Black Pudding

In an artic trailer on the hillside above Mellon Charles on Loch Ewe in Wester Ross, John Eric Ritchie turns out roughly one and a half tons of black pudding, white pudding and haggis every three weeks. That means he also gets through roughly 300 kilos of ox suet every three weeks and, in periods of increased demand for his products, he gets through half a ton. Ritchies Aultbea used to be run by father and son but now that his father has retired, John Eric works flat out to supply shops, butchers and restaurants all over the northern Highlands – from Skye to John O’Groats, down to Moray and all the way over to Aberdeen.