FOUR local businesses which champion the use of Pembrokeshire produce have been officially recognised for the outstanding quality of their food and drink in the annual Pembrokeshire Produce Mark Awards.

Hand-picked scallops, locally-produced sea salt, home-made sauces and restaurants that make best use of local produce made up the winners that were presented with awards at a ceremony in the Food Hall at the Pembrokeshire Agricultural Show, Withybush, Haverfordwest, this morning (Aug 16).

The awards were announced by the Chairman of Pembrokeshire County Council, Councillor Paul Harries.

The Pembrokeshire Produce Mark scheme recognises county businesses which excel in providing or sourcing local food and drink.  Members display a unique logo which helps customers to identify that the product is local.

The scheme has more than 300 members, which are verified to ensure that the product they sell or use is made in Pembrokeshire.

There were two winners In the Best New Product category: the Pembrokeshire Sea Salt Company – with their homemade sea salt and salted caramel sauce – and Pembrokeshire Scallops.

The concept of producing salt first came to Sherrill Evans, when she was making sea salt body scrubs.

Given that she was living so close to the sea, she thought it might be worth giving salt production a go at home.

Armed with buckets, bottles and funnels, seawater collection and salt production experimentation began, returning some promising results.

The salt being produced was not only good enough to replace the shop-bought sea salt she was using for the scrubs, but the high quality taste and texture meant it was good enough to eat.

“We’ve come a long way since we were collecting seawater with buckets,” said business partner Josh Wright.

“In the year we’ve been operating, our range has been extended and now includes plain salt, five flavoured salts plus the salted caramel sauce, which has been a firm favourite with the public.”

Based just outside Newport, Pembrokeshire Sea Salt Company’s products, including salted caramel sauce, can be found in selected delicatessens, food festivals and local producers’ markets.

A desire to earn a living from the sea is what prompted local divers Neil Walters and Ceri Jones to start Pembrokeshire Scallops and the quality of their hand-dived scallops has quickly come to the attention of food lovers from all over the county.

A company with concerns for the environment at the forefront of their philosophy, they harvest the scallops by hand, leaving no damage to the sea-bed

Carefully choosing which scallops to collect and which to leave for re-breeding also allows the beds to re-populate.

“Pembrokeshire Scallops is dedicated to the scallop population,” said Neil who started the business two years ago with business partner Ceri.

They regularly have a stall at Haverfordwest Farmers Market.

“We formed because we love to dive and we love to dive in Pembrokeshire’s waters,” he added.

“Because we know the sea bed so well, we started diving specifically for scallops and other shellfish from the cold, clean waters off our coast.

“It means we’re able to choose the best scallops and shellfish for our customers.

“We focus on two things at Pembrokeshire Scallops: a desire to provide our customers with the best tasting shellfish and to ensure their homes on the sea-beds off our coast are well preserved and maintained for future generations to come.”

There were also two winners in the category for Best Use of Local Produce in a Hospitality Outlet and both came from St Davids.

They were St Davids Kitchen and the Blas Restaurant at the Twr y Felin Hotel.

Located in the heart of Britain’s smallest city, St Davids Kitchen truly is a local business.

From the five full time chefs to the pedigree Welsh black cattle they breed, everything served at the establishment comes from St Davids and the surrounding area.

“We pride ourselves on that,” said owner Neil Walsh, who along with his wife Ruth opened the restaurant less than a year ago after moving back to the area

“Our family can be traced back over 215 years to the city and we’re incredibly proud to live and work in St Davids and we base our restaurant on three key principles.

“We produce for our own restaurant, we trade fairly, openly and ethically with local producers and we provide well paid, full-time jobs with career progression.”

The produce they serve is so local they can even tell what field it came from be it the Welsh Black cattle they rear or the vegetables and pork they source from the nearby Farms for City Children.

They also have an agreement with the RSPB allowing them to source venison and ram lambs from Ramsey Island and they work with the National Trust on conservation grazing for their Welsh Black cattle on local heathlands.

Fish is procured from Solva and if what they want to use can’t be grown locally, they ensure it is bought from a local wholesaler.

“We support local farmers, producers and fishermen by buying the best from the best and delivering that to the plates of our customers,” added Neil.

As one of Pembrokeshire’s leading fine dining experiences, the Blas Restaurant at the Twr y Felin Hotel has come a long way since it opened 18 months ago. It has now cemented itself on the county’s gastronomic map with two Rosettes and a local food, drink and hospitality award.

Meaning ‘taste’ in Welsh, Blas attracts customers from all over the world who are drawn in by head chef Simon Coe’s culinary creations that are often described as ‘art on a plate.’

It offers a true taste of Wales and a menu that is influenced by the season and locality.

The use of local ingredients is central to that.

Local farms, butchers, wholesalers and fish mongers provide the bulk of their produce.

They’ll even go out and forage for it themselves.

Wild garlic leaves and blackberries picked from local lanes and bushes often find their way into Coe’s dishes.

“Our aim is to provide a warm, Welsh welcome for all of our customers and using local ingredients helps us achieve that,” says Paula Ellis, Group General Manager of Twr y Felin Hotel, Roch Castle and Penrhiw Hotel.

“Wherever possible we will use local produce. We source fish from Milford Haven and shellfish from Solva.

“The cows that produce the milk for Caerfai Cheese come from a field that’s seven minutes walk away and the vegetables and salad come from Pen Pant Farm at Nine Wells near Solva.

“We want our customers to have a taste of our language, our culture and heritage and they get that from the time they spend here and the food we create from local ingredients.”