Jo & Jonathan Carthew established Black Mountains Smokery in 1996 on returning to Wales after 10 years in Botswana. They desperately wanted to raise their young family away from city life and for their children to experience their same rural childhood—fording streams, picnicking in the valleys and riding ponies across the mountains.

Ironically their destiny was sealed in Scotland, following a chance encounter between Jonathan and a Ghillie, who ranted about mail order smoked salmon and told Jonathan of a smokery for sale there.

The doors of Black Mountains Smokery opened in February 1996 after several months of product development. Then the real process of building a business began. As a family run business, they have strived to maintain their original commitment, "Making really good food even better".

Black Mountains Smokery has developed a fresh, delicious and sustainable range of traditional smoked salmon, fish, meats, duck, poultry and cheese which can be delivered directly to you. We source fabulous fresh foods, sustainably produced from selected quality UK suppliers only. Every product is cured prior to smoking using dry salt or a special brine or marinade solution to reduce available water content thereby aiding preservation and enhancing flavour. Everything is so deliciously rich that you can use it very sparingly.

The smoking and curing of foods is a traditional craft. The quality of the smoked product depends upon care taken at each stage of the process from sourcing and selection of materials through preparation and smoking to delivery. The skill of the smoker is crucial. The fine texture and taste of the end product depends on the timings and temperatures, which in turn can depend even on the weather!

Modern custom-made kilns are used to either hot or cold smoke the various produce. Smouldering oak chips provide the smoke. Cold smoking involves a remote smoke source. The cold smoke is slowly drawn through the kiln over the food by the chimney with an internal fan evenly distributing the smoke for consistency of product. Hot smoking involves a proximate smoke source and high temperatures so that the foods are roasted in the hot oak smoke.