While manuka honey was popular to use with bacon, Mr Tiefenbach was looking for a different product.
He bought a pottle of alpine blue borage honey at the farmers market in Wanaka and started ''playing around'' with it for about six months.
The end result was a triple smoked alpine blue borage honey cured bacon that won a bronze medal in the streaky bacon category in this year's awards announced at a gala dinner in Christchurch last week.
There were a record 223 entries in the nine categories, and streaky bacon was the largest category with more than 40 entries. Deep Creek Deli was the only Otago medallist in the awards.
Deep Creek Deli celebrates 10 years in business this year, having started in Wanaka before shifting to Dunedin five years ago.
It has stores in both South Dunedin and Northeast Valley, and also supplies a lot of cafes and restaurants in the city. Its products are also available at various retail outlets.
New Zealand Pork general manager Sonya Matthews said the awards had grown over the past decade into a nationally recognised event.
''We are extremely pleased with the record number of entrants this year, especially because it is the competition's 10th consecutive year.
''The number of entrants has progressively grown year-after-year, and we could not be happier with the quality of produce that is submitted,'' she said.
A special presentation was made to Ellesmere Butchery in Canterbury for producer of the decade.
