Great Taste Awards
We’ve always been aware of the Guild of Fine Food and the awards they hold every year, but only from a consumer’s point of view. This year we decided to enter four of our own products in to one of the world’s most coveted food and drink award and we were delighted that we came away with four gold stars in total.
What is Great Taste?
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. Recognised as a stamp of excellence and actively sought out by food lovers, Great Taste values taste above everything else. All products in the line-up for judging are blind tasted: every product is removed from its packaging so it cannot be identified, before entering a robust, layered judging process.
The line-up saw food and drink products submitted from a whopping 109 different countries totalling over 14,000 products. The judges look for truly great taste, regardless of branding or packaging. They take into account texture, appearance and of course the quality of the ingredients; they will note a good aroma, a decent bite, or a particularly smooth or crunchy texture – it really is all about taste.
Our results, drumroll please…
Beef Burgers – Our humble grass-fed beef burgers were part of the 25% of entries awarded one star out of three. With great feedback from the judges… “The flavour of the beef is a true testament to its rearing. This is a juicy patty with a long lasting flavour from the beef and would make any burger stand out. Perfectly seasoned to boot”
Minced Beef and Onion Pie – Coming in with another one star award and we couldn’t agree more with the judges… “It's a delight to see a well-constructed pie that appeals the second you look at it. The pastry is beautifully made and cooked to perfection. The filling is bursting with flavour and juiciness, singing the praises of the terroir of the beef.”
Sirloin Steak – This cut only went and won two stars. With less than 10% of entries awarded two stars we couldn’t believe it, we’re chuffed to say the least. “Lovely caramelisation on this juicy, tender steak. The sweet meaty flavours came through very well and were long on the palate. A very delicious cut of beef.”
What do the stars mean?
• 4,088 products were awarded a Great Taste 1-star – ‘food and drink that delivers fantastic flavour’
• 1,568 were awarded a Great Taste 2-star – ‘above and beyond delicious’
• 248 were awarded a Great Taste 3-star – ‘extraordinarily tasty food and drink’
With only just under 6,000 products of the 14,000 receiving the coveted gold star awards we’re feeling pretty pleased that three of those are for Wild & Rooted products.
What it means to us
Being recognised with a Great Taste award means so much to independent producers like us. It’s also great to get feedback from the judges in ways in which we can develop our products to improve them further. We’re incredibly proud to have, in their words, “food and drink that delivers fantastic flavour” which is “above and beyond delicious” all whilst doing it alongside nature and with happy cattle, we’re ticking a lot of our boxes and hopefully yours too. 😊
Fancy giving our award winning products a try?
Keep scrolling to order…
Marbled with fat and full of flavour.
Approx weight 250-300g.
All of our beef is frozen as soon as possible to preserve freshness.
Our simple recipe beef burgers and a staple when it comes to a BBQ spread at ours. Gluten free.
Try them with Tracklements Smoky Chilli Sauce if you like some heat with your burger.
Ingredients: Rice Flour, Salt, Dried Onion, Sugar, Spices, Dried Leek, Yeast Extract, Natural Flavouring, Spice Extracts, Herb Extracts.
We’ve cut out the polystyrene tray from the burger packaging to minimise the amount of packaging we use. Because of this they may just need a little gentle re-shaping before cooking.
Wild & Rooted minced beef, onion and gravy pie – a proper pie. Hand-made by Artisan pie producers ‘Hearty Pies’. Serves 1 (or 2 with vegetables on the side)
Ingredients: Wild & Rooted Minced Beef (75%), Onion (25%), Stock (Celery), Tomato Puree, Mustard, Yeast extract. Worcester Sauce (Fish Anchovies), Pepper, Thyme, Wheat Flour, Butter, Egg Wash. Made in a kitchen that uses nuts.