Foods Matter Free-From Food Awards 2008 Presentation Speech

Michelle Berriedale-Johnson

Hello and welcome – It is really exciting for us and for the free-from world in general to see so many people here – a fantastic response to the first dedicated free-from awards. So thank you to all of your for coming – and thank you to Antony for being so supportive of the awards, looking after us so well and handing out the awards for us!

I know that you are all really keen to know who has won what – especially who is going to walk off with Tom Allan’s lovely marble bust – irreverently christened by the Foods Matter staff – Marble Mo!! But I just want to say a very few words about how we have structured the awards.

As anyone who has ever been involved with awards will know, organising them is a major logistical and financial undertaking – and far beyond Foods Matter’s resources. But we really felt that Free-From manufactures deserved their own award so we decided to use the results of the monthly tastings that we run in Foods Matter which are, in effect, ongoing judging sessions.

This means that, because we did not decide to run the awards until we were already half way through the year’s ‘tastings’, the categories for this year’s awards are somewhat contrived and not quite as inclusive as we might wish – but we are already planning the tastings for next year and this time with the awards in mind.

So, having correlated the results of tastings from September ‘06 to May ‘08 we had one judging session with a panel of judges from the food industry and the free-from world – several of whom are here and to whom we offer many thanks -  to chose the overall winner from all of the tastings and the winner of our Innovation award which included all the new products that we have tasted over the year and which had either missed a tasting or did not fit into any of the tasting categories.

All we had to do then was to find some generous Free-From sponsors to stake us to a party! So we are very grateful to Lactofree (thank you Arun), to Pure (thank you Bronwen) and to Nomoo who sadly could not make it all the way up from deepest Devon, for doing just that! And also to the Foundation for Allergy Information and Research (FAIR) who, much to our delight, stepped up and commissioned Tom Allan to sculpt us a trophy.

Anyhow, to the awards. We have awarded a winner, a Highly Commended and several Commendeds in each category. Because I would like to release you before midnight, Antony is going to present the winner of each category with their certificate. I will announce the commendeds and highly commendeds although we would ask the winners of these to collect them from Cressida at the door before they leave – along with their goody bag with details of all the winners and some information and gifts from our sponsors.

Category 1 - Gluten free breads and bread mixes

Bread is probably the most challenging of all the GF products to manufacture. There are now a huge number of GF bread and mixes on the markets, ranging from coeliac breads made with deglutenised wheat flour which are hard to tell from a standard loaf, to somewhat more challenging loaves made from rice, amaranth, quinoa and spring water….

Our Commended choices in this category include one of the former – the Glutafin Select Fresh White Bread which is hard to tell from a normal loaf – but which does include all of the major allergens apart from gluten.

The second Commended loaf is the Tesco Ciabatta – free from wheat, gluten, dairy and soya – ‘good flavour, light and fluffy, I would chose to eat this’ – were among the comments of the tasters.

However, both the highly commended and the winner in this category were bread mixes – both easy to make at home in a conventional oven or bread machine.

The Highly Commended goes to the Il Pane di Anna mix distributed by Gluten Free Foods Direct- free of wheat, gluten and soya, the mix uses buckwheat, rice and maize starch. ‘Looks gorgeous and tastes great - really good’ – were the comments of the tasters.

The winner in this category is another mix – this one made from teff (the highly nutritious Ethiopian seed) and corn flour. The loaf looked great, tasted good – and stayed fresh for several days – almost unheard of for gluten-free bread.
‘Tasty and nutty – excellent - good texture – really flavoursome’, were among tasters’ comments.
The winner is Roley’s teff flour mix.

Category 2 - Gluten free pastas, pizzas, pies and sauces

This is such a diverse category that we have an oddly assorted group of winners.

In the commended class come Morrison’s gluten-free penne and fusilli – made from maize, potato, soya and rice flour – ‘Fresh – full of flavour – and decent texture’ -  were among the comments.

The Nomato pasta sauce, designed for those who are allergic to tomatoes or the nightshade family in general, is made from carrots, onions, apple and lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and beetroot and we felt that it deserved commendation for creating such a convincing tomato look-alike without coming anywhere near a tomato.

The third commended goes to M&S mince pies – wheat, gluten and soya free – which went down very well with our Christmas tasters. ‘Glorious fruit and spices – and excellent crispy pastry’.

Highly commended in this category went to the Juvela gluten free pizza base. Made from deglutenised wheat flour but free of corn and soya, tasters commented – ‘If you like thin and crispy, you’ll love this – enjoyable – tasty – light and pleasant.’

However, in this category too, the winner goes to a mix – a pizza base mix. Also made from deglutenised wheat flour, and corn and soya free, it makes up into a deep dish pizza base. ‘Authentic texture – really good dough – bready – but in a good way – crisps up beautifully’ were among the tasters’ comments.

The winner is the Mixwell pizza dough from Sweden distributed by Drossa and Co.

Category 3 - Gluten free cereal bars and biscuits – sweet and savoury

This is a massive category and tasters were staggering out the door after working their way through 36 different sweet biscuits….
Biscuits are also one of the easier gluten-free products to manufacture so the quality of the entries was really high.

We had 3 commendeds.
The Glutafin savoury crackers made from corn and soya flour – ‘great flavour – could munch on these on their own – nice texture’ –
The Tesco cheese crackers, made with corn and rice flour – ‘toothsome, nutty flavour - crisp and cheesy – excellent flavour’ –
and the Lyme Regis organic 7 seed and nut bar – which is free of all grains apart from corn syrup – ‘fantastic for nut lovers – lovely and seedy – mild but very pleasant’

Highly commended in this category went to a sweet biscuit – the Doves Farm hazelnut cookies – made from rice, potato, maize and buckwheat flour – tasters commented ‘tastes as good as it looks – homemade – not too sweet – excellent’.

The winner of this category was also a sweet biscuit- and this time an old favourite – ‘lovely snack with a cuppa’ wrote one taster. ‘ A good sticky chew – deep and moist – wonderfully coconutty.’
The winner is Mrs Crimble’s chocolate macaroons.

Category 4 - Gluten free cakes, muffins and puddings

This was another set of tastings which played havoc with tasters’ waistlines – especially since, like biscuits, it is much easier to make a really good gluten free cake than it is to make a good gluten free bread. So again, lots of delicious entries.

And again, three commendeds –
Morrison’s rich free-from fruit cake slices. Made from ground almonds, rice and tapioca flour, tasters found it ‘a good cake with a decent fruit content – nice and rich’.
Also commended was the OK Allergy Friendly Foods apricot and almond cake  - also based on ground almonds but this time with brown rice and manioc flour. Tasters’ comments- ‘Good almond flavour – juicy apricots – really nice’.
Raspberry Creek’s carrot cake made from ground almonds, brown rice flour and potato flour was the third commended cake – ‘home made texture – flavoursome – good moisture and spice levels’ were among the  comments.

Highly commended in this category went to the Livwell Christmas pudding –based on rice, potato, buckwheat and maize flour – ‘yum:- fruity, spicy and richer than Elton John’ was the general taster consensus!
However, the winner of this category was, probably inevitably, another cake – ‘lovely home made cake – good coffee flavour – lovely texture and consistency – good depths – attractive presentation’ were among the comments.
The winner of the cake and muffin category is Gluten Free Kitchen’s coffee and walnut cake.

Category 5 - Dairy free milks, spreads and cheeses
We had two commendeds in this category – the PURE Organic spread made from sunflower and palm oil and coloured with carrot juice: ‘nice – good – unlike many, has some flavour of its own’ were among tasters’ comments.
Also commended was the Tofutti better than cream cheese garlic and herb spread made from soya. ‘Flavoursome – creamy – enjoyable – very garlicky’ were among the comments.
Highly commended in this category was the St Helen’s goat butter – made from goat cream, salt and carotene for colour. ‘Totally delicious – tasty, rich, creamy, buttery’.

And the winner in this category is also a goat product – but this time a cheese.
‘Very fine cheese – salty but very tasty – good creamy texture – really lovely.
The winner is the Delamere mature goat’s cheese.

Category 6 - Dairy free ‘ice-cream’, chocolate, desserts and yogurt

Because of the sudden and very welcome arrival of several new and extremely good  ‘ice-creams’, this sector was rather taken over by ice-cream. However, a couple of other products did squeeze into the commended group:

The Woodlands organic live yogurt was one – ‘excellent – light – buttery flavour’ were among the comments –
And the Sainsbury freefrom vanilla custard , based on soya, was another. ‘Fresh taste – very nice – perfect with apple pie’.

Two ice-creams were also on the commended list –
The BoojaBooja cashew based Hunky Punky chocolate – ‘very chocolaty – really adult taste – bitter, bitter chocolate, creamy texture’ were among the comments.

The other was the new B’Nice rice based chocolate ice-cream – comments included  ‘very creamy, good texture – well balanced – lovely flavour’.

The Highly Commended went to another chocolate type ice – but this time an old fashioned choc ice on a stick – the Swedish Glacé Smooth Vanilla – ‘a nice basic choc ice –yummy – very smooth – very tasty’.

And the winner of this category is yet another chocolate ice-cream. ‘Superb – smooth, creamy and rich – amazing – great taste and texture’ It is the soya-based Swedish Glacé Rich Chocolate.

The following three categories are slightly different, as the winners have been drawn from all the categories.

Category 7 - Wheat-free

The first is wheat free and we had two commended entries:
The Village Bakery 4 Organic fruit bars – based on oats and puffed rice – ‘lovely and chewy – not too sweet – great berries – tasty and moist’

The second commended is the Biona Amaranth and Quinoa rye bread – ‘tasty and moist – attractive – good flavour and texture’ .

The highly commended in this category goes to a biscuit – the very popular Nairns stem ginger oat biscuits – ‘very spicy – great – nice hot taste – lovely warm ginger flavour’ were among the comments.

But the winner is a more traditional product – with only three ingredients- rye, sourdough and salt. Tasters described it as ‘nutty and wholesome – pleasingly tasty and toothsome – really good classic rye pumpernickel’.
The winner is Biona’s wholemeal rye bread.

Category 8 - Egg free

Again we have taken egg-free products from all of the tastings, bearing in mind that it is a good deal harder to make a good egg-free cake than a good egg-free biscuit.
With that in mind we commended three products:
The Sainsbury freefrom chocolate chip cookies- which are also gluten and dairy free- ‘crisp and crunchy – plenty of chocolate chips- attractive looking and taste good’.
Also the Doves Farm lemon zest cookies – also wheat, gluten, dairy and soya free – ‘lovely and crisp- excellent mouth feel- really lemony’

And the Biona Organic Honey cake – also corn, dairy and soya free. ‘Lovely and spicy and close textured but I like it’ were among the comments.

In the egg-free category we have a repeat Highly Commended  -‘very spicy – great – nice hot taste – lovely warm ginger flavour’ – yes, it is the Nairn’s stem ginger oat biscuits.

However the egg-free winner is a cake- based on rye flour but free of corn, soya and dairy as well as egg. It was ‘spicy – balanced, strong flavours – good flavour although quite chewy- strong apple flavour’. It is the Mrs Crimble’s Dutch Apple Cake.

Category 9 - Nut free

Sadly, over the course of our tasting year, there were very few products which did not contain nuts in their ingredients and which were NOT manufactured in a nut free environment. We are delighted to say that this number is now rising as allergy awareness increases and more manufacturers are looking to set up dedicated nut-free, dairy-free, wheat/gluten-free etc manufacturing units.
But since there were so few this year we felt that it would be invidious to try to pick a winner so we have highly commended the only three entrants that we had and look forward to a larger entry next year.
So the three highly commendeds go to

D&D Chocolates for their carob bars and novelties
Its Nut Free for their cherry flapjacks
Kinnertons for their chocolate bars and eggs.

Now to the Innovation Award.

This was for the most interesting, useful, exciting and delicious new product which we have written about over the last year and was chosen by our panel of judges who, for both this award and when choosing the overall winner, considered not only how tasty, attractive etc the product was but how wide its appeal would be – how many free-from boxes did it tick, so how many different types of food allergy/intolerance would it cater for.
Bearing all that in mind there were some really strong contenders in the innovation section.
In the event we made three awards.

The commended went to a brand new product, only just launched onto the market – the Tofutti mozzarella style grated soya cheese.
Getting soya cheese to melt properly for pizzas, pastas or just cheese on toast is all but impossible to achieve so to have genuinely achieved a melting soya mozzarella is an achievement worth noting. Judges comments were:
‘Melts well – not rubbery, - not a memorable flavour but fine on pizza or pasta –would make great nachos – stays soft for an amazingly long time.’

The Highly commended award went to a totally different type of product – the G Free new range of gluten free savoury tarts and flans which will be in National Trust cafés this summer. These were really delicious- ‘excellent pastry and really tasty filling – you would never know they were gluten free – very home made – inventive fillings – pastry well baked and crisp – beautiful products.’
However, the flans only ticked one of our allergy boxes as, although they were really delicious, they did contain dairy products and eggs so would have a relatively limited use within the free from community.

The winner of the Innovation Category – after much discussion – was a product which ticked all the allergy boxes being wheat, gluten, corn, soya, dairy, egg, yeast and nut free, was innovative, beautifully manufactured, tasted good and was reasonably priced. Judges comments were – ‘a lovely light accompaniment to a dessert – pleasant, creamy, silky – good mouth feel, good consistency – mild but pleasant’.

The winner of the Innovation Award is the Oatly Oat Cream.

The Overall Winner
And now to the moment you have all been waiting for - who is going to walk off with Marble MO?..........
The overall winner did not tick all of our allergy boxes (it does include milk and yeast although not nut or egg) but all of the judges felt that it was an extremely successful example of a product that is notoriously difficult to manufacture. It was easy to make, no more expensive than many ‘craft’ equivalents, had a good nutritional profile, looked good, tasted great and kept well –

If you have not guessed it already – it is the Roley’s teff flour mix!

If you have any queries or would like to talk to us about the project - please contact:

Laura or Michelle on 020 7722 2866 laura@foodsmatter.com      michelle@foodsmatter.com