Pom Puffs takes gold at Ecotrophelia

08-Jun-2018 - Last updated on 28-Sep-2021 at 12:34 GMT

RICH Pickings and their innovative BBQ snack product Pom Puffs took home the gold prize in this year’s UK leg of Ecotrophelia.

In this exclusive video interview, filmed at the Campden BRI open day in Chipping Campden on 6 June, RICH Pickings team captain and food science student at the University of Nottingham Lisa Williamson described the hard work her and the team put into creating their entry.

“It’s absolutely incredible,” said Lisa. “We’ve all put so much work in to this and I love that the team has been rewarded for that.”

“We’ve [the team] all been doing this alongside our university degrees in our final years, so we’ve been doing our dissertations as well as working really hard on this.”

Impressed the judges

RICH Pickings spicy BBQ extruded snack, which incorporated apple pomace – a byproduct of cider and juice production – and maize impressed the judges in the Dragons Den style competition. It beat other finalists, enabling each member of the team to take home a share of the £2,000 prize money.

The team will also go on to compete in the Ecotrophelia European finals, to be held at SIAL Paris from 21 to 22 October.

“It’s so lovely to have feedback from dragons who all know what they are doing in the industry and to have questions that we can address when we go to the European finals,” added Williamson.

“To have amazing feedback saying they love our product and they love our packaging gave us pride in all the work that we have done.”