Lincolnshire's top food and drink producers

Lincolnshire has so much to offer in terms of delights for foodies, from our famed Lincolnshire sausage and plum bread to top distilleries and breweries.

We've put together a list of some of the top local producers of Lincolnshire food and drink below. If you don't see your favourite foods or businesses on this list and think they deserve a mention, let us know in the comments.

1. Lincolnshire Poacher cheese - Cheese lovers across the country and beyond will undoubtedly have heard of Lincolnshire's treasured Poacher cheese. Lincolnshire Poacher cheese has been made on a dairy farm owned by the Jones family for more than 100 years located in Ulceby Grange, Alford, and now Simon Jones is the fourth generation to take charge. The cheese is made using fresh milk from the family's own cows using traditional methods.

2. Welbourne's Bakery - Welbourne's Bakery is one of the oldest independent bake houses in Lincolnshire, and has been run by three generations of the Welbourne's family in Navenby. They are famous for their award-winning Lincolnshire plum bread, which was first made by Cornelius Welbourne over 112 years ago and the recipe remains untouched, other than the switch from lard to vegetable shortening.

3. Mountain's Boston Sausage - Any meat lover will no doubt be a fan of one of Lincolnshire's finest exports, the Lincolnshire sausage, which just happens to be the speciality of Boston Sausage. First established in 1852 by the Mountain family, the shop traded as a general butchers until 1985, when it was decided to concentrate on premium pork products and to specialise in Lincolnshire Sausages, and the family changed their trading name to Boston Sausage to reflect their new speciality. The business now operates from its shop on Boston High Street, and recently purchased Abbey Parks Farm Shop in East Heckington.

4. Batemans Brewery - Wainfleet All Saints-based Batemans Brewery has been passed down through four generations of the Bateman family, and now boasts dozens of cask, craft and bottled ales and beers, as well as wines, ciders and spirits, found in pubs and stockists across the country. Not only top brewers, Batemans also boasts pubs not only here in Lincolnshire, but also in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Humberside and Yorkshire.

5. PinGin by Bottomley Distillers - Did you know that one of the finest brands of gin comes from Louth? The Bottomley Distillery in Louth, co-founded by Alan Bottomley and Amy Conyard, produces world-renowned PinGin, which is distilled using an aromatic array of botanicals in many flavours and tastes.

6. Hawkens Gingerbread - Hawkens Gingerbread is an artisan producer of high-quality gingerbread products, including England’s oldest commercially traded biscuit, the Grantham Gingerbread which was created in 1740 by William Eggleston, as well as their own Hawkens Gingerbread. Located on London Road in Grantham town centre, the business was bought by Alastair Hawken in 2009 when he learned that the production of Grantham Gingerbread had fallen out of production, and now the beloved biscuits are as popular as ever.

7. Stokes Tea & Coffee - With 120 year's experience in sourcing, roasting, blending and supplying their own coffee, Stokes is an award-winning family business offering tea and coffee at their popular cafes in Lincoln, as well as supplying to our direct and to wholesale customers.

8. Jenny's Jams - Run by owner Jenny Smith in Exchange Road in Lincoln, Jenny's Jams was created back in 2005 when Jenny and her daughter went fruit picking, and ended up with far too many strawberries to make just a small batch of strawberry jam. Jenny's award-winning jams are made using local fresh ingredients where possible, and can be found at many events, shows and farmers markets throughout the year, as well as in shops, garden centres, hotels and markets all across the county.

9. Lincolnshire Honey - Lincolnshire Honey is made from apiaries in the heart of the county in Spalding and offers a huge variety of honey and beeswax products, harvested both in spring and summer honey. You can find Lincolnshire Honey stocked at businesses in Stamford, Spalding and Crowland.

10. Piper's crisps - These popular snacks can be found nationwide, and the business began in 2004 when farmers Alex Albone, Simon Herring and James Sweeting joined forces to produce great tasting, quality crisps. They started selling 16 boxes of crisps in four flavours to four pubs near to their base in Brigg, and the business grew through local pubs, cafés, deli’s, farm shops and independents around the country. Today, Piper's stocks 14,000 outlets throughout the UK.