Speciality Food Magazine -November/December 2025

Charcuterie is accompanied by plenty of cheese (Baron Bigod, Wookey Hole Caved Aged Cheddar and Rosary Ash goats’ cheese being the best-sellers), olives, pesto and more. Having a dry ager on site, “Means the guys in the butchery are able to break down beef and pork steaks which are then packaged to grab and go – they’ve become so popular. And people are loving our bakery. Gareth, who runs it, is making some amazing products. We sell out of his sourdough, and there are bloomers like fennel and apricot, or olive and fennel. He makes Scotch eggs and pork pies, all from scratch. He’s an important part of the deli – he was even in here with a paintbrush and building things before we opened!” Italian products feature heavily at the deli, which is generously stocked crates, chillers laden with Direct Meats’ fresh and cured items (from ham to gourmet hot dogs), and a full deli counter, displaying around 16 different types of Dingley Dell charcuterie. “It’s the biggest selection of our charcuterie you’ll find on any deli counter,” Terri-Anne beams. “We have our saucisson sec with black truffle, salami with fennel going through, larger salamis and salami sticks. They are our takes on traditional products. We’re always doing NPD, trying to make things that are a bit out there but with authentic methods.” The deli counter bursts with choice, each variety ‘faced off’ throughout the day, just like cheese, with slivers presented within the chiller so customers can see exactly what they’re buying. W hile experts agree that the quality of British charcuterie has improved exponentially (in many cases even rivalling, like cheese, what’s made on the Continent), a very real barrier to entry for lots of delis and farm shops is price. But that’s less of an issue if, like Blackwell & Co in the upmarket Suffolk village of Long Melford, you happen to produce your own. The deli, which opened at the end of 2024, is part of the Direct Meats family, which produces the celebrated Dingley Dell Cured range in partnership with Dingley Dell Farm on the Heritage Coast, using specially bred Red Duroc pigs. Direct Meats owner, Martin Blackwell, and director Terri-Anne Lamb, had been searching for their own retail space for quite some time, Terri-Anne says. “We just felt we needed somewhere else to champion our products outside of wholesale.” Artisanal curing, using traditional methods, is something Direct Meats prides itself on at its base in Earls Colne, Essex. “We produce our own hams, all our own charcuterie, bacon, sausages, burgers and more, as well as doing a lot of outsourcing for other companies,” Terri-Anne continues, adding that dry ageing is something else the business is known for. A vision for the future What Martin and Terri-Anne set out to achieve was so much more than a deli. “We really wanted to create a destination store,” she says. “We truly 14 @specialityfood feel our products are exceptional (I know we’re biased) but a lot of what we produce you can only find in high level restaurants. We wanted it to become available to so many more people, so when they have guests around and they ask, ‘where did you get that from, it’s delicious?’, they can tell them, ‘oh, it’s from Blackwell & Co’. Giving that message of farm to fork, and championing Dingley Dell, supporting their pork, is massive for us as well.” Having opened in a former butcher’s shop, which was sorely missed by the community, the reception when Blackwell & Co’s doors opened last November was “incredible”, Terri-Anne recalls. “Everyone has been amazing. We’ve really fitted into the village and we’re so grateful for the positivity.” Uniqueness at its best Inside, the deli is artfully presented, with baskets of fresh produce, displays crafted fromwooden Speciality Food visits some of the UK’s finest food and drink retailers to find out what sets them apart with sauces, pastas and more from Tenuta – joined on the shelves by Stokes Sauces, Maynard Farm juices, relishes and chutneys from The Garlic Farm and Hawkshead Relish and more. “Our main ethos, when we were deciding what to stock, was we wanted excellent products that would complement our cheeses and charcuterie,” Terri- Anne explains. “We wanted to keep it quite niche.” The ‘cherry on the cake’, of what the deli has to offer, she thinks, is the regularly changing display of heritage fruit and vegetables, which deliver a pop of vibrancy as customers enter. Their appearance, she adds, sets out their stall, demonstrating a commitment to quality. “That aspect is really important to us in being able to offer something a bit different. Things people can’t find everywhere. The ‘wow’ factor. We solely work with seasonal produce and that changes every week. So, we could have asparagus and wild garlic, or purple cauliflowers and heritage tomatoes. We just want to offer the best.” Box clever A way Blackwell & Co is attracting more customers, avoiding wastage at the deli counter, and differentiating itself, is by offering loaded sandwiches (made by Gareth using their own focaccia bread and charcuterie), as well as affordable charcuterie/grazing and picnic boxes. Laden with cheeses, meats, salad, homemade pickles and chutney, they help to turn over fresh stock, and have been drawing in daytrippers (the village is a tourist hot spot), who, in turn, inevitably top up their shopping baskets while in-store. Locally, customers from nearby towns and villages have been driving into Long Melford, specifically to pick up lunch from the deli, boosting trade. What makes a great deli? Although it’s been operating for just a year, Terri-Anne says the whole team have learnt a lot about delivering a meaningful customer experience. “It’s all about the passion and the products,” she says. “We’re proud to say we make 70% of our products ourselves, and we don’t just get things in for the sake of it. Everything we stock is here because it’s delicious, it’s good quality, and we believe in it and can share that with our customer base.” BLACKWELL & CO’S BEST-SELLERS ● “Sourdough is at the top. It does really well for us, followed by our charcuterie and cheeses.” ● “Our tomahawk steaks from the dry ager are extremely popular, and we make a beef Wellington on-site that people love.” ● “We really like the Tenuta range, especially the carbonara sauce and their pasta. I struggle with gluten, and their gluten-free pasta is unlike anything else.” BRITAIN’S BESTDELIS: BLACKWELL & CO, LONG MELFORD