality welfare standards, all of which help to guarantee that you are able to enjoy these really delicious sausages with peace of mind.

For more information about Freedom Food you can visit the RSPCA’s Freedom Food website.