​​Quality and innovative Northern Ireland producers listed for Great British Food Awards

The popular UK competition has proved extremely successful for local food and drink companies over the years. Foods from artisan producers like Blackfire Hot Sauces, Belfast; Burren Balsamics of Co Armagh; Cookie Jar, Newcastle, Co Down; Crawford’s Rock Coastal Seasonings, Kilkeel, Co Down; Irish Black Butter, Portrush; Erin Grove Preserves, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh; Granny’ Shaw’s Fudge, Ballymena; Krazibaker, Dromore, Co Down; and Moocha Kombucha, Pomeroy, Co Tyrone are contenders for the coveted top prizes.

In the running for awards are: Krazibaker’s boiled fruit cake; wheaten bread and fruit bannock from Cookie Jar in Newcastle; Burren’s unique balsamic vinegars; Blackfire’s ghost pepper and black lime ketchup; salted caramel sauce with Irish Black Buttern from Alastair Bell; Erin Grove’s sour cherry and cracked black pepper; Moocha Kombucha’s gut balance fermented drink; chicken dinner seasoning from Crawford’s Rock; and pistachio, white chocolate and raspberry confectionery from Granny Shaw’s Fudge Factory.

Dromore’s Krazibaker, Mark Douglas, who is famed for making traditional favourites at outdoor food markets especially Newtownards and Carrickfergus, specialises, in particular, in freshly baked potato and treacle breads, pancakes and boiled fruit cake.

“My boiled fruit cake is a long-time favourite with shoppers here. It’s great to earn this important recognition for the cake in the food awards in Britain,” he says.

He’s won UK Great Taste Awards in the past for his unique potato apple bread and potato breads.

Glen Houston, who owns Granny Shaw’s Fudge Factory in Ballymena with wife Rhonda, is shortlisted for his on-trend pistachio, white chocolate and raspberry fudge.

“This is another important boost for one of our most recent flavours with trendy pistachio. I am hoping the recognition will increase awareness throughout Britain of our range of hand crafted fudges,” adds Glen, who also specialises in home-made chocolates.

Bronagh Quail, a pioneer of fermented drink Moocha Kombucha, continues: “This is another significant recognition of the quality and innovation of my kombucha in Britain. Sales have been going well here over the past few years as more people discover the benefits of healthy kombucha tea.”

Also in the running for the supreme award is spicy food lover Tim McCarthy, the founder and owner of Belfast’s Blackfire Hot Sauces. “It’s marvellous to see our ghost chilli and black lime sauce featuring in another important UK awards. We are aiming to boost our international sales in Great Britain and other parts of Europe,” he says.

Susie Hamilton Stubber of Burren Balsamics in Richhill, Co Armagh has two of her successful and richly flavoured vinegars in the running this year – blackberry and thyme balsamic vinegar from Modena and date and cinnamon infused balsamic vinegar. She’s also just launched a second collaboration with Bushmills Irish Whiskey in a whiskey-aged white vinegar.

Previous Northern Ireland overall winners include Burren Balsamics, Richhill; and CRAIC Foods, Craigavon, both from Co Armagh.

Susie Hamilton Stubber of Burren Balsamics continues: “We benefited enormously in publicity terms from our successes in previous awards. It’s an immensely important competition that helps increase awareness of the quality, innovation and taste of food products in Britain, our most important external market. It’s also great to see so many Northern Ireland products being recognised and celebrated in Britain,” she adds.

The Great British Food and Drink Awards, now one of the UK’s most important competitions for smaller producers, in particular, was launched in 2014 to celebrate the country’s finest artisanal produce, as well as the hard-working people behind the scenes in the enterprises.

This year, the awards are said to be bigger and better than ever, with lots of new categories and amazing celebrity judges including top chefs Raymond Blanc, Michel Roux Jnr and Shaun Rankin.

The influential awards provide companies with the opportunity to have their food and drink products taste tested by some of the UK’s most acclaimed chefs, food critics and influencers. It’s an exacting and challenging process, nevertheless, that has often led to new business in Britain for winning companies from here and elsewhere in the UK.

The shortlisted products will now be sent to a panel of expert judges around the UK for them to pick their gold, silver and bronze winners. The winning product in each

category will then be sent to the final expert judge to choose the overall Grand

Champion, a title won in the past by Craigavon’s CRAIC Foods.