Maldon Cure Wins Another Three Stars at Great Taste Awards

Take cover, the champagne corks are flying again at Lambton & Jackson after our Maldon Cure Smoked Salmon won three stars at the Great Taste Awards. It’s the second time our Maldon Cure Smoked Salmon has landed the ultimate accolade, achieving the same standard back in 2019. So the feeling is extra special, especially when you consider more than 15,000 products were entered and yet just 1.8% of them achieved three stars.

What the judges said

For those who do not know the Great Taste Awards, everything is judged blind. No brand names, no packaging, no story. Just the product in front of independent panels of judges drawn from chefs, food buyers, writers and industry experts. They taste, they discuss, they score.

This year four separate judging panels assessed our Maldon Cure Smoked Salmon at different stages of the competition. We will let their words speak for themselves.

One panel noted: “An impressive whole side of salmon, beautifully even in terms of the smoke and the grain of the fish. The aroma is invitingly smoky, but that does not dominate over the salmon notes. The bite is clean, not overly oily, and has an attractive density on the palate. The curing has been very well done, with the elegant salting only barely apparent. Elegant and buttery.”

A second panel described it as: “A generous and visually stunning smoked salmon that has been obviously well prepared. The judges loved the aroma and flavour of this product with its well judged smoke and seasoning. It also has a wonderful moist and silky texture. Delicious.”

A third panel went further still: “We almost couldn’t find enough superlatives for this salmon. What a fabulous product. We were not sure we had ever seen smoked salmon so lean, without a single line of fat. It had an inviting sheen to it and the delicate smoking came through immediately, both on the nose and palate. The flesh sliced through like butter and was so soft that one judge commented that you could eat it without teeth. The cure had been handled with obvious skill and we just wanted to keep sampling more.”

And a fourth panel concluded: “Beautiful colour and glistening natural gloss. On the nose there is a subtle smoke and gentle fish aroma. Beautiful quality fish with a real glisten to the flesh. Easy to cut and not at all dry. A light touch of Maldon salt adds to the gentle, mellow flavour. We could return to this all day and would love to eat it again.”

Four panels. Four verdicts. All reaching for the same conclusion.

That’s not luck. That’s craft.

About the Maldon Cure Smoked Salmon

Our Maldon Cure Smoked Salmon is our signature product and the one that started our smokehouse story back in 2014. We dry cure every side by hand, then smoke it slowly over the finest oak in our purpose-built facility on the edge of Maldon. It takes time. It always has. That’s the point.

2026 has been some year

Earlier this year the Maldon Cure Smoked Salmon won Gold at the Farm Shop and Deli Product Awards, judged at Fortnum and Mason. To follow that with three stars at Great Taste in the same year is beyond what we could have hoped for when January started.

Master smoker Sean and the team deserve enormous credit. Every side of salmon that leaves this smokehouse has been looked after by people who genuinely care about what they are producing. Awards like this are for them as much as anyone.

It explains why our Maldon Cure Smoked Salmon has found its way into some remarkable kitchens over the years. Besides the long list of famous five star hotels, Alain Roux of The Waterside Inn is a fan while The Wine Society chose it for their Christmas hamper range in 2025.

One more thing

So given all that, the time is right to launch a subscription service this autumn, which means you’ll be able to have our Maldon Cure Smoked Salmon delivered to your door regularly, on your schedule, at a saving. We’ll share full details very soon. If you want to be among the first to hear about it, drop us an email at orders@lambtonandjackson.com and we’ll make sure you know before anyone else.

As always, our Maldon Cure Smoked Salmon is available to buy online. If you’ve never tried it, now is probably a good moment.

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