'I love Cornish pasties and my customers love the authentic taste, sold right here in the Black Country'

The Cornish pasty seems simple, full of beef, swede and potato - but this humble delicacy has Protected Geographical Indication status, meaning that only pasties actually made within Cornwall using a traditional recipe and method can legally be called a Cornish pasty.

Nevertheless pasties are sold all over the country, from motorway service stations to sports grounds and cafes, but one of the top places to go to get authentic and quality pasties is the Cornish Pasty Box in Stourbridge.

Located on Bradley Road, just outside the town centre ring road, the Cornish Pasty Box has become a well-loved place for a pasty, coming in a range of flavours and catering for all tastes and dietary requirements, all shipped directly from Cornwall.

It was recently rated Number 1 on the vegan pasties list from PETA for its vegan country vegetable pasty, a customer favourite packed with vegetables, seasoned with celery, mustard, salt, and black pepper and wrapped in crisp pastry, and has won the World Pasty Championship title for its traditional Cornish and other varieties on numerous occasions.

Owner Darren Bassett has been running the company since 2020; it originally started as a “joke”, being a Cornishman and, in his words, unable to get a decent pasty in the Black Country, but became a serious proposition when the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in Britain.

He said: ”I started the business because I’m originally from Cornwall and I’ve always worked in food, so when I decided to start my own business, it started as a joke that I’d do pasties, as I have lived in the Black Country since the 1990s.

“I looked at it and spoke to different bakeries in Cornwall and found the biggest issue was getting them up here in a cost-effective way, so the original plan was to sell them wholesale from here as frozen and unbaked to other businesses, then take our catering truck around a different town each month to sell hot.

“However, about three weeks after starting, we went into lockdown and so decided to do home deliveries of unbaked pasties, which took off massively in June and July, to the point where we had a massive backlog, but people were happy to wait.

“Once we got out of Covid, we started doing a come-and-collect service, then did collections of frozen and, once we’d built up enough trade, we started baking and selling them hot from here.”

The Cornish Pasty Box offers 20 varieties frozen to bake at home, as well as 12 varieties baked fresh each day and available to buy at the store, including a 1kg challenge pasty that must be eaten in five minutes to win a t-shirt and a place on the wall of fame.

Mr Bassett said: “When we first started, we only sold six varieties of pasty, whereas we now do 20 varieties of pasty and six types of sausage roll.

“We’ve done things like not just doing them frozen, but doing them hot, doing events and experimenting with different types of advertising, mostly because we’re not on a high street and people won’t physically stumble across us.

“We have also increased the range, so not just pasties, but all Cornish cream tea boxes, Cornish saffron cake and dabbling in a bit of merchandise.”

Mr Bassett said the feedback from customers was overwhelmingly positive, with many people saying it tasted as good as one from Penzance or Newquay, and said the key was using beef skirt, fresh turnip and the right amount of black pepper.

He also said that the most popular options outside the original pasty were the lamb and mint, as well as the vegan and vegetarian range, which includes the country vegetable and Bombay potato varieties.

He said it was nice to be able to call something he loved a business and a career, and joked that it was almost good enough to do for free.

”It means everything to me and the thing is that in business, you’re in it to make money and it’s very easy to take things to heart and not take criticism very well, but I put so much of myself into this and I love it.

“I started with an idea and did the branding and the concept myself.

“It’s a job, but it’s also a hobby and I have worked in food for decades and can say this is the first time I’ve ever said that this is a job I really enjoy.

“If I didn’t need the financial stability, I’d probably do it for free because I enjoy it so much.”