A top butcher has created the ultimate Welsh sausage – the Bara Brith banger.
According to Ieuan Edwards, the idea of using the traditional Welsh tea bread to make sausages came to him in a flash of inspiration.
Developing the tasty twist on the Welsh culinary classic was also the perfect way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his multi-award winning business.
It all began when the farmer’s son from Llanrwst opened his butcher’s shop and delicatessen, Edwards of Conwy, in 1983 at the tender age of 20.
Since then it’s gone from strength to strength and the wholesale side of the business, Edwards – The Welsh Butcher, has a state of the art production facility on the Morfa Conwy Business Park in Conwy which supplies leading supermarkets and a network of independent shops.
The Bara Brith sausage has just gone on sale but it will only be available in the shop on High Street in the town centre
It’s been a labour of love for proud Welshman Ieuan who said: “We’re always trying to think of new products and I had a eureka moment.
“Bara Brith is iconically Welsh and I came up with the idea of getting the flavour of Bara Brith into a sausage.
“After scratching my head for a while, the idea began to develop and we have conducted countless trials and tastings to perfect the recipe.
“We’re still refining it but we have reached the level now where we feel we have something that’s special enough for us to put our name to and we can hopefully get more feedback from our customers so that we can make it even better.
“It’s different because you wouldn’t usually put fruit and mixed spice into a sausage but when you mix it all together in the right proportions it just works and creates a bit of culinary magic.
“This is the ultimate Welsh sausage – the tea is a Welsh brand, and the pork is mostly from Anglesey, as well as our own Bara Brith which we traditionally make and sell in the shop.
“We took some down to the Winter Fair in Builth Wells where we conducted some taste tests on the Hybu Cig Cymru stand and I’m glad to say the response was very positive.
“We’re hoping the Bara Brith variety will be popular with our customers and that it becomes one of our iconic signature products in the shop where we’ll be selling it as the Conwy Sausage.”
“Launching the Bara Brith sausage is the ideal way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the business because we’re very proud of our Welsh heritage and of staying true to our core values and skills as a high quality butcher.
“We have grown year on year since I opened the shop and it’s a very different business now.
“We now employ around 90 colleagues and quite a few have been with me since the beginning.
“We had an anniversary celebration over the summer and there were five there who’ve been with me for more than 30 years. I have great respect for them and I am grateful for their loyalty.
“We are still as keen as ever to keep on improving what we do to make the very best products we can. We’re frequently delighted but never satisfied.
“The Bara Brith sausage is a bit of fun – but who knows where it will lead?”
