A big week for small producers — the year’s biggest awards results, a Welsh cheesemaker’s remarkable fortnight, the first Celebrity MasterChef contestants announced and the nation’s farmers taking over the internet for a day
Great Taste 2026 results are in
The Guild of Fine Food has announced this year’s stars, and it was a record year: more than 15,000 products entered from 3,919 companies across 116 countries, with nine countries entering for the first time. Of those, 4,286 took one star, 1,596 took two, and just 306 — barely 2% — earned the three-star rating the judges reserve for the exquisite. Worth searching your own county’s winners; a black-and-gold logo in a shop window is now recognised by well over half the UK adult population apparently, and for a small producer it can genuinely change a year.
Source: gff.co.uk
A part-time teacher’s brownie among the best in the world
Almost 200 Welsh products won a Great Taste award this year, but the one that caught our eye came from Melys. Founder Elinor Davies has built a baking business alongside teaching, and her Triple Choc Brownie took a three-star — her first, from her third entry. She puts it down to precision and consistency: knowing exactly which ingredients matter so every mouthful is reliably good. Which is, when you think about it, the whole job. It’s a fair old trip but I feel like I need to try this brownie. I still reckon mine will be better…
Source: businessnewswales.com
A very good fortnight for Caws Teifi
The Llandysul creamery, one of Wales’s original artisan cheesemakers, took a two-star hat-trick for Teifi Heritage, Celtic Promise and Teifi Mature. The same Teifi Mature had been named Best Welsh Produced Cheese at the Royal Welsh Show the week before, where they also took the Excellence in Cheesemaking award. Elsewhere in west Wales, a passion fruit sorbet from Fire and Ice in Narberth landed a three-star and a Golden Fork nomination — one of only three from Wales. Those and other winners, if you wanted to check if they’re near you and hunt them down, at the link below…
Source: swanseabaynews.com
Farmers took over the internet on Thursday
#farm24 ran on 30 July, with farms across the country opening their gates online — everything from pre-dawn milking to late-night harvesting. Clarkson’s Farm’s Lisa Hogan and Kaleb Cooper posted from harvest, Greg James and Sara Cox gave it shout-outs on BBC Radio, and Farmers Guardian’s editor reckoned it was the best turnout yet. Worth a scroll back through the hashtag if you missed it; it’s the closest most of us get to seeing where the food actually comes from.
Source: farmersguardian.com
Celebrity MasterChef names its first ten
The BBC has revealed the opening contestants for the 21st series, among them Joe Pasquale, Strictly winner Jay McGuinness, Olympic weightlifter Emily Campbell and presenter Jason Mohammad. The bigger change is behind the counter: Giorgio Locatelli joins Grace Dent following John Torode’s departure. No start date confirmed, though last year’s ran in November. We love Celebrity MasterChef. There’s usually guaranteed to be at least a few on there that make you feel considerably better about your own cooking prowess.
Source: tvguide.co.uk