ILKLEY-based butchers and charcutiers, Lishman’s, has been named among the top food and drink producers globally this year, picking up a highly prized two-star Great Taste award for its Coppa.

More than 14,000 products were put through the competition’s rigorous blind judging process; and Lishman’s Coppa – hand-crafted in-house using outdoor reared Yorkshire pork - was dubbed “carefully and cleverly made” at the world’s most coveted food and drink awards.

Described as “as good as it looks” with “a deep buttery, earthy flavour”, this “well balanced, well cured and melt-in-the-mouth” Coppa was a big hit with the Great Taste judges.

Cured from the neck (rib eye) of an outdoor reared pig and air dried for at least six weeks, the Coppa was one of 5,556 products to receive a Great Taste award in 2022 (which is only 39.1% of the total products entered).

In total, 4,078 products were awarded a Great Taste 1-star – ‘food and drink that delivers fantastic flavour’, 1,237 were awarded a Great Taste 2-star – ‘above and beyond delicious’, and 241 were awarded a Great Taste 3-star – ‘extraordinarily tasty food and drink’.

Recognised as a stamp of excellence and actively sought out by food lovers and retailers alike, Great Taste, organised by the Guild of Fine Food, values taste above all else. All products in the line-up for judging are blind-tasted: every product is removed from its packaging so it cannot be identified, before entering a robust, layered judging process.

This year, the judging took place over 90 days across two judging locations (Dorset and London) with a panel of more than 500 judges. This year’s line-up saw food and drink products submitted from a staggering 110 different countries from across the world.

Emma Lishman comments: “We are beyond chuffed to have won a Great Taste award for our Coppa. Renowned for being marbled and delicate, this sweet, silky, air-dried pork is a really clean-tasting product. We’ve been honing and refining our curing techniques for well over a decade now and really feel like the world of charcuterie is such an exciting place to be!

“We pride ourselves on using traditional techniques and recipes, with only the very best outdoor-reared, high welfare Yorkshire pork from our favourite pig farmer, Colin Piercy. We’re super proud to work with such outstanding farmers and to be adding yet another iconic black and gold Great Taste logo to one of our charcuterie products. You really can appreciate the quality of the animal husbandry when you enjoy our products.”

“Being recognised with a Great Taste 2-star means so much to independent producers such as ourselves, as it makes all the hard work and determination worth it! Great Taste is the most recognised accolade for taste and quality in the food and drink world, so it really is a big win. Hearing that the judges appreciated the ‘clean pure porkiness and particularly appreciated the simplicity’ is a really big deal and proves that our Coppa delivers what we set out to achieve flavour-wise when we started working on it in our many tweaks and trials!” David Lishman concludes.

Coppa works well on a Charcuterie board and can be enjoyed with bread and cheese. Lishman’s also recommend garnishing risottos, salads and omelettes with slices of pan-fried or grilled Coppa.

As well as in the Leeds Road shop, the Coppa is also available from various independent retailers, including Fodder, Wensleydale Creameries, Blackerhall Farm Shop, Pride & Provenance, George & Joseph Cheesemongers & Chatsworth Farm Shop. RRP: £5.35/ 55g pack)