A judge of great taste

I spent my Monday this week at the Great Taste judging headquarters in Dorset, trying all types of food products. These ranged from butter to eggs to turkey, and there were several cheeses and ice cream in with it all. I am happy to say that the quality and taste of gluten-free products has improved over last year and it was a fine thing to award some the coveted stars.

I am always impressed by the rigour with which each product is tested. The stars given to products are not awarded unless most of the room agrees that the products is a one or two star item. And for three stars, the entire group usually tries it. It does work, and you feel quite pleased with yourself when Brett or Charlie comes over with a product your group of four has said is worthy of stars, and says, it’s agreed that it’s a two-star. Like you’ve made it yourself, rather than just tasted it.

There is an awful lot of work done in preparing products carefully for consideration by the judges, and that is to the credit again of the organisers and chefs at the Guild of Fine Food. One cake making kit was very lovingly constructed as per instructions, and resulted in a rather moreish product. I would be proud to have it at my table. It tasted as good as it looked.

Despite having spent a morning eating food, I still found room for the excellent cheeses they had on hand at the lunch, along with very tasty salads. The Guild does a cracking job with these awards, and I am very happy to be a small part of them.