A NORTH Petherton butcher is celebrating after picking up a series of awards for his pork.

Malcolm Pyne, who runs his shop with his wife, Julie, has been honoured for his tasty bangers by the National Federation of Meat Traders.

He was also honoured in the South-West Pork Product Excellence competition run by industry promotion group BPEX.

Malcolm told the Mercury: “We’re committed to getting the details absolutely right, and that’s showing in the quality of what we sell.

“It’s reassuring to know that despite expanding and developing the business over the past couple of years we haven’t lost the touch.”

Malcolm has refused to reveal the recipe for his winning ploughman’s pork bangers, but the ingredients include caramelised onion and Cheddar cheese.

Among the winning products in the BPEX awards were Malcolm’s pork and apple burgers, and his pork and Somerset apple casserole.

He said: “The idea for the casserole came about only a month ago when we had some lovely apples in.

“The kitchen played around with them and the casserole was produced as a result – just tasting it for the first time I knew we were on to a winner.

“In a way we have it easy because of the quality of the ingredients available locally for us to work with.”