RED Valley Farm in Carmarthen is celebrating being shortlisted in Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales’s ‘Put Your Best Sausage Forward 2021’ competition, with their Wild Boar and Apple Sausages having been selected as amongst the very best bangers in Wales.
Rearing their very own wild boar, Red Valley Farm is owned and run by friends and business partners Andy and Graeme and producing quality pork products has been their passion ever since they took over the farm from Andy’s parents a few years ago.
Andy said: “My parents kept a range of animals, but as they grew older they weren’t able to manage the farm anymore so it was down to me. We actually got into specialising in pig keeping by accident, as we were gifted one boar to help clear the ground following some tree planting. Everything on this farm today has literally grown from there, from our two breeding boars Minnie and Mouse and one other pig.”
Wales is home to many small scale, artisan pork producers specialising in creating a unique, hand-reared product. Their products are often only available to buy directly from the producer or in equally small scale local independent shops, like butchers, making it a more sustainable food product and generating fewer food miles.
On being shortlisted in the competition, Graeme said: “We are genuinely really delighted to have our sausages shortlisted as amongst the best sausages in Wales this year. We came second in the Put Your Best Sausage Forward competition in 2019, so this year I’m hoping we make it to the top spot!
“We make a number of different flavoured sausages but overall our biggest selling, which happens to be an absolutely outrageous seller, is our boar and apple burgers and sausages. They have a really unique flavour – they’re certainly different to your everyday banger – and we find that people love to try something different while knowing they are also getting a top quality, traceable product.
“We feed our boars and pigs on the best produce available, including brewers’ grain from two local brewers, and this year we are becoming self-sufficient for the first time by producing our own hay for our pigs – they eat better than us sometimes!
“At the end of the day, this is our business, the pigs are our future, and that is what is securing us to Red Valley Farm and making sure that this place is still here for our kids, and hopefully even their kids.”
Also shortlisted in the Put Your Best Sausage Forward 2021 competition is Cwm Farm Charcuterie in the Swansea Valley, with their Cheese and Chilli Traffic Light Sausages, and Daniel Morris Butchers in Mold and Denbigh, with their Denbigh Plum Chutney and Ginger Beer Sausages.
The winner of the Put Your Best Sausage Forward 2021 competition will be announced on the brand new Porc Blasus website and social media channels in the next month, following judging by rugby player and sausage enthusiast Scott Quinnell and Hybu Cig Cymru representative Elwen Roberts.
The winner will automatically qualify for the UK and Ireland Champion of Champions Sausage competition, which will take place at the virtual Butcher Shop of the Year 2021 Awards in February 2022.
Philippa Gill, Brand Marketing Executive at Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales, said: “Picking a shortlist of just three sausages is always a difficult but hugely enjoyable task, and this year was no exception thanks to our fantastic Porc Blasus family of producers. We had lots of great entries to choose from, from producers from right across Wales – so a massive thank you to everyone who took part.
“We’ll be profiling the shortlisted entrants, and announcing the winner, in special films shared via our new Porc Blasus website and social media channels in the coming weeks so follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to find out more.”
You can buy burgers, sausages and other products directly from Andy and Graeme at Red Valley Farm via their on site shop, on the A40 between Carmarthen and St Clears near the showground, on Fridays and Saturdays 10am until 1pm. They are also in the process of setting up a website with online ordering and courier delivery.
For more information on pork produced in Wales, and where you can buy it, please visit www.porcblasus.cymru.
