Local new and growing food and drink businesses The Smoke Shed, Carmarthen Ham and Tenby’s own Salt & Smoke will be featured at this year’s Royal Welsh Show.

Over the years, the Cywain stand in the Food Hall has been the launch pad for countless up-and-coming food and drink producers eager to take the step of selling directly to the public at larger events and showcase their products and skills to a broad audience.

Emboldened by the early support and guidance they received from Cywain, many producers have gone on to take on their own stands in the famous Food Hall, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors during the four-day show.

Four different producers will take to the number 55 stand per day (July 24-27), each bringing their unique style and flavours to an audience looking to try and buy something new.

With a network of development managers throughout Wales, the Cywain project – delivered by Menter a Busnes - works with food and drink producers across Wales, helping them grow and develop their businesses.

Support is offered in various areas, including marketing, brand development, sustainability, and finance. An essential part of that work includes supporting producers at events and test trading.

Alex James, Cywain Project Manager, said:“The Royal Welsh Show is an exciting time for our client producers and Cywain staff too, as you can see the training, advice and support all come together.

“We take great delight in helping producers to grow in experience and confidence, bring new products to the marketplace and add their talents to the Welsh food and drink industry as a whole.

“The Royal Welsh Food Hall is a hugely important showcase for Welsh food and drink producers, and the ultimate shopwindow – and, for the public, it is one of the ‘must visit’ attractions of the show.”

Family-run Pembrokeshire smokery - Salt & Smoke - was born from a shared ethos to create quality produce from sustainable ingredients. Every stage of the process is carefully undertaken, from sourcing the salmon to hand-slicing.

In the business’ traditional stone smoke shed near Tenby, ancient methods infuse the salmon with a subtle smoky flavour. Each side of salmon is hand-picked, then hand-pin-boned, hand-brined, hand-cured, hand-smoked, hand-sliced and hand-packaged.

Served by a growing number of local restaurants, Salt & Smoke’s salmon can be bought direct from the business and Welsh food hub – Blas ar Fwyd.

The recipe for Carmarthen Ham has been handed down through generations of the Rees family, who use traditional methods to air-dry and salt cure whole bone ham.

The tender melt-in-the-mouth ham is sold online and at the new Carmarthen Deli – an expansion of butcher Albert Rees Ltd in the town’s market, who also run a market stall every Friday morning at Pembroke Dock.

According to legend, when the Romans settled in Wales, they were inspired by Carmarthen Ham to create the world-famous Italian Parma Ham.

Today, Carmarthen Ham has international protection – under European law (Protected Geographical Indication status) and, more recently, with UK Geographical Origin status. This means only ham produced in a specified area around Carmarthen can be sold as Carmarthen Ham.

Great Taste Award-winning smoked salmon will be available from Pembrokeshire smokery, The Smoke Shed, which was born from a passion for sustainability and enjoying great food around the table.

The ancient craft of smoking was originally used as a preservative, but today it has become more of a way to enhance flavour. The Smoke Shed’s first product is cold smoked salmon – using slow-grown hand-reared and hand-fed sustainable salmon from the cold waters ofthe UK.

The salmon’s firm texture, perfect fat content, and great flavour make it an ideal companion for the smokery, which is in the village of Newport.

After years of testing through award-winning Pembrokeshire restaurant Llys Meddyg – where the salmon can also be bought - the smoked salmon is ready to go public and is available online, where it is smoked to order.