Christmas morning 2017 at 06.00am, I run down the stairs in excitement to see what Santa Claus had brought me.

My little face lit up like Rudolph's nose when I laid my eyes on the numerous presents of different sizes wrapped in yellow wrapping, black ribbon and Batman stickers.

 It’s probably at this point I should mention that I am 33 years old but hey, who doesn’t love presents and Batman and a wife who entertains my idiocies.

Anyway, I digress, one of the gifts I opened that morning was a Ross & Ross home bacon curing kit and roast turkey rub, here is where the love affair began.

Ross & Ross are a multi award winning, fine food company based in the Cotswolds who love bold British flavours and fresh local produce.

I always try when I can to go home made as opposed to store bought, this way I can control what goes into the food. Having a health conscious wife also drives me to dabble with Sauces, rubs and tweaking recipes which are normally chocked full of secret sugars and other additives.

So when I saw the homemade bacon cure kit I was excited, I was soon Smithfield bound to purchase 6kg of pork belly.

The kit comes with a selection of different dry cures and everything you need to complete the process of bacon glory. The step by step instructions are easy to follow and laminated so any spillage can be easily cleaned up. they even provide you with the cloth hook and plastic zip lock bags.  Idiot proof.

The whole thing takes around 5 days, but the hands on time you put into it is minimal.  The most time is spent on the pain staking wait for the cure process until you can get it in the pan for those amazing bacon sarnies.

I've used both pork belly and pork collar meats and I can say both make delicious bacon!!

There are plenty of Ross & Ross products to try, the BBQ salts are a revaluation. Their rubs are a must for any Sunday roast or BBQ with fresh bold flavours, that you wouldn’t normally associated with their partnered meat like sumac in their turkey rub really make them stand out from the crowd!

 So I implore you... go treat yourself to a few bits, you won’t regret it. I have their habanero and pineapple jam in my sights for my next purchase.

You can find them here Ross & Ross' website