John Sp. Stornaway Black Pudding is made from: Pig's blood, oats, spices, beef suet & vegetable fat. Not a traditional "pudding" as we know of, but a blood sausage.
Stornoway black pudding has been called "the best sausage made in the UK", and one of the finest blood puddings the world has to offer.
The application Protected Geographical Indicator of Origin (PGI) status characterizes the puddings as follows: They are moist and firm in texture, with discernible, yet small, fat particulates. The Scottish oatmeal used in Stornoway Black Puddings is responsible for its good, rough texture. Stornoway Black Puddings may be cooked in, or out of the skin, they maintain their shape well throughout the cooking process. Once cooked, they appear almost black and break apart very easily when cut, yet do not significantly crumble. The meaty flavour is moist, rich, full, savoury, well seasoned—but not spicy—with a non-greasy, pleasant mouth and clean after taste feel.
Black pudding can be eaten cold, as it is cooked in production, but is often grilled, fried, baked or boiled in its skin. It was occasionally flavoured with pennyroyal, differing from continental European versions in its relatively limited range of ingredients and reliance on oatmeal and barley instead of onions or chitterlings to absorb and be mixed with the blood.
In the United Kingdom, black pudding is considered a delicacy in the Black Country and the West Midlands, Stornoway and the North West, especially in Lancashire (in towns such as Bury), where it is traditionally boiled and served with malt vinegar out of paper wrapping. The Stornoway black pudding, made on the Western Isles of Scotland, has been granted Protected Geographical Indicator of Origin status.
Black puddings are also served sliced and fried or grilled as part of a traditional full breakfast in much of the UK and Ireland, a tradition that followed British and Irish emigrants around the world. Black pudding is now part of the local cuisine of the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
