Three Tunisian companies, showcasing their products for the first time in the UK, are among the Great Taste winners of 2020
Great Taste, the world’s most trusted food and drink awards, has announced its stars of 2020 and new to the UK Tunisian food producers have picked up a range of awards before their unique products hit the shelves of the retailers.
HSB & CIE have won a 2-star Great Taste award for their delicious DEVA FRUTA dates, which means judges dubbed them ‘above and beyond delicious’. The company works closely with its farmers in Tunisia to guarantee the quality and provenance of the fruit. It’s a third-generation family business begun in 1957 specialising in Deglet Nour dates exported around the world and now, for the first time, the UK.
Judges said: “The dates have been dutifully and carefully pitted and are a joy to eat. Their natural fruitiness and sweet notes suggest honey and almost umami-like richness. They are beautifully shaped caramel coloured dates that positively glow with a natural, fresh, just picked appeal’.
Chamalo also won a 2-star Great Taste award for their Pate De Fruits. Uniquely produced by the small team in Tunis in a traditional way the delicious sweets are made with only the best quality local fruit, creating the perfect balance between the natural fruit puree and sugar. Gluten free and suitable for vegans the judges loved them!
They said: “These are like a taste of Christmas past when you had a box of candied Christmas fruits to share after lunch. Delightfully intense fruit jellies with a beautifully balanced waltz between sugar and intense mandarin. Amazing”.
Sun Antipasti’s Lina brand won a 1-star Great Taste Award for its Shakshuka, which means judges dubbed it ‘a food that delivers fantastic flavour’. This traditional Tunisian spicy medley is packed with vine ripened tomatoes, hearty onions and peppers, with a hint of caraway and coriander. Hand prepared the judges said: “This is stonkingly good sauce! It’s full of flavour, vibrancy and freshness and is absolutely delicious. The vegetables are perfectly cooked – offering up their integral flavour with a blend of spices – this is spot on. The chilli tingles along in the background, never completely taking over, just bringing the dish together”.
All the award winners are participants in a British Government funded export support programme, led by the British Embassy in Tunis in conjunction with CEPEX (the Tunisian export promotion agency) and delivered by OCO Global, a specialist international trade and investment consultancy. Each of these three companies were carefully selected to be part of a 6-month market acceleration programme, where OCO food specialists helped them prepare their products for the UK market and facilitated introductions to relevant customers and partners.
Colin McCullagh, Director at OCO Global says: “We are delighted to see that these companies have been recognised for the quality of their products and we hope it shines a light on Tunisia as an outstanding producer of high-quality food products on the UK’s doorstep.
“Consumers can now buy with confidence knowing they have a Great Taste seal of approval. We know there are many more fabulous products in Tunisia and look forward to bringing them to the UK, and Great Taste judges in 2021.”
Judged by 144 of the most discerning palates, belonging to food critics, chefs, cooks, restaurateurs, buyers, retailers and producers, as well as food writers and journalists, Great Taste is the most coveted of all food and drink awards.
This year’s winners have been found through a combination of remote judging and socially distanced judging sessions, after the lockdown began just one week into the schedule.
The panel of judges this year included; cook, writer and champion of sustainable food, Melissa Hemsley, cook, writer, stylist and voice of modern vegetarian cooking, Anna Jones, celebrated Spanish chef, José Pizarro, Kavi Thakrar from Dishoom, food writer and cook, Xanthe Clay, and baker and author, Martha Collison, as well as food buyers from Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and Waitrose.