James Swift inspects some of Trealy Farm's award winning salamis
A Monmouthshire farm has been named best food producer in a national UK awards ceremony hosted by the BBC.
Trealy Farm Charcuterie of Mitchel Troy near Monmouth was a winner in Radio 4's Food and Farming Awards attended by the Prince of Wales in London on Wednesday.
The company has been producing British and continental style cured meats since 2004, taking inspiration and learning techniques from continental Europe.
Cardiff's Riverside and Roath Farmers' Market came third in its category.
Trealy Farm is a stallholder at the weekly markets, held on Saturdays in Roath and on Sundays opposite the Millennium Stadium.
Sheila Dillon, presenter of the Radio 4 Food Programme said the judges were impressed by the 'outstanding quality' of Trealy Farm's cured meats, saying that even conoisseurs from Spain and Italy have ranked them alongside Europe's best.
Receiving the award, Graham Waddington of Trealy Farm said they aimed to use as much of the animal as possible for food.
"There's such a great range of fine products out there that can be made from every part of the animal and we should bring that to the UK, especially considering we've got such wonderful rare breed pigs that are actually perfect for just these sort of continental style products," he said.
The firm was launched after Graham met James Swift at the Abergavenny Food Festival in September 2004, later joining forces with John Standerwick.
Trealy Farm has one of many stalls at Riverside Farmers' Market in Cardiff
They travelled to Germany, Italy, Sardinia, Spain and France to learn their craft in artisan charcuterie which the developed using locally-sourced meat back in south Wales.
The company mostly uses pork from Trealy Farm itself and other small-scale farmers in the Monmouthshire area, but also uses beef, lamb, goat, venison and wild boar.
Its continentally-influenced recipes include Toulouse and Italian fennel sausages, spicy chorizo from Spain, lamb merguez from north Africa and Turkish-style sucuk spicy beef sausage.
Raymond Blanc, the chef and restauranteur who chaired the judges of the Radio 4 awards, paid tribute to all the winners.
"We are going through a maelstrom of change in food and farming, not just in Britain but around the world," he said.
"What makes me feel more optimistic about the future is learning about the passion, hard work, skill and knowledge of the winners and finalists in these awards.
"It has been an inspiration to hear stories of producers reviving food traditions that we came so close to losing, and of farmers helping to secure the future of their own local breeds of animal.
"We are beginning to reconnect with our food again - these awards are proof of that".
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