It's crunch time for scratchings in the Black Country

Now a Lancashire company is hoping to muscle in on the home of the humble pork scratching during a new launch of a regionally inspired take on the favourite snack.

However, the Black Country is fighting back saying the area's traditional snacks have never been more popular.

It comes after Openshaws, which is based in Wigan, a town more famous for its pies, unveiled its new treat. The firm's black pudding flavoured scratchings were showcased at the Farm Shop and Deli Show at Birmingham's NEC last week.

Company founder David Openshaw is rolling out new flavours targeting snack food connoisseurs.

And he says his company's own pork scratchings are more than a match for those made in these parts.

Other flavours which have been been produced include BBQ pulled pork and Cumberland sausage.

Broadening the appeal of scratchings has proved crucial to developing a new fan base across the country.

Out of the £2.6 billion total UK snack market it is believed that pork scratching sales are worth at least £28 million annually.

Celebrity chefs like Mark Hix have spoken of their love for scratchings – and made variations on them as crackling at his Soho restaurant in London.

While once they were the preserve of the man in the pub – now producers claim their popularity is soaring.

Many claim the recession has brought about a love of simpler foods which hark back to a earlier time.

But a broader range of flavours and products have also boosted sales.

While the traditional varieties are still popular, now softer and easier-to-chew products are widening their appeal across the country.

Managing director, Mr Openshaw, whose family has been in the snack food business for more than 40 years, said: "Retro tastes are now hugely popular again and innovations such as our twice-cooked pork crackling and light and airy pork crunch, which are gentler on the teeth, have very much stimulated the public interest and we believe are a class apart from the rest."

He added: "We are a family company and everyone has been involved in developing these unique flavours which we believe are more than a match for anything produced in the Midlands.

"We think they will all be extremely popular from the outset."

Openshaws, part of the Freshers Foods group, source the ingredients from the UK and Europe. And they claim the snack industry is back in love with the humble pork scratching with increased demand in both the pub and retail sectors, plus from farm shops, delis and gastro pubs.

Sales director Alan Barnes added: "In the past it might have been regarded as a little old fashioned, but from its humble beginnings the pork scratching has achieved legendary status as one of the country's favourite treats."

Black Country scratchings producers say it is a boom period for the snack buoyed by new flavours.

And despite their image as salty and fatty products, producers claim they are more than holding their own against today's more health-conscious market.

Pork scratchings are thought to have originated in the Black Country area in the 1800s and became a staple snack. Bloxwich-based Black Country Snacks started as a small home kitchen business by couple Phil and Lynda Rolls 30 years ago.

Their 'Q' branded scratchings, produced from their farm in Cannock, soon found favour in local pubs.

From their kitchen industry business, it expanded over time for the company to take premises in Walsall town centre.

In recent months the company has now moved to a new modern factory at Commercial Road in Bloxwich employing up to 20 staff.

Currently the company produces 250,000 packets of scratchings a week.

Its main business is linked with supplying many of the pubs run by Wolverhampton-based Marston's.

Black Country Snacks even topped the pub chain and brewery's 'Pork Idol' contest, taking the top three positions, thanks to customers' votes.

Director Alex Rolls, whose parents' founded the business, said: "Scratchings were always associated with a drink down the pub but now they are eaten by all sorts of people.

Posh

"Everything is fine in moderation and scratchings often have no higher fat content than a bag of crisps.

"The main scratchings are always the hard, or what I call proper scratchings, but there are now double cut which are more refined and crunch which is softer again."

Now the company sells and produces for outlets nationwide, including in Newcastle and for the south coast including Cornwall.

Fans from far-flung destinations like Australia have even requested the traditional snack, often fuelled by ex-pats and Black Country folk who have taken their love for scratchings to their new home.

The latest line has been produced with a Black Country flag and images sourced with help from the Black Country Living Museum.

The Bloxwich company has also launched the Alf Turner 'Dragon's Fury' brand – a premium chilli pork crackling brand – which helps to raise money for the military charity Help for Heroes.

Mr Rolls said: "Scratchings are now being sold in supermarkets across the country. They have gone proper posh."