Cornish Pasty Trademark

The purpose of the PGI recently applied for by the Cornish Pasty Association is to serve as a Trade Mark for the “Cornish Pasty” as a brand.  The trade mark will have to be determined by the true characteristics of the product and the processes through which it goes to become an authentic finished Cornish Pasty from the definitive raw ingredients whence it started.

So what are the true characteristics of a Genuine Cornish Pasty? This extract from the CPA website details the pre-requisites of the product:-

A genuine Cornish pasty has a distinctive ‘D’ shape and is crimped on one side, never on top. The texture of the filling is chunky, made up of uncooked minced or roughly cut chunks of beef (not less than 12.5%), swede or turnip, potato and onion and a light peppery seasoning. The pastry casing is golden in colour, savoury, glazed with milk or egg and robust enough to retain its shape throughout the cooking and cooling process without splitting or cracking. The whole pasty is slow-baked and no flavourings or additives must be used. It must also be made in Cornwall.

A Proper Pasty, as it were, is exactly that all it takes to complete the process is a 45 minute bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 deg until the pastry case turns a beautiful golden colour…only then is it a Genuine Cornish Pasty!

Genuine Cornish

The Cornish Pasty Associations application for the PGI has been very widely supported by the general public and by professional bodies, a recent extract from the CPA website details the following stats relating to the widening support:-

An omnibus survey conducted on September 2007 with over 1,000 participants found that:

• The majority of participants agreed with the Cornish Pasty Association’s PGI application, with considerable support (79%) of the proposal to protect the term ‘Cornish Pasty’.

• It was agreed by over half of those interviewed (62%) that pasties described as Cornish but that are not actually Cornish are deceiving consumers about their origin.

• 64% of all participants stated that if they saw a food product on sale in the supermarket described as being Cornish, they would expect it to be made in Cornwall.

More information about the CPA, its members and the history of the Cornish Pasty is available at www.cornishpastyassociation.co.uk

Protecting the Cornish Pasty

Established in 2002 the Cornish Pasty Association is a body of more than 40 bakers who are passionate about their art.  So much so that they head up a representative collective solely for protecting the provenance and roots of the Cornish Pasty.

The origins of the Pasty are deep routed in the South West, however there are individuals and businesses established outside of the Cornish territories who brand their products as Cornish Pasties.  The arguement is clear…or is it?  In order to protect these origins the Cornish Pasty Association have lodged a PGI application (Protected Geographical Identity) which has recently been supported by DEFRA.

If successful this application will mean that only a product made to a traditional Cornish recipe and more importantly, which is made within Cornwalls territories can be legally named a Cornish Pasty.

The concerns of the CPA are that those products that do not follow the time honoured recipes and do not fall within the geographical locations, place the genuine, authentic Cornish Pasty at risk of becoming devalued through poor quality manufacturing processes and diluted recipes.

Not only a matter of principal, the reasons for wanting to protect a product which serves to employ over 1800 Cornish workers are the same as those adopted by Champagne, Parma Ham, Stilton Cheese, Arbroath Smokies, Cornish Clotted Cream, Smoked Salmon amongst many other who have succeeded in their PGI appplications.