SOME love it and some hate it, but black pudding is here to stay and has just been named a 'superfood' of 2016. Our token southern reporter Ian Proctor has never tried this northern delicacy - so we sent him to sample it.
BLACK pudding is apparently an acquired taste and our office was divided between those who loved it, those who hated it and those - like me - who had never tried it.
Being a southerner and somewhat less aware of the Bury delicacy's roots, I gamely decided to sample the sausage-like savoury institution.
We chose Odessa Cafe and Salad Bar in Exchange Bar, Bolton, which sells more than 100 plates a week.
For £2.50 you get a black pudding from The Bury Black Pudding Company, four slices of toast and a pot of English mustard.
The iron-rich pudding is made of a more than century-old recipe containing among other ingredients pig's blood, pork fat, herbs and spices, onion, pepper, barley, rusk and oatmeal in a natural beef skin.
The version from Bury contains just 7 per cent fat.
It is simmered for 10 minutes at Odessa to cook through whereas I had only ever seen it fried in slices and slapped on the side of a full English breakfast.
Did I like it?
Disbelieving traditionalists will have to forgive me - but unfortunately not.
Maybe I'd been drawn into a false sense of optimism with the sausage shape but the texture is not the meaty one I was expecting.
The pudding has a drier and crumblier cake-like consistency with an extremely rich taste and quite a powerful spiced flavour.
I can appreciate how people enjoy it though with its unrivalled distinct and strong taste.
Complimented by the kick of the mustard and the crunchy toast, it could be a lunch delight.
Just not for me.
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