OLD GRANARY PIEROGI
With its ‘pierogi not pasty’ slogan, the Koziol-wisniewski family running this Hereford bakery are on a mission to educate in Polish food. Pierogi means dumpling, and the term covers a range most commonly stuffed, then steamed or boiled like a ravioli. When baked, they do look like a pasty, but the pastry is a more robust bread dough – think pasty-meets-sandwich. ‘Our baked pierogi are hand-rolled and stuffed with a wide variety of meaty and vegetarian fillings like squash and roast duck, and we use as many locally sourced, foraged ingredients as possible.’
It’s not just a one-stop pierogi shop – it also makes and serves up crispy kopytka (Polish gnocchi) and bowls of hunter’s stew. And all this came about accidentally. ‘The Polish Saturday School was invited to join the local Christmas fair and we were asked if we knew any Polish food traders. My brother said, “‘Of course,” pointing at ourselves. We gave it a go, sold out and got fantastic feedback. Since then, it’s been a crazy journey, but this nomination is definitely the best thing that’s happened to our business. It means that we have amazing customers who now know the difference between pierogis and pasties!’ oldgranarypierogi.co.uk @pierogihereford