Cairnsmhor Win 7 Great Taste Awards, Plus Sampling Offer Submitted By: Indigo Words Sunday, 25 July 2010

Cairnsmhor win 7 Great Taste Awards, plus sampling offer Submitted by: Indigo Words Sunday, 25 July 2010

***Product Sampling Opportunity Staff at Cairnsmhor (http://www.thistleproducts.co.uk/shop/dept/293/Scottish-Food-Scottish-Sweets) are cracking open their tastiest biscuits and celebrating this week after their luxury food range scooped seven gold awards at the prestigious Great Taste Awards. Cairnsmhor products, a range of hand baked biscuits, oatcakes and crackers, won four 2-star gold awards and three 1-star gold awards for products including their Haggis Flavour Oatcakes (http://www.thistleproducts.co.uk/shop/detail/1030/312/scottish-oatcake-haggis-flavour), Lemon Shorties (http://www.thistleproducts.co.uk/shop/products/303/cairnsmhor-scottish-biscuits) and Wholegrain Mustard Crackers (http://www.thistleproducts.co.uk/shop/products/313/cairnsmhor-cracker-biscuit). The Great Taste Awards are considered the most important food award scheme in the UK. Rigorous and completely independent, Great Taste is to speciality food and drink what Michelin is to fine dining. In total 6021 food and drink products were blind-tasted, tested and discussed during two months of intense judging by 350 judges, comprising food writers, chefs, deli and farm shop owners, food producers and buyers. To achieve a two star gold award up to 20 judges must agree that a product is ‘faultless’. Paula Gibson of Thistle Products (http://www.thistleproducts.co.uk) said: “We are thrilled that so many of our products have achieved Great Taste Award status. The thing that makes these awards so special is that each item is judged blind – it really is all about the taste and the quality of the product. It’s particularly pleasing that some of our new products were recognised. We’ve been working with our food technologist Liz Ashworth to expand the Cairnsmhor range and it’s very rewarding to see two of our new crackers being awarded 2-stars.” The Guild of Fine Food’s Bob Farrand commented of this year’s entries “It’s so exciting to see the standards of food and drink in the British Isles go from strength to strength, year after year, proving that for those who enjoy great food - it’s there to be discovered”. Farrand continued, “We have worked hard to ensure our judging process is as robust as possible. Judging teams are balanced in terms of experience, background and even gender and every Gold Award winning entry has been independently proven to be of the highest standard”. Cairnsmhor is a luxury food range that takes classic products and gives them an indulgent injection of flavour. With a Scottish feel but broad appeal, all Cairnsmhor products are hand baked in Scotland, using Scotland’s finest ingredients. The gold award winning products received the following comments by the judges: Crushed Black Pepper Crackers (http://www.thistleproducts.co.uk/shop/detail/1025/313/crushed-black-pepper-cracker-biscuits) (New) Add some good brie on a hot summers' day - yum! The pepper is inviting rather than overpowering. Good texture. Good fresh pepper aroma and flavour. Characterful.

Page 1 Parmesan & Pepper Oatcakes (http://www.thistleproducts.co.uk/shop/detail/983/312/oatcakes-parmesan-and-pepper) The size and texture and thickness is great. The pepper does come through well and is pleasant. With a little more tweaking of flavours this could warrant 3 stars. Wholegrain Mustard Crackers (http://www.thistleproducts.co.uk/shop/detail/1024/313/wholegrain-mustard-savoury-crackers) (New) This is a lovely product. The flavour of mustard is good and subtle, but you can definitely taste it. The flavour wouldn’t interrupt the (added) cheese though. It has a great texture as well - baked very well and a good crunch. This is an excellent product. Good crisp texture. Mild mustard flavour. Haggis Flavour Oatcakes (http://www.thistleproducts.co.uk/shop/detail/1030/312/scottish-oatcake-haggis-flavour) Lovely flavour, which does capture the savoury flavour of haggis. Good texture with the oatmeal as well. An excellent product in the way that it captures the flavour of haggis. Traditional Scottish Oatcakes (http://www.thistleproducts.co.uk/shop/detail/1031/312/traditional-oatcakes) Good oaty texture strong flavour. Good balance sweet/savoury. You can taste full flavour of oats rather than sugar or salt as is often the case with oatcakes. Good flavour including salt; worthy of a gold. Lemon Shorties (http://www.thistleproducts.co.uk/shop/detail/990/303/lemon-shorties-shortcake-biscuits) Lovely product. A great texture, not too short but just the right level of crunch. The lemon flavour is great, not overpowering but definitely evident. Raspberry Shortcake (http://www.thistleproducts.co.uk/shop/detail/991/303/raspberry-shortcake-) The product looks great and is innovative. The raspberry flavour is good. Cairnsmhor is available in delis and independent retailers across the UK or direct from www.thistleproducts.co.uk . - Ends – Contact & sample requests: Cairnsmhor are offering to send out Gold Award Winner product sample packs to journalists with an interest in featuring their products and will normally despatch samples within 24 hours. High res photography of products / product groups is available. Laura Carson at Thistle Products / Cairnsmhor Tel: 01556 611 292 or email [email protected] Notes to editors: •Thistle Products, the company who created Cairnsmhor, are Scotland’s leading supplier of volume

Page 2 gifts and souvenirs. They are the inventors of iconic Scottish products such as the Jimmy Hat and the Kilt Beach Towel. •Cairnsmhor products are available throughout the UK and on www.thistleproducts.co.uk •The Great Taste Awards are organised by the Guild of Fine Food •The awards were established in 1994 •The one, two are three star ratings are established on the premise that a one star is a perfect food or drink, a two star is absolutely sublime and three star is that moment you turn to the person next to you and exclaim ‘ Wow! You must try this, it’s amazing!”

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