Christine Munroe, a 72 year old entrepreneur from Alderley Edge, was awarded gold stars for three of her products at the 2010 Great Taste Awards which were held at Earls Court on Friday.
Now in its 17th year, the Great Taste Awards has gained widespread recognition among the country's retailers and consumers and is now seen as the definitive independent benchmark for fine food and drink in the UK. Organised annually by the Guild of Fine Food the Great Taste Awards helps smaller producers, who lack big promotional budgets, to stand out from the crowd, gain wider distribution and increase sales.
Christine's chilli jam, ginger marmalade and lemon marmalade, which were all fortunate enough to receive an award, cannot only claim to be of the finest quality, but prove it too. All entries undergo rigorous tests by a specially selected panel of experts, including leading chefs, buyers, food critics and deli owners.
But the Great Taste Awards is more than just a competition; it's an accreditation scheme. Christine's products can now bear the Great Taste Awards logo showing they have been independently proven to be of origin, quality and excellence.
When Christine called to share her fantastic news she said "We are over the moon to have won these awards, particularly as we have only been running for a year and we were competing against all the big companies, including Henshelwoods Fine Foods, The Bay Tree Food Company and Cottage Delight.
Their ginger marmalade, described by the judges as having an "excellent flavour", came top in its category with two gold stars as did their chilli jam which the judges felt was a "beautiful looking product, well balanced with a good chilli kick but a rounded not fiery heat."
Christine said "We will take on board their comments and hope to improve our products in the future so we can try for top marks which is three gold stars. One gold star means the product is 'close to perfect' , two gold stars means 'faultless' and three gold stars means 'wow you must taste this' so we will aim for the wow factor!"
Christine, who has been running the local farmers market for 12 years, launched Christine's Cheshire Preserves in February last year which she runs with her son Hugh. Christine regularly found it difficult to get a good producer of preserves so, slightly frustrated, she decided to make her own. It all started with a mere 17 jars of orange marmalade and now the range stands at 30 flavours of conserves, marmalades, pickles, relishes, mustards and ketchups.
She learnt how to make jams and marmalades from her mother and whilst many are family recipes, passed down through the generations, Christine isn't afraid of trying something new and her best selling flavours are her new creations.
Making all her delicious preserves from a kitchen in Alderley Edge, Christine is a keen advocate of making good food from local ingredients. A fact that appealed to The National Trust who are now a stockist and numerous quality oriented farm shops throughout Cheshire and neighbouring counties. Christine's Cheshire Preserves can also be purchased at the Alderley Edge Farmers Market which takes place on the second Sunday of every month at the Festival Hall on Talbot Road.
Christine will attend a presentation evening at Fortnum and Mason in London on 6th September where she will receive the awards and enjoy a special dinner prepared by Fortnum & Mason's renowned executive chef, Sean Hill.
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She is going to be on the show this evening, BBC 1 at 7pm.