Loosen your waistbands! The Great Taste Awards has dished out its stars to the UK’s best food and drink producers and Devon has done us proud, scooping 70+ stars, with artisan chocolate and charcuterie leading the local awards.

Run by The Guild of Fine Foods, a panel of judges (all wearing their roomiest pants) scoff and quaff their way through many thousands of entries. Each one is blind-tasted by chefs, cooks, buyers, retailers, restaurateurs, food critics and writers who are looking for a party of flavours, texture and aroma – not fancy packaging. They then award the coveted one, two or three stars.

So what do the stars mean? Three stars = exquisite. Extraordinarily tasty foods that you won’t want to leave the shop without buying. Two stars = outstanding. Above and beyond delicious. One star = simply delicious. A food that delivers fantastic flavour.

Ready to get stuck in? Let’s go!

THREE STAR

Barbers Bean to Bar – Single origin Peruvian Wholebean Cocoa Tea

The Newton Abbot bean to bar chocolate company make artisan chocolate bars, cocoa husk teas and luxury hot chocolates. Their natural chocolate is made from single origin organic beans in micro beaches of 4kg and they say that each bar is handmade with love.

The Organic Cure – Organic Coppa

The Axminster business is a multi award winning organic, small batch, charcuterie producer who place the emphasis on animal welfare and sustainable practices.

TWO STAR

The 16 two-stars stunners included Figgy’s Christmas Pudding; Frenchbeer Farm Organic Turkey; Bell and Loxton LLP Cold Pressed rapeseed Oil; Denhay Farms Ltd Spoiltpig Dry Cured Smoked Back Bacon; Dr Peppa’s Condiments; Little & Cull Tom’s Steak & Ale Pie and Whitbread Steak Shin and Adnams Pale Ale Pie; Sharpham Partnership Ltd Sharpham Rushmore; The Devon Coffee Company’s Gumdrop – Organic Espresso; Roly’s Fudge Coffee & Cream Fudge and Sea Salt Fudge; the Fresh Flour Company’s sourdough chocolate digestive biscuits and wheat ramen noodles; the Organic Cure Organic Lomo; Salcombe Brewery’s Seahorse and Sipshed’s Negroni.

ONE STAR

More than 40 one-star awards included Sandford Orchards The General; Heyl Bakery Heyl Loaf; Luscombe Drinks Sicilian Lemonade, Sicilian Citrus Crush and Devon Tonic Water; Chunk of Devon Steak Pasty; Dark Bar Drinks Pad Mai Tai; Dartmouth Distillery Co Calancombe Estate Sparkling Cider; Bar Buoy Negroni; Devon Distillery Dappa; Stone’s Honey; Owens Coffee House Blend and Bantham; Yarde Farm Biscoff Ice Cream; Powderkeg Brewery Green Light and Flapjackery Peanut Butter Brownie Flapjack.

Check out all the Great Taste Awards winners here.