29 Jul Our First Great Taste Award: What It Means to Us

This year, we entered the Great Taste Awards for the first time. For a small family business, it felt like a big step. Entering the awards isn’t inexpensive, so we decided to submit just one product, but choosing which one wasn’t difficult. Time and time again, customers tell us how much they enjoy our Sweet Chilli & Root Ginger Jam, so we felt it was the best candidate to represent Nichols Pickles & Preserves.

Once the jars left our kitchen, everything was out of our hands. The judges wouldn’t see our brading, our packaging or know anything about Nichols Pickles & Preserves. They would simply taste what was in the jar. That’s why we were delighted to discover that our Sweet Chilli & Root Ginger Jam had been awarded a 1 Star Great Taste Award.

Judged on taste alone

Organised by the Guild of Fine Food, the Great Taste Awards are recognised as one of the world’s most respected food and drink accreditation schemes. Every product is judged completely blind by panels of chefs, buyers, food writers, retailers and other food specialists. With all branding removed before judging, each product is assessed solely on its flavour, balance, texture and overall eating experience. Reputation, packaging and marketing play no part in the decision. For producers, that’s what makes the award so meaningful. It recognises what’s inside the jar and places every business, no matter how big or small they are, on a level playing field.

What did the judges say?

Receiving the award was exciting enough, but reading the judges’ feedback afterwards was equally rewarding. They described our Sweet Chilli & Root Ginger Jam as “a cut above”, praising its balance of sweetness and

 acidity, warming ginger, fresh fruitiness and chilli heat that builds gradually. They also highlighted its rich texture and glossy appearance, recognising the care and precision with which it had been made. As recipe developers, there are few things more satisfying than discovering that experienced food professionals appreciated exactly the qualities we hoped people would enjoy.

Why this award matters to us

Waiting for the results was surprisingly nerve-racking. Entering a competition like this means putting something you’ve created in front of independent experts. Of course, we’d always believed in the recipe and, more importantly, our customers had believed in it too. Sweet Chilli & Root Ginger Jam has consistently been one of our most popular products, and we’ve lost count of the number of people who have told us it’s their favourite. Receiving a Great Taste Award felt like an independent endorsement of what our customers had been telling us all along.

For a small family business, receiving this recognition means a great deal to us. We’re incredibly proud that our first ever Great Taste entry was rewarded with a 1 Star Award. We’ll continue developing recipes in exactly the same way as we always have done by taking our time, refining every recipe and focusing on flavour above everything else.