Biltong Farm in Grantham wins Guild of Fine Food star

It has been a busy few weeks for the team at Grantham’s only biltong shop.

The Biltong Farm, in Bridge End Road, has won a prestigious award, is doubling its capacity and has high hopes for an entry into the Guinness World Records with the hottest biltong – at 6.4 million Scovilles!

Run by enterprising couple Rebecca and Gavin Smith, the shop has gone from strength to strength, both in terms of direct trade and online sales.

The feather in their cap – coming just over a year since first opening in town – has come in the form of a star awarded by the Guild of Fine Foods for its Sriracha biltong – a form of dried cured meat.

Rebecca said: “We launched the Sriracha biltong about five months ago. The moment it came out the driers, Gavin and I said ‘it’s amazing’.”

The couple are members of the Guild of Fine Food, and when they received an email about its upcoming Great Taste Awards, they decided to give it a go.

In total this year, 12,366 food and drink products were judged by a panel of 500 experts, all categorised so that entrants were judged against their peers.

One to three stars are awarded to the very best – and The Biltong Farm was proud to win a star.

With several big names also featuring in the winners’ list – from Harrods to Selfridges – winning a star means doors may open for Rebecca and Gavin.

Rebecca said: “It opens you up to all these huge, huge companies.”

She added: “We know the biltong is good – we use top side beef rather than silver side for quality. That’s where the business started, because I wanted to bring a better quality of biltong to the UK market.”

So successful is the business that it is buying in two additional driers, doubling its current capacity of 100kg of biltong made from 200kg of beef at a time.

Rebecca and Gavin have also taken on a trainee, Lyle.

And if all that was not enough, they have created what they believe to be the world’s hottest biltong at 6.4 million on the Scoville scale – used to measure the pungency of chili peppers. It is so strong, they have to wear gas masks to make it!

Rebecca and Gavin await the verdict from Guinness World Records.