ESSEX food businesses have won more than 70 prizes at the Great Taste Awards 2023.

The winners of the awards, which are organised by the Guild of Fine Food, were announced on Monday after more than 500 judges took part in blind taste tests to rate the quality of food producers across the country and the rest of the world.

More than 14,000 food and drink products from 109 countries were assessed over the course of 89 judging days in London and Dorset, and less than two per cent of them were awarded the top accolade of three stars.

Now in its 30th year, organisers say it is the largest global accreditation scheme for food and drink.

Gazette: Winners - Thursday Cottage won awards for four of its productsWinners - Thursday Cottage won awards for four of its products

In total, Essex food businesses bagged 79 prizes, with only two products securing the ultra-rare three stars.

Essex Great Taste Awards 2023 winners

Here’s a list of the Essex businesses that won awards, and the products they won prizes for.

Three stars

Tiptree-based Thursday Cottage won a three-star rating for its English Heritage toffee apple curd.

Novus Tea, based in Bradwell-on-Sea, was awarded three stars for its rooibos espresso.

Two stars

  • Hadley’s Dairy – Bali 70 per cent dark cream truffle, rhubarb ice cream, and salted caramel ice cream
  • Frinton Farms – British pumpkin seed oil
  • Shirley’s Jollof Paste – chicken jollof paste
  • Redchurch Brewery – Fader Juicy IPA
  • Lambton and Jackson – juniper smoked salmon and smoked salmon pate
  • Louisa’s Honey – chestnut honey and lime honey
  • Mad Mike’s Chilli Jam – Mad Mike’s cheeky chipotle
  • Osborne & Sons – smoked chilli salt and smoked cod roe mayonnaise
  • Bermondsey Street Bees – Royal Albert Dock honey
  • S J Frederick & Sons – Temple Farm free range bronze turkey and Temple Farm free range bronze turkey crown
  • Thursday Cottage – passionfruit curd
  • Wild and Rooted Farming – sirloin steak

One star

  • Chhabra – four-spice hot chocolate
  • Barn Farm Drinks
  • The Biltong Brothers – beef original drywors
  • Bermondsey Street Bees – Bishops Stortford cut comb, East India Dock honey, Royal Victoria Dock honey, and sour cherry amaretti
  • Tapp’d Cocktails – blue lagoon canned cocktail, non-alcoholic passionfruit martini, and pornstar martini
  • Forest Lodge Turkeys – bronze free-range turkey crown and traditional farm fresh white whole turkey
  • Hadley’s Dairy – coffee ice cream, Jamaican chocolate ice cream, milk chocolate truffle, pink gooseberry ice cream, pistachio biscotti, and salted caramel truffle
  • Sipp’d – Discovery apple juice, Lord Lambourne apple juice, and Straight Up lemonade
  • Fairfields Farm – cheese and onion crisps and sea salt and black pepper crisps
  • Truffle Guys – gourmet truffle mustard, plant-based truffle mayo, signature truffle dust, and white truffle oil
  • Hunter’s Biltong – original beef biltong, sweet hot jerky, Raging Bull chilli beef biltong, Raging Bull original beef biltong, Raging Bull original beef jerky, Raging Bull peppered beef jerky, Raging Bull sweet hot jerky, and Raging Bull teriyaki beef biltong
  • Riddim Foods – jerk BBQ plantain chips Kelly Beef – two bone rib and rib eye steak
  • Cupcake Daisy – large classic dark chocolate Florentina’s
  • Louisa’s Honey – acacia honey, bosco honey, citrus honey, coriander honey, and honey acacia with ginger
  • McLaren’s Christmas Pudding
  • Novus Tea – chamomile and French lavender, earl grey, and lemongrass and ginger
  • Osborne & Sons – chilli sauce, crab & chorizo lasagne, and smoked salmon pate
  • Frinton Farms – roasted and salted pumpkin seeds
  • The Foraging Fox – mango habanero salsa
  • Thursday Cottage – chocolate caramel spread and salted caramel spread
  • Tilda – ready-to-heat pure basmati rice
  • Wild and Rooted Farming – grass-fed beef burgers and minced beef and onion pie