Glittering success at Golden Fork Awards

Pembrokeshire’s Coedcanlas Organic Welsh Blackcurrant Jam receives top regional title at the Great Taste Golden Fork Awards 2017

Artisan food producer Coedcanlas is celebrating after securing one of the food and drink industry’s most illustrious awards. The Great Taste Awards, referred to as the Oscars of the food world, were held in London last night and the Pembrokeshire company’s Organic Welsh Blackcurrant Jam was crowned the Golden Fork from Wales.

From the five Welsh products that received the top accolade of 3 gold stars at the Great Taste Awards 2017, the Golden Fork from Wales, was awarded to Coedcanlas.

Organised by the Guild of Fine Food, the Great Taste Awards are the acknowledged benchmark for the speciality food and drink sector. In this year’s awards, Coedcanlas was awarded 3-stars for its Organic Welsh Blackcurrant Jam, as well as a 1-star for its Olive Oil, Rosemary and Lemon Cake.

Nick and Annette Tonkin are the people behind Coedcanlas, an artisan food producer based in Kilgetty, Pembrokeshire. They have around 90 wooden hives tucked away by the eastern shore of the Daugleddau Estuary, and rear their bees in the family’s traditional way to ensure strong and healthy hives. Along with producing honey in summer, they produce marmalade, maple syrup and organic Sicilian Olive Oil, which they also use in making cakes.

Coedcanlas Organic Welsh Blackcurrant Jam, which also made the Great Taste Top 50 foods, is inspired by a Russian recipe, this “moreish, well set and jewel-like” jam captured the judges’ imagination with its high gloss, velvet appearance and rich aroma. Perfectly cooked blackcurrants give a great texture and intense, vibrant flavour as they pop in the mouth.

Nick Tonkin of Coedcanlas is incredibly proud of their achievements,

“We are overjoyed with our Great Taste success this year – to have 3-stars for our blackcurrant jam and a 1-star for our Olive Oil, Rosemary and Lemon cake is a huge achievement in itself, but being named Golden Fork from Wales is absolutely outstanding!

“At Coedcanlas we take the greatest care getting to know our growers and sourcing ingredients, only using the simplest methods to capture the intensity and freshness of the fruit. This is the essence of our business.”

Congratulating Coedcanlas on their success in the Great Taste Awards, The Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths commented,

“I’d like to congratulate Coedcanlas on their achievements in the Great Taste Awards. It is wonderful to see small producers doing so well and being acknowledged for the hard work and commitment they put in to producing quality produce. They should be very proud and I wish them all the very best as they continue to progress.

“The Welsh food and drink industry is a vital part of the economy and seeing so many products from across Wales get recognised in these awards, proves that food and drink from Wales has a deserved reputation for quality and taste.”

Overall, a remarkable 165 products from across Wales were winners at this year’s Great Taste awards, with 121 entries achieving 1-star, 39 products getting 2-star and five products being deemed worthy of the 3-star accolade.

A full list of results can be viewed on the Great Taste Awards website.

For further information on Coedcanlas click here.