Four local Genuine Jersey producers have been recognised with a prestigious award for “great taste”, showcasing the high quality of Jersey’s food and drink produce on an internationally respected stage.
The Jersey Fudge Pot, Fishwise, Jersey Dairy, and Field Farm have all been awarded the Great Taste Award.
Businesses can earn one of three Great Taste Awards for their products – one-star meaning “simply delicious”; two-star which means “outstanding”; and three-star which is “exquisite”.
The competition received 15,000 entrants from around the world, with a panel of over 500 industry experts, including chefs, buyers, and retail experts.
The judging took the form of a rigorous blind tasting process run by the Guild of Fine Food, one of the food and drink industry’s most respected marks of excellence.
You may not have heard of the award before, but you are likely to have seen its iconic branding – marking food produce as having received the ‘seal of approval’ in the eyes of the expert panel.
John Garton, chief executive of Genuine Jersey, said: “These awards are judged purely on taste, making them a powerful endorsement of the quality, passion, and craftsmanship that define Jersey’s producers.”
“We hope these awards inspire even more Islanders and visitors to choose local and discover the incredible quality being produced right here on our doorstep.”
The winning products will now carry their 2026 Great Taste Award logos for the next three years.
Once again, Jersey Fudge Pot blew away the panel with three products. Their Jersey Honey Fudge was awarded the 2-star award, while both their Coffee and Pecan Fudge and Jersey Normandy Fudge received 1-star awards.
The latest accolades bring the local fudge company’s total number of Great Taste awards up to nine.
Express caught up with Jill Holt, owner and confectioner of Jersey Fudge Pot, to ask about this years success…
Where were you when you found out you’d won? And how did it feel?
Just like the rest of the 15,000 entrants, we were frantically trying to log on to the Guild of Fine Food website to see our results.
It is always a fantastic feeling to win a prize and doubly so to win a 2 star award.
For those who haven’t tried your product before, how would you describe it in three words?
Our fudge is sweet scrumptious luxury in a bag.
Other than your own product… If someone visiting Jersey could only take home one taste of the Island, what would you tell them to try, and why?
Apart from our fudge (of course) I think one of our unique products on the island is our cabbage loaf – a delicious part of our heritage we should share with our visitors.
Of this year’s winners, which fudge is your personal favourite?
We are so proud of our honey fudge this year. We had a stall at a Christmas market a couple of years ago and met Luis Saraiva and his lovely family. As soon as we tasted their honey we knew we had to use it in a fudge.
It took quite a bit of work to balance the flavours properly but it was all worth it when we won a 2 star award and read the judges comments.
They all remarked on the wildflower notes in the finished product and the depth of flavour we had achieved.
How much experimenting goes into creating a new flavour before you’re happy to sell it?
Creating a new flavour combination is what we like best in the fudge kitchen.
One of our lovely customers might suggest a flavour or we may stumble across a locally produced ingredient that we know would go well in our fudge.
We will produce a batch and take it to a market and ask the public to taste it and give us their feedback.
We always listen to what our customers say and will tweak and rebalance the flavours until we get it just right.
What’s next for you? Any new flavours in the pipeline?
The future for us is carrying on the way we have been doing for the last few years – making the very best fudge we can from the finest ingredients we can find.
We will continue entering our fudge to the various organisations for judging and hopefully do our bit to promote our wonderful island produce to the rest of the world.
If anyone out there has a suggestion for a new flavour combination please let us know.
