The Artisan Kitchen | Taste of the West Preserves Champion 2017
The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam Named Taste of the West Champion Sweet Preserves 2017
The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ Named Taste of the West Champion Sweet Preserves 2017
A landmark year for one of The Artisan Kitchen’s most distinctive Gloucestershire preserves.
The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ — Taste of the West Champion Sweet Preserves 2017.
In September 2017, the South West food and drink community gathered at the University of Exeter for the annual Taste of the West Awards.
More than 400 guests attended the ceremony in the university’s Great Hall, with awards celebrating producers, hospitality businesses and food and drink from across the region.
The wider 2017 awards programme attracted more than 1,000 product entries, with champion products recognised across 23 categories.
Among those winners was The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™, which was named Taste of the West Champion Sweet Preserves 2017.
2017 at a Glance
Winner: The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™
Award: Taste of the West Champion Sweet Preserves 2017
Additional Taste of the West recognition: Gold
Great British Food Awards: Shortlisted for Best Sweet Preserve
Ceremony: The Great Hall, University of Exeter
A Champion Preserve
The Champion Sweet Preserves title followed a Taste of the West Gold award for The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ earlier in the same awards year.
For The Artisan Kitchen, the award represented another important moment in a growing body of independent recognition for this rare Gloucestershire preserve.
The 2017 result was particularly special because it recognised not only the finished jam, but the character of the local fruit at its heart: a distinctive Gloucestershire plum with the depth, acidity and flavour to produce a preserve of real individuality.
The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ continued to receive national and regional recognition throughout 2017.
A Remarkable Year for The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™
The Taste of the West Champion title was one part of an exceptional year for The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™.
In 2017, the preserve also received a Taste of the West Gold award, was awarded 3 Stars at the Great Taste Awards, and was shortlisted for Best Sweet Preserve at the Great British Food Awards.
Together, those results made 2017 one of the defining award years in the history of The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™, with recognition spanning both regional and national food awards.
Building on Earlier Recognition
The 2017 Champion Sweet Preserves award came several years after the preserve’s breakthrough national recognition in 2014, when The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam received three stars at the Great Taste Awards and was named among the Top 50 Foods.
Rather than retelling that full history here, the complete chronology of the preserve, its provenance and awards is documented on
The Artisan Kitchen’s dedicated Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ page
What Followed
The Champion Preserve recognition later led to another lovely chapter in the story of The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™.
The Artisan Kitchen was featured in A Taste of the West Country, where chef Robert Cox, then Head Chef at Tudor Farmhouse Hotel in Clearwell, created an original soufflé with plum ripple ice cream using the preserve.
Read the Blaisdon Red Plum Jam soufflé recipe and archive story
Source & Archive Notes
Product: The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™
Award: Taste of the West Champion Sweet Preserves 2017
Additional award: Taste of the West Gold 2017
Ceremony venue: The Great Hall, University of Exeter
Archive & article: Sarah Churchill, The Artisan Kitchen
Related from The Artisan Kitchen
The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ — History, Provenance & Awards
The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ Soufflé — Chef Recipe & Archive Story
The Following Year
The Artisan Kitchen followed its 2017 Taste of the West Champion Sweet Preserves success with another Champion Preserve win in 2018, this time for Early Rivers Prolific Plum Jam.
Read the 2018 Champion Preserve story
Written and curated by Sarah Churchill, chef-owner and producer at The Artisan Kitchen, Gloucester.
This article forms part of The Artisan Kitchen archive documenting the recognition and culinary history of The Artisan Kitchen Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™.
Blaisdon Red Plum Jam™ is a trade mark of The Artisan Kitchen.
