Black Cheddar Wins Great New Idea Title

Votes were cast by visitors to the show, who chose their favourite new products and services which demonstrated innovation.

Fine Cheeses Ltd produced the world’s first all-black cheese by blending creamy mature Cheddar with charcoal. Amy Birkin of Fine Cheeses Ltd said, “We were getting comments from our customers to come up with something completely different, and I think that people were caught unawares by the colour! People seemed to like the fact that it’s a piece of cheese which looks like coal, and it’s very versatile – we’ve managed to sell over 700 units in one week, and people use it for all sorts of things. It’s hugely adaptable within our industry.

“The idea came from Michael Lee, our MD. He’s been in the industry for 30 years, and used to own his own deli, so he’s got a lot of experience of people asking for something different. We will go above and beyond for our customers – we’ll help new delis to get set up, and we’ll spend a lot of time training staff – so we’ve seen a lot of deli counters and know what will work. It was Michael who came up with the idea of having a black cheese, and with this year being the 30th anniversary of the miner’s strike we thought this would be a great way to promote that and catch the public’s eye!”

The winner of the title at Food Expo was Nottingham-based Riverside Bakery, who won with their gluten-free pastry range, NO.G.

Sam Benjamin of Riverside Bakery said, “We’re delighted to win the award, which was voted for by visitors to the Expo. We had a fantastic response from people who visited us at the show. An increasing number of people can’t eat gluten and we wanted to give them back the British food they love, whether that’s a slow cooked beef pie or an indulgent chocolate tart. We spent over a year developing a special unique gluten free pastry that tastes wonderful.”

Jack Halliday, event director said, “Each year we’re impressed by the number of new ideas on display at Food & Drink Expo, incorporating Farm Shop & Deli Show. We were inundated by exhibitors keen to show off their latest innovations and the winners were just two examples of the fantastic products on display at the show.”

www.finecheesesltd.co.uk