Carreglefn Nurseries wins two 2011 Great Taste Awards

Carreglefn Nurseries from Anglesey is celebrating after winning two prestigious 2011 Great Taste Award.  Carreglefn Nurseries has been presented with two coveted Two Star and One Star Gold Great Taste Awards for its Kiwi Fruit Jam and Lucifer Chilli chutney. Carreglefn nurseries launched it’s Kiwi Fruit Jam and Lucifer Chilli Chutney in 2009 and supplies local produce shops and local hotels. Kathryn Selfe, Director of Carreglefn Nurseries, said: “We are delighted with these awards. Winning a Great Taste Award recognizes the hard work and dedication that goes into making superb food and drink. We are proud also that we use as many ingredients as possible grown at our Nursery including the Kiwi Fruits in our Kiwi Fruit jam which has won a two star award. The Great Taste Awards, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, are now in their 18^th year and going from strength to strength.  7481 products were entered from 1600 companies for the 2011 Great Taste Awards. It took 350 experts 34 days to blind taste all the entries and decide which entries would achieve the coveted one, two and three star gold awards.  The Great Taste Awards judging standards, devised by the Guild of Fine Food, are the most rigorous in the UK. To achieve the 3-star rating a minimum of 20 -more often 30 - judges need to be in complete agreement that the food delivered that indefinable ‘wow’ factor. All the judges’ comments are made available to producers. If no gold is awarded, they need to know why. Bob Farrand, Chairman for The Great Taste Awards, said: “Winning Gold in the country’s largest and most respected independent food accreditation scheme is a massive pat on the back for any producer - independent proof their products are of the highest quality.  We provide constructive feedback from our expert judging teams and for many, winning 1, 2 or 3-star Gold is exactly what’s needed to help grow their businesses, even during a recession. Every winner should feel very proud that their hard work has been rewarded.” The four regional nominated foods for each of the Great Taste trophy winners have been announced by the Guild of Fine Food and the identity of the regional and national winners and the 2011 Supreme Champion remains a closely guarded secret until the night of 5th September when all will be revealed at the invitation only awards presentation dinner at London’s Royal Garden Hotel. That is the night we find out who carries away the coveted Golden Fork trophies.  A full list of award-winning products is available at www.greattasteawards.co.uk, and can be searched by region, award or product category.

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Global warming boosts Anglesey fruit firm

Sep 10 2009 by Andrew Forgrave, Daily Post

FOOD experts believe that Britain’s dietery diversity will shrink as oil supplies dwindle and imports come under threat.

Among the victims of the UK’s predicted food insecurity are likely to be exotic fruits such as bananas and limes.

But according to Anglesey's Carreglefn Nurseries, there’s no reason why tropical fruits should disappear from supermarket shelves.

For several years they’ve been growing their own, in ordinary unheated polytunnels, and have launched a fledgling business selling the fruits of their labours.

The Nursery are even planting their own half-acre kiwi fruit plantation on open land at Cemaes Bay – allowing landowner Tom Barlow to make his own kiwi wine.

“We keep a daily record of the temperatures in our polytunnels and we’ve got kiwi plants, sourced originally from Siberia, which have withstood temperatures of -29C,” .

“We started growing tropical plants because I liked to be different, not because of climate change or fears over food security.

“However global warming is definitely doing us a favour!”

Carreglefn Nurseries, near Amlwch, started trading 13 months ago, selling almost 60 varieties of tropical fruit plants at farmers markets, food festivals and on-line.

The nursery made a conscious decision not to heat the polytunnels as it would have cost us £2,000 each winter, and eaten into any profits.

“Instead we’re trying to propagate hardiness in the plants so that they’ll thrive in Britain’s climate.”

One innovation has been the use of seaweed, collected from Anglesey’s beaches, as a fertiliser. They needed Defra permission, and can only salvage seeweed above the high tide-line, but it’s packed with nutrients, said the Nursery.

Carreglefn’s pineapples, lemons, limes and passionfruit may not yet be ready to compete with cheaper imports. But it has provenance and, when the oil crisis comes, may be at the vanguard of a whole new fruit sector in Britain