GOLD AWARD IS PROOF OF THE PUDDING (September 2009)

A homemade sponge pudding made in a tiny farmhouse kitchen on the outskirts of Alnwick in Northumberland has won a top national award in this year’s Great Taste Awards organised by the Guild of Fine Food.

Farmer’s wife Susan Green, who runs The Proof of the Pudding at Heckley High House, has picked up a two-star gold certificate for her sticky ginger pudding, to follow the gold she won previously for her steamed golden syrup sponge.

Susan, who is the mother of four sons, started making puddings commercially eight years ago, and now sells them throughout the north of England and the Scottish Borders, and by mail order to many parts of the UK. Her customers include village grocers, farm shops, delis, restaurants, Fenwick of Newcastle, the National Trust shops at Wallington and Gibside, the Heighley Gate and Dobbies garden centres, and her best customer, R. Carter and Son, butchers, Bamburgh.

She describes her latest award-winning pudding as “ a sponge with a definite ginger kick. It’s made with plump dried apricots and chunks of crystallized ginger, coated in delicious sticky ginger sauce.”

Altogether, Proof of the Pudding makes eight different products, the most popular of which is its sticky toffee pudding, “but every one of them has its supporters,” says Susan, who gets letters of praise from all over the country. Even the credit crunch has not halted the success of the business, although like most North East food producers she has noticed takings are down at some consumer events this year. “ I suppose it’s inevitable,” she said. However, Susan will soon be gearing up for the Christmas market when there is always a big demand for her Alnwick Rum Christmas Pudding. She is helped out in the farmhouse kitchen by Lynne Dobson and Elaine Chaplin, both from Alnwick.

Meanwhile Susan’s husband Richard and their eldest son, Lance, 28, are busy on the 700-acre farm, concentrating on crops and Aberdeen Angus beef, which is supplied to Waitrose. The grain at Heckley High House is processed exclusively for seed which is packed and delivered throughout the North East.

Susan’s achievement in the Great Taste Awards was praised by Sandy Duncan, lead programme manager of the North East England Food and Drink Group. She said: “The Proof of the Pudding’s success is testament to the consistent quality of its produce and sets an admirable example for other North East food producers to follow.”