MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Yorkshire pudding makers with 18th century recipe fight for EU legal protection

Yorkshire pudding makers have launched a bid to gain European legal protections currently enjoyed by other regional delicacies such as Scotch whisky and champagne. Under EU law, businesses in other countries can be prevented from making products which are named after specific regions of the European Union.

A consortium including three industrial manufacturers - Roberts, the Real Yorkshire Pudding Company, and Aunt Bessie's - is backing the bid. They have sent the proposals to the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs before they are considered by the European Commission.

The companies hope to gain money and legal support from Brussels, such as that gained by Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb last month.

If the plan becomes law, only puddings baked in Yorkshire or Humberside could be called “Yorkshire puddings”, denying the same name to frozen food manufacturers overseas.

The market for frozen Yorkshire puddings overseas has grown rapidly, and the Real Yorkshire Pudding Company now exports 80,000 puddings per year.

China has pushed aggressively into the Yorkshire pudding market in recent years, seeking business from British expatriates.

Jonathan Knight, CEO of the Regional Food Group which is launching the bid, said it would help mark out false imitations.

“Whatever Yorkshire pudding is going in front of people, they'll know that it has the correct ingredients rather than being an ersatz version of it.

”The intention is not to deny that pleasure but to give them something authentic.

“Can you imagine all the people in Lancashire not being able to call a it a Yorkshire pudding? They'd be quite upset.”

By providing an original recipe, which reportedly dates back to an 18th-century text by food writer Hannah Glasse, the group hopes to back up its claim in Brussels.