Food & Drink
ABOVE: The Fruit Pig Company’s Matt Cockin and Grant Harper with the BBC broadcaster and writer Tim Hayward (centre), who’s been voted Food Journalist of the Year three times and is a passionate advocate of using fresh blood in food
A local black pudding with a golden reputation It’s in the earliest-known recipe book but lovers of black pudding rarely enjoy the delicacy the way it’s supposed to be. But that’s all changing now, thanks to The Fruit Pig Company in Wisbech...
KLmagazine July 2017
And the secret is literally in the blood. “Something like 98% of black pudding on the market is made from imported dried blood powder rather than fresh blood,” says Matt Cockin, who founded The Fruit Pig Company around seven years ago. “There’s nothing wrong with that, and most people couldn’t tell them apart visually – the difference is all in the taste.” It’s a taste that’s starting to go far beyond Wisbech. The Fruit Pig Company’s fresh-blood black pudding is now served in Michelin-starred restaurants such as Tom Kerridge’s Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Tim Hart’s
PICTURES: FRUIT PIG COMPANY / SUPPLIED
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lack pudding has something of a mixed reputation, but it’s one that was given a massive boost recently through being hailed as a ‘superfood’ – due largely to its generous helping of zinc and iron, its almost total lack of carbohydrates and its healthy content of protein, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Generally considered a food originating from somewhere ‘up north’ it may come as a surprise to learn that one of the very best black puddings in the whole country is being produced by a two-man team in Wisbech.
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