Taste Awards 2021

We are pleased to announce that the following products have been awarded a Great Taste award 2021. The largest and most trusted food and drink awards on the planet, we are three of 5,383 products worldwide to receive a Great Taste accolade on Tuesday 21 September. This adds to our list of winners from previous years.

What the judges said

Telicherry Black Peppercorns

A great earthy, slightly smoky intensity to this spicy pepper, which delivers everything one might want and can expect from a black peppercorn.

This is exciting from the start – just to sniff it is to lift your mood and stimulate the palate. The pepper is fragrant and aromatic, certainly it’s hot, but it is a round, warm heat, that fills the mouth with little taste explosions. The finish is very long, but the heat never burns. No wonder it is regarded as such an exceptional peppercorn.

A fresh peppercorn, with plenty of volatiles giving a pleasing heat heat without harsh bitterness. A good quality.

Pimenton Dulce – Smoked Paprika

Vibrant looking seasoning with the wonderful aroma of spicy smoke. This is a very high quality product, that is clean, pure and simple and very classic in its flavour profile, rich with oak smoke, with spicy fruity tones which would add great interest and complexity to a great range of ingredients.

What a stunningly rich smoked aroma. The deep vibrant red appearance is just as exciting to the eye. In its dry from when tasted the flavour notes are earthy, tangy and well smoked, but when tasted on a well cooked chicken breast the flavours were rather diluted and lacking in intensity.

Good deep vibrant colour and a smokey aroma and taste from a fine powder. On chicken, it asserted itself without being intrusive, adding a most pleasant rich smoke to the meat. Clearly, the amount used needs to be measured but the honesty of this would lift all kinds of dishes.

Ras-el-Hanout Spice Mix

A pretty spice mix, helped in no small part by the pretty rose petals. It’s a complex mixture of spices, with a good level of heat that continues to build. Well balanced in that regard. The flower petals on their own are somewhat bitter but mixed in with the other spices they work and offer an appealing point of difference from other products in the market.

Facts and figures about Great Taste 2021

• 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
• 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