Bramley campaign in Diamond coup

The Bramley Campaign is launching a major competition for professional chefs and consumers, to come up with a celebration dish that will be commercialised and on sale in one of the leading multiples.

The Diamond Dish competition is commemorating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee next year and is taking entries via its presence on Facebook up to 16 January 2012. After that a judging panel headed by British food and catering champion Prue Leith will come up with a list of seven regional winners that will become the shortlist for a national public vote.

Adrian Barlow, chief executive of the Bramley Apple Campaign said: “The winning dish will be sold in Sainsbury’s at the end of May during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. We have worked very closely with the Craft Guild of Chefs, BBC Good Food and Sainsbury’s….There will be a lot of publicity and we hope this will focus a lot of attention on Bramley and also give a fillip to catering sales.”

The competition will feature not just on the Bramley Campaign website, but also on BBC Good Food and the Craft Guild of Chefs websites and judges from Sainsbury’s, English Apples & Pears and the guild will sit alongside Leith on the panel.

Each of the seven regional winners will receive a special Bramley Diamond Dish and as well as seeing their dish commericalised and sold at Sainsbury’s the overall winner will win a £500 cash prize.

Barlow said: “Bramley was first grown from a pip over 200 years ago in Nottinghamshire and it is still streets ahead of any other culinary variety. Just like the Queen’s Diamond Jubliee, it represents longevity and quality.”