BURY'S newly-crowned 'superfood' was put to the test this week as the Shakers embraced black pudding as part of their pre-match training.

Ahead of this weekend's clash with Walsall at Gigg Lane, Bury FC invited Liam Rutherford, head chef at The Clarence, to prepare a special black pudding breakfast to help give them the edge on the pitch.

After the humble pudding was listed alongside seaweed and avocado oil in the list of 2016's top healthy foods, the chef created a black pudding with beetroot and pistachio porridge served with a slow cooked egg yolk, designed to make the most of the dish's protein-rich goodness.

Liam visited the club's Carrington training ground on Tuesday to give the Shakers a taste of his creation and, despite getting a mixed reaction from players and staff, he is confident that it's the ideal meal for footballers.

He said: "It's good for footballers. Black pudding is high in protein and low in carbs so it should give them a good bit of energy to go out and play.

"It got a bit of a mixed reaction from the players, and I don't know if that was because of the black pudding or the rest of the dish. Some of the guys had never even had black pudding before and weren't sure what to expect from it.

"It's great that black pudding is being talked about so much at the minute and its always very popular in our restaurant. Last year we sold over 12,000 portions of our specialist dish, which is black pudding and leak croquettes with a Silver Street porter sauce."

Read more on Bury's newest superfood with our feature on pages 10-11.