World Porridge Making Championships going virtual for second year in a row

Organisers of the World Porridge Making Championships have announced this year's competition will take place in a virtual format.

Winning speciality porridge videos and the ‘Virtual Spurtler’ will be revealed in a day-long video reveal on World Porridge Day, October 10th.

The competition, which is run by Carrbridge Community Council, had to be held online last year due to the pandemic.

2020's 'virtual spurtle' attracted entries from across the world and was won by Chris Young from Crieff in Perthshire for his Crunch sa Bheul, a Scottish take on the French desert croquembouche, with pastry puffs made with oatflour, sugar and butter, piped with cream and dipped in caramel.

Organisers say they aren’t looking for professional cookery videos and will accept good quality mobile phone footage.

The videos will be judged on five criteria including appearance, execution, originality, flair and virtual taste, reflecting which dishes the judges most wanted to try.

Carrbridge Community Council's Charlie Miller said: "While we are course disappointed not to be able to hold the competition in Carrbridge again this year, the success of last year’s competition showed what a great appetite there is for the competition, and we hope to build on this for 2021, attracting an even bigger worldwide pool of competitors, who might not otherwise have been able to travel to the Highlands to compete."

Alan Meikle, Managing Director of sponsors Hamlyns of Scotland said: "Oatmeal is such a versatile ingredient in both sweet and savoury dishes.

"The Virtual Spurtle gives porridge lovers the opportunity to get really creative with oatmeal and we look forward to seeing lots of interesting recipe videos from porridge lovers from all over the world."

Recipes and entry forms should be submitted by 30 June, and videos and a photograph of the finished dish should be submitted by 15 August.

For more information head to the World Porridge Making Championships website.