As Britain gets ready to celebrate the first ever British Bacon Education Week, one UK manufacturer is leading the way in premium quality bacon sales, with its traditional range of Dry Cured bacon, produced for Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range.
British Bacon Education Week aims to raise awareness of great British bacon and encourage customers to buy British! One retailer who is supporting the week is Sainsbury's whose Taste the Difference range stands apart from cheaper competitors, as it is made using the traditional dry curing process which is still as it was more than 100 years ago. The traditional dry curing process expels all water and so the bacon does not shrink in the pan or exude any white frothy pieces during cooking; and there is no water added to the product, so there's nothing to cook out.
Premium British bacon has certainly experienced a rise in popularity recently with the total bacon market worth an impressive £197.9m in the 12 week period ending 31 December 2006, up 6.4% year on year. Super premium bacon accounted for £16.67m of this figure, with Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Dry Cured bacon range alone having a 14.5% share of this market, worth a staggering £4.41m and enjoying an increase of 21.9% year on year.*
Chris Battle is a Director of Cranswick Gourmet Bacon and son in law of the late Yorkshire butcher, Jack Scaife, whose recipe is still used today to make this delicious bacon. Chris commented: "We are so proud of our British dry cured bacon and its 100 year old heritage, I have ensured that my family's traditional curing process is unchanged. We used to sell it in our shop and then over the internet by mail order, now it's available in Sainsbury's it gives everyone the chance to taste this great British product at its best"
Guy Hooper, Sausage and Bacon buyer at Sainsbury's commented: "Cranswick and Sainsbury's have a relationship which spans more than 20 years. We worked together to change the perception of British sausages over 10 years ago and we've seen a revolution in the variation and quality of products, now we want to do the same thing with bacon. Since we launched these products 18 months ago sales have more than tripled and we've recently added outdoor reared and organic bacon to our range with encouraging sales, we have very high hopes for the future.
"Cranswick was our first ever 'Partner in Livestock' and as such has been producing outdoor reared pigs and also specific breeds for Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range for many years. The success of the Taste the Difference Dry Cured bacon range is testament to Sainsbury's and Cranswick's commitment to develop and produce premium quality British pork products."
