Black Garlic Chilli Jam wins 3 Stars in Great Taste 2023!
Today, Black Garlic Chilli Jam was awarded THREE STARS in Great Taste 2023!
Great Taste is an annual competition run by The Guild of Fine Food, featuring entries from 110 different countries across the world, taking place over 90 days in Dorset and London. Over 500 food & drink professionals judge the products, including critics, chefs, recipe creators, buyers, retailers, journalists, broadcasters, and experts in the field. The judging follows a rigorous blind-tasting process which requires several judges to taste each product.
Black Garlic Chilli Jam was awarded three stars - the highest award in the competition given only to products judged to be "extraordinarily tasty"!
Here's some feedback from the Great Taste judges...
This is a sweet and caramelly jam with a satisfying heat – warm not harsh. There is lots going on here, but it's totally harmonious, sticky and very moreish. We couldn't stop tasting this; either it's the addictive nature of the chilli or this is plainly just too good.
This is incredibly well executed, and delivers such a length of flavour it took us far too long to judge. Excellent.
The balance of the flavours is brilliant; we could actually identify all the main components – and that is very cleverly executed. The chilli is nicely hot, but not burning; the peppers and cider and balsamic vinegar all add rounded rich fruity flavours; and the garlics, particularly the black garlic, add umami complexity. It's seriously clever and seriously good. One judge (a chilli fan) thinks it may be the best chilli jam they have had.
Along with all the other three star award winners, Black Garlic Chilli Jam will be considered for the Guild of Fine Food's regional Golden Fork awards - the results are announced at an award ceremony on 11 September 2023.
This win is a another really great achievement for Easton Chilli in 2023, coming only a few weeks after winning two Gold awards in the 2023 Taste of the West awards (one of which also for Black Garlic)!
If you were in any doubt of the deliciousness of this chilli jam - now's the time to admit that you might have to give it a try! :)
Black Garlic Chilli Jam is available from our online shop, on the DELLI app, and in all of our lovely stockists.
Extraordinarily Tasty
Black Garlic Chilli Jam
Award-winning chilli jam made with aged black garlic for a delicious balsamic umami bomb. Heat: 2/5
£5.50
Frequently asked
How spicy are your products?
Tolerance to chilli heat is very individual! Easton Chilli products are rated out of 5 on heat, trying to make a scale that works for regular people (i.e. people who don't have hot sauce on everything! :) )
- 0/5 - No heat here. Possibly suitable for your newborn baby.
- 1/5 - Just a hint. If you like your spice, you probably think this is nothing.
- 2/5 - A bit of zing. Everyone should be able to enjoy this level of heat, whether you're a regular folk or a chilli fiend. Most of our products are aimed at this level.
- 3/5 - It's heating up. Probably getting a little spicy for the regular folk now, definitely too spicy for a newborn baby.
- 4/5 - Now we're talking! You might talk your pal into trying this once, but they might need a glass of milk, and they might not speak to you for a while.
- 5/5 - Everything that's way too spicy for a regular person.
Here are some rough equivalences in heat.
- Heinz Tomato Ketchup = Easton Chilli 0/5
- Nando's Medium Peri Peri = Easton Chilli 2/5
- That chilli sauce at your local kebab shop = probably Easton Chilli 3/5
- Chilli Daddy's 4 = Easton Chilli 5/5
How does delivery work?
We offer a selection of delivery services depending on your location and order. Choose from them at the checkout.
- Local delivery (Easton and nearby): FREE
- Royal Mail 2nd Class (UK, NI, GG, JE, IM): £4
- Orders weighing more than 2kg (5+ jars): £7.50
- Orders valued £30 or more: FREE!
All orders should be with you within 3-5 working days from when you order (it might be a little longer than this sometimes, we'll be in touch if so).
Large orders (10+ jars) please get in touch so we can make special arrangements.
International orders are available depending on what the customs regulations are of your country. Please get in touch before you place your order to confirm whether we can ship to your country.
Where are your products made?
I started making everything in my home kitchen in Easton! This was great until Christmas 2023 when everyone wanted a jar of chilli jam, In January 2024 I started renting a professional kitchen over in Brislington to make all the products. At some point I hope to return production to Easton!
My t-shirts are printed by the lovely Live Ink Co, based in Bedminster in Bristol.
Sustainability etc?
Of course. Sustainability is important to Easton Chilli and it's considered in all parts of the business.
Packaging
We try to reuse waste materials in our packaging, so if someone has delivered bubble wrap to us, or we have a perfectly sized Amazon box lying around, we might use them for your order. Better to reuse it than throw it away to landfill!
All new packaging that we source is plastic-free and recyclable, and we prefer to buy cardboard or recycled materials where possible. Sometimes we use corn-starch mailer bags.
Any waste cardboard that we can't use gets shredded and put into our compost heap, along with our waste vegetable scraps from jam cooking. The worms love this arrangement.
Product
We try to source all our ingredients "loose" and prefer local and low-plastic companies.
We use preserving techniques like lacto-fermentation to extend the shelf life of some of our ingredients, for example we can buy in a few kg of bird's eye chillies and keep using them for months under the right conditions.
The old packaging of our jars is designed to be removed - it's just a bit of string and card. The idea is that you're more likely to reuse a jar if you don't have to spend ages washing off the sticker that's on it. Our new packaging is paper based and biodegradable - no plastic.
We currently use plastic tamper seals on our 150ml hot sauce bottles, and plastic lids; we are working towards using a compostable tamper seals but the lids will probably be plastic as long as we use this type of bottle.
Unfortunately due to UK Food Safety regulations, we are not allowed to re-use any glass destined to be a "packaged product" i.e. a jar of jam or a bottle of sauce that is sold to a consumer. We have to use new jars and lids for each product. If this weren't the case we'd love to have a closed-loop return and reuse system in place, and we'd be up for working with other producers to standardise on our packaging to make it more viable.
Delivery
We've partnered with Zedify to deliver some of our packages in Bristol. Their fleet of electric cargo bikes means their deliveries within BS1-16 are low-carbon-emitting.
Delivery to the rest of the UK is done using Royal Mail and other couriers like APC and DPD, many of which are working to reduce their carbon emissions.