So having celebrated the FreeFrom Food Award 2020 Winners for Chocolate & Confectionery, I turn now to the other categories which I judged in: Desserts & Puddings (which included a mix of hot puddings, cold cakes and ice creams) as well as the Meaty & Fishy category.
The FreeFrom Food Awards, were founded and are run by FreeFromFoodsMatter, the web’s most comprehensive resource for free-from food, celebrate the innovation and imagination shown by the food industry in creating foods that are free of wheat, gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts, soya, sulphites and other allergens. Over the last eleven years the awards have become one of the most important fixtures in the FreeFrom year. And over those years the bright yellow awards logo has become recognised as the mark of quality for FreeFrom foods, widely displayed on winning, commended and shortlisted products on sale everywhere from supermarket shelves to on-line specialist suppliers.
Desserts & Puddings – Sponsored by Action Against Allergy
The GOLD award winners for 2020 were:
Kirsty’s Luxury Apple Pie
‘Attractive and inviting. Great that it is GF, MF and vegan – and can be cooked from frozen. Good sized slices of apple and outstanding pastry. Smells fruity with a lovely cinnamon aroma – delicious.’
Not that I remember how “proper” Apple Pie tastes like, this was rich and moist and such a great treat which is GLUTEN FREE MILK FREE and VEGAN!
And:
Ruby and Grace Dairy Free Velvet Chocolate Tigernut Ice Cream
‘Rich indulgent ice cream, hard to believe it’s MF. Innovative use of tigernut milk. I love this. Beautiful texture, great flavour. Delicious! Intriguing. Like a ganache. Amazing.’
This was the “best” Ice Cream we tasted when we were judging and a personal favourite with a real depth of Chocolate.
And alongside these GOLD winners, SILVER was awarded to a further three excellent products:
Co-op Free From Strawberry & Vanilla Cones
‘Appearance has the ‘wow’ factor, and would appeal greatly to kids. Commendable it’s GF and MF, the cone is delicious and crispy and combines well with the vanilla & strawberry ice cream. Good amount of chocolate at bottom of cone.’
Marks & Spencer Made Without Dairy and Wheat Chocolate Pot
‘Very inviting and attractive presentation in individual pots. The taste is delicious, rich and chocolatey, some coconut. Good mousse texture.’
Matthew Walker Gluten Free Christmas Pudding
‘Really good flavour, very impressive list of ingredients. Visually arresting, this pudding is jam packed with fruit. Delicious and moreish, not oversweet with a wonderful blend of ginger and spices. Like the addition of cider and rum. Good value.’
And finally, BRONZE award winning treats:
Booja-Booja Caramel Pecan Praline Dairy Free Ice Cream
‘Delicious combo of sweet caramel and crunchy pecans in a vanilla ice cream. Creamy. Nice clean label, quite low fat, sweet but syrupy.’
Marks & Spencer Made Without Dairy and Wheat Lemon Mousse Pot
‘Nice zesty lemon flavour coming through. Nice biscuit base. Lovely texture. Visually this has the ‘wow’ factor and would appeal to kids. Looks like a cheesecake.’
It was a joy to enjoy such a wide selection of Desserts and Puddings:
Ice cream Entries
Dessert Pot Entries
Warm Pudding Entries
Festive Treats
Meaty & Fishy Ready Meals – Sponsored by Delamere Dairy
This was a new category for me in terms of judging, and I found it enlightening to try some dishes which I wouldn’t usually purchase. Indeed, I have now started to purchase more of them as this whole process allows me exposure to new ones. The GOLD Winner in this category was:
Co-op MSC Chunky Gluten Free Breaded Cod
‘Looks great, crispy and a good colour. Love the coating – not remotely soggy. Lovely meaty fish pieces – and MSC yeah!! High fish content but good value.’
And the SILVER Awards for this category included:
Co-op Irresistible Pork Sausages
‘Looks appetising. Great texture of meat. Very tasty. Moreish. Huge meaty sausage. Perfect light herby taste. FF most major allergens. Really nice meat, high %. Great size and coarse texture. Superb flavour, very well balanced. Tasted very succulent. Firm skin. Good colouring.’
Marks & Spencer Honey Roast Ham and Cheddar Sandwich
‘A nice solid sandwich. Creamy, meaty. Straight down the line. Honest product. Looks normal! Absolteuly love this product! Bread holds together great, great flavour from fillings, nice seeded bread.’
Tesco Free From Chicken Korma & Rice
‘Good balance of spices, very tasty. Looks good, rice is good, delicious, chicken and texture excellent. 14 free. Fabulous smell and clean classic curry taste. Looks really fresh with the spinach. I like the different types of rice in there.’
Tesco Free From Fresh 2 Garlic Chicken Kievs
‘Fabulous look and smell. Golden crust/crumb. The chicken isn’t fantastic but melts in the mouth. Love it. Tastes so good being milk-free and 14 free, good garlic and herb flavour. Good sized portions. Looks buttery. Moist and good texture. Excellent price, so tasty, love them.’
Tesco Free From Breaded Scampi
‘A fantastic replacement product that makes ff people feel included. Crisp outer crumb, nice golden colour. Clean ingredients. Great flavour. Very reminiscent of normal scampi, good safe alternative, good that also egg-free. So amazing to have scampi again, love it! Easy to cook – from the freezer.’
My personal favourite is the Breaded Scampi from Tesco which is a really indulgent fish dish, cooked easily from the freezer and such a great “pub-grub” dish which you can enjoy at home.
And the BRONZE Awards:
Aldi Gluten Free Tempura Chicken Mini Fillets
‘Aroma is good. Chicken is tasty and has a good texture. Coating is reasonably crispy on the outside. Particularly like the size of chicken portion. Smells divine, coating looks light and golden. Moist and subtle flavour.’
Tesco Free From Katsu Chicken Curry & Rice
‘Lovely crispy coating, good colour. Chicken tender. Excellent overall. Complicated cooking but a great product, 14 free. Such a different GF product. Good balanced flavour to the curry sauce. Cook separately, very tasty, decent price, nice ingredients.’
And ‘Meaty’ and ‘fishy’ ready-meals Sponsored for 2020 by Delamere Dairy
Fish Product Entries
Chicken Product Entries
Ready Meal Entries
Meat Product Entries
.
One of the hard-hitting posters (featuring Yours Truly) from Coeliac UK launched for Awareness Week in 2015, featured in the Netherlands in 2016 and returning for Awareness Week 2019.
And remember I love my revised Chocolate Box guide (based upon Chocolatier Producers, Chocolate Boxes on the High Street and Luxurious Chocolate Boxes, Chocolate Bars, Chocolate Bags, my Chocolate Easter Eggs from Chocolatiers and Chocolate manufacturers, High Street Stores and London Department Stores and more recently, my Valentine Chocolates.
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This information was correct as of April 2019 (when first published with some additional notes for May 2020).
But as I am learning, ingredients do change and therefore you should always read the label and check for yourself whether it is GLUTEN FREE or not!