A VARIETY of sausage with a name inspired by an explosion in a small Cambridgeshire village has won a prestigious national award.

A VARIETY of sausage whose named was inspired by an explosion in a small Cambridgeshire village has won a prestigious national award.

The Upware Banger, named after a boat in the village’s marina caught fire and exploded in 2009, defied the odds to take the runners-up spot in Country Life magazine’s nationwide awards ceremony held in London recently.

Spinney Abbey farmer Jonathan Fuller, only turned his hand to pig farming three years ago but his sausages proved so popular locally that he was put forward for the national awards.

“I was absolutely chuffed to win an award,” said Mr Fuller. “The final taste-off was judged by the three Michelin starred chef Michael Boulud and I was up against five other people who produce on a large scale for supermarkets while I am just a farmer who raises the piglets from birth and sells them locally. I certainly didn’t feel the same kind of pressure that the other guys did.”

The Upware Banger is laced with Demerara sugar and boasts a spicy edge which was praised by the panel of judges for its originality. The sausage meat comes from the farm’s Gloucester Old Spot variety of pig and Mr Fuller insists on naming every animal before it goes to slaughter so that people are more aware of where their food comes from.

Mr Fuller said he came up with the name for the sausage in a discussion about the Upware boat explosion with friends, not long after it had taken place in August last year. For more information visit www.spinneyabbey.co.uk.