A locally-owned butchery is celebrating its wins at the NZ Bacon and Ham Awards.
Woody’s, in Levin, won a gold award for its dry cured back bacon and a bronze award for their sliced champagne ham.
Owner Daniel Todd said he and the team were incredibly proud and honouredto have won the awards. He said the wins validated the team’s hard work and dedication to producing high-quality, free-range products.
Both winning products are popular, said Todd, with the bacon being celebrated for its “rich flavour and perfect balance of smokiness” and the ham being known for its “delicate taste and tender texture”.
Woody's sliced champagne ham that won a bronze award.
“Both products highlight our commitment to using only the best New Zealand free-range pork, ingredients and techniques.”
He said customers often told him how they could taste the difference of the free-range pork and have always been supportive and enthusiastic.
While the free-range pork they used gave them an advantage in the competition, there were other techniques they used that contributed to their success, Todd said.
“Our traditional curing and smoking methods, a blend of real wood chips for smoking, are key to achieving the distinctive flavours of our products.”
Woody's dry cured back bacon that won a gold award.
To celebrate their success at the awards the team had a celebration in Waitarere last week where they got to indulge in some of the products they create.
“The bonus of making great products is that we get to eat them ourselves.”
The celebration doesn’t end there though – Woody’s is offering special promotions on their website, www.woodysfarm.co.nz, and for their retail customers to share their success with the community.
Todd said the awards are a significant milestone for Woody’s, and they inspire them to continue striving for excellence and encourage them to innovate.
“We are currently only listed in a few New World and Pak’nSave stores across the country and we hope these awards will encourage them to list us in many more stores.”
As for what’s next for Woody’s, Todd said they are always exploring new ideas and products.
“We aim to expand our range while staying true to our values of quality and sustainability. We recently started producing free-range smoked chicken using the same recipe and woodchips that we use for our gold award-winning back bacon.”
