Kokova Magazine

An exceptional product, Three Little Pigs sausages have been turning heads - from Tom Parker-Bowles to Jay Raynor, Nigel Barden to James MacKenzie, chef-founder of Michelin Pub of the Year - since romping home with three Great Taste Gold Awards 2012.

And now they have done it again.

Just announced, two new recipes have won: -

Yorkshire Hot fennel salami - 2 Stars
"We love fennel and so this one was an easy one to invent. We've tested it out on the food festivals and it always goes down a storm" say Three Little Pigs.

Say the Great Taste Judges: "Nice appearance, with a good balance of fat and meat - and a lovely aroma of fennel and meat. The chilli isn't overpowering, although there is a kick at the end. It has a good texture - not too fatty or chewy and the seasoning has been very well judged. It's a lovely combination of flavours... the level of pork is very good, the fat melts in the mouth; great balance and texture... excellent - sweet and meaty with just the right seasoning and spice, fennel is lovely"

Triple Sec Salami - 1 Star
"This is a mild salami with a lovely hint of orange and invented especially for the Great Taste Awards this year" say Three Little Pigs.

Say the Great Taste Judges: "A nice size sausage that cut very well. Meat is very tasty and seasoned very well. There's a good fat to meat ratio. The pepper element is enjoyable and adds another dimension".

Three Little Pigs, rare breed salamis and chorizos are the creation of Berkshire pig farming, Beverley based husband and wife team, Jon and Charlotte Clarkson; using their own, meticulously tweaked recipes, air-dried in similarly tinkered with and perfected facilities on their farm, hung and hand turned for twice the length of their Spanish counterparts, for a more intense flavour, and minced finer for a more refined texture and an overall superior sausage.

Add to that truly outstanding commitment to the highest animal welfare: from all natural diets, water pumped from natural springs deep beneath the Yorkshire Wolds farm, minimal intervention, aided by this ancient, more robust breed, and a truly free range lifestyle in small family groups, bedding down on straw every night after a day snuffling in the mud with the sun on their backs.

Of their wins, Charlotte Clarkson, one half of the Three Little Pigs team, said "It really is such an achievement for us winning multiple golds two years running in the Great Taste Awards. It's an absolute endorsement of the quality of our products and it has come just at the right time for us as we can now distribute our product nationwide, through Hider Foods."

Jon Clarkson is a fourth generation arable farmer who, in the last seven years, has turned part of his Beverly farm into a rare breed pig farm, and turning them into a unique range of products: air dried English chorizos and salamis, all to recipes and techniques that he has perfected over the years and now reaping prestigious foodie awards.

When he and his wife Charlotte married in 2005 and moved onto the family farm they were given Mavis, a rare breed Berkshire pig, as a wedding present from a neighbour, and were immediately bitten by the pig farming bug.

They bought three pigs from the same neighbour (hence the name Three Little Pigs) and last year won Great Taste Gold Awards for every product they entered.

All products are made by hand, to Jon's own carefully metered and perfected recipes, air dried in facilities that they have, again, perfected the conditions of over the years; and are hand checked and turned daily to create the optimum sausage during the process; which involves reducing the weight by 40% in the doing over a period of 3 to 4 weeks, thus intensifying the depth and richness of flavour.

The trial and error that has gone into creating their sausages and the learning curve involved in understanding the science behind the process has been monumental and, according to Jon and Charlotte, fascinating. they are still tinkering with the process and with new recipes for the range.

Throughout, their main commitment is to the highest possible welfare for their pigs: outdoor, free range, raised in small family groups, with minimal intervention, which is helped by the more robust health of this old breed. Fed with natural feed (no GMs) and watered from natural springs pumped from under the farm. In short, very happy, long living pigs.

They have just joined forces with speciality food distributors Hider, so are increasingly nationally accessible in delis and restaurants, but they also sell through their website at www.threelittlepigsonline.co.uk