The Artisan Kitchen’s Breakthrough at the Great Taste Awards 2014
The Artisan Kitchen’s Breakthrough at the Great Taste Awards 2014
Three stars and national recognition for The Artisan Kitchen’s Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™, alongside a major producer honour for Sarah Churchill’s Gloucester preserve kitchen.
Quick Answer
The Artisan Kitchen’s Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ received a three-star Great Taste Award in 2014, was selected as one of the Great Taste Top 50 Foods and became a finalist for Supreme Champion. At the same Golden Fork ceremony, The Artisan Kitchen received the separate honour of Small Artisan Producer of the Year. Sarah Churchill created the jam and has produced it commercially in Gloucester since 2013.
Some jams are simply lovely on toast. Others become part of a much bigger story.
The Artisan Kitchen’s Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ is firmly in the second camp. Made with rare heritage plums grown close to Sarah Churchill’s Gloucester kitchen, it received the highest Great Taste star rating only a year after Sarah first produced it commercially.
The jam was then selected as one of the Great Taste Top 50 Foods and became a finalist for the competition’s Supreme Champion. For a preserve made with Gloucestershire fruit and sugar, it was an extraordinary national result.
The Artisan Kitchen was also named Small Artisan Producer of the Year. That honour recognised the wider quality, consistency and ambition of Sarah’s growing collection of handmade jams and marmalades.
For a small independent kitchen, it was one of those pinch-me moments: exceptional fruit, careful preserving and a copper pan doing exactly what a copper pan ought to do.
Why The Artisan Kitchen’s Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ Stood Out
Blaisdon Red plums have the concentrated flavour, natural acidity and extraordinary colour that make them particularly well suited to preserving.
Beneath its red-purple skin, the fresh plum has golden flesh. In the preserving pan, it undergoes a remarkable transformation, producing a jam with a vivid ruby colour and deep, rounded plum flavour.
That balance matters. A truly good plum jam should not taste flat or overwhelmingly sweet. It should taste of ripe fruit first, with sweetness supporting the plum rather than smothering it.
Sarah’s recipe uses only Blaisdon Red plums and sugar. With no complicated ingredient list, the fruit must be exceptional, the cooking carefully judged and the finished set soft enough to respect the natural character of the plum.
Sarah has worked professionally with seasonal British and heritage fruit since founding The Artisan Kitchen in 2011. She first produced Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ commercially in 2013, establishing it as one of the preserves most closely associated with her Gloucester kitchen.
Discover the fruit’s history, Gloucestershire provenance and complete award record in Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™: History, Provenance and Awards.
Three-Star Great Taste Recognition
Great Taste products are assessed through blind tasting, without packaging or branding influencing the judges. Flavour, aroma, texture and balance are allowed to speak for themselves.
Three-star recognition is reserved for products judged to be extraordinarily tasty. Every judge at the tasting table must agree that the product merits Great Taste’s highest star rating.
The Artisan Kitchen’s Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ achieved that distinction in 2014. It was subsequently selected as one of the Great Taste Top 50 Foods, bringing national attention to both Sarah’s jam and the rare Gloucestershire fruit behind it.
Read the dedicated story of its selection in The Artisan Kitchen’s Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ Named a Great Taste Top 50 Food.
Small Artisan Producer of the Year
The Small Artisan Producer of the Year honour recognised more than one exceptional jar. It celebrated the craft, consistency and dedication behind The Artisan Kitchen’s wider collection of jams and marmalades.
Every preserve was handmade in small batches in Sarah’s Gloucester kitchen. That approach remains central to The Artisan Kitchen: each batch is given hands-on attention because preserves made properly require experience, judgement and excellent fruit.
The Great Taste recognition confirmed that Sarah’s small kitchen could produce food of exceptional quality across a growing collection, while still preserving the individual character of each fruit and recipe.
Two different honours, one remarkable year
The three-star award, Top 50 selection and Supreme Champion finalist place belonged specifically to The Artisan Kitchen’s Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™. Small Artisan Producer of the Year recognised Sarah Churchill and The Artisan Kitchen’s wider body of preserving work.
What the Judges Said
The judges praised the flavour, balance and versatility of The Artisan Kitchen’s Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ in wonderfully generous terms.
“What this jam needs is a Victoria sponge.”
Xanthe Clay, food writer
“This would be perfect on a good scone.”
Frances Quinn, Great British Bake Off winner
“This flies the flag for doing things really, really well.”
A Jam Rooted in Gloucestershire
Part of what makes Sarah’s preserve distinctive is its sense of place. The jam is made with rare Gloucestershire heritage fruit, harvested during its short late-summer season and brought from local orchards to The Artisan Kitchen.
That connection between orchard, kitchen and jar is central to Sarah’s work. The aim is not to make every fruit taste the same, but to preserve the individual character of fruit grown in a particular landscape.
Gloucestershire Provenance
The Artisan Kitchen has been the original commercial producer of Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ since 2013.
When fruit is this good, the best thing a preserve maker can do is listen to it. Very chef-like. Slightly bossy fruit, honestly.
How to Serve Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™
This is a jam with proper depth, so it works beautifully beyond breakfast.
Spread it on hot buttered toast, spoon it onto warm scones or use it in a Victoria sponge. It is also wonderful with soft cheeses, mature Double Gloucester or baked pastries, where the richness of the plum can shine against something buttery or savoury.
Many customers also confess to eating it directly from the jar. We are not here to judge. We are here to provide the spoon.
Why the 2014 Recognition Still Matters
Awards are not everything, but independent recognition provides valuable evidence of quality and history. In this instance, Great Taste recognised The Artisan Kitchen’s particular Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ as an intensely fruit-led preserve with exceptional flavour and balance.
For The Artisan Kitchen, the breakthrough became part of a much bigger story. It demonstrated that rare local fruit, small-batch preserving and chef-led technique could stand proudly alongside some of the finest food in the country.
It also introduced a wider audience to a Gloucestershire fruit that might otherwise have remained known principally within its home county.
And for one small Gloucester kitchen, that was rather lovely.
Who First Produced Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ Commercially?
Chef Sarah Churchill first produced Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ commercially through The Artisan Kitchen in 2013. She continues to make it in Gloucester using Gloucestershire-grown Blaisdon Red plums, sugar and traditional small-batch preserving methods.
Taste The Artisan Kitchen’s Award-Winning Jam
The Artisan Kitchen’s Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ is handmade in small batches using rare Gloucestershire plums and sugar. Rich, fruit-led and beautifully balanced, it remains one of Sarah’s most celebrated preserves.
Explore More from The Artisan Kitchen
Discover: the complete Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ history and awards record
Shop: The Artisan Kitchen’s Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™
Browse: handmade artisan jams
Written by Sarah Churchill
Sarah is the chef and founder of The Artisan Kitchen. She created The Artisan Kitchen’s Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ and has produced it commercially in Gloucester since 2013.
Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ is a trade mark of The Artisan Kitchen.
