Great Taste Awards have been handed out to some of the region’s most-celebrated producers – marking ice cream, honey, hot sauce and cheese made in the North East among the best in the world.
More than 14,000 food and drink products were assessed by 500 industry experts as part of this year’s awards.
All of the nominated products were ranked on various qualities including flavour, texture and ingredients. The experts then decided if the item made it onto Great Taste’s roster, and how many stars it was awarded. The highest honour – three stars – only goes to “extraordinarily tasty” products, with around 1.5% of the products tasted achieving this ranking each year.
The region’s three-star products for 2023 include: Di Meo’s Pure Blackcurrant Gelato and Single Origin Sao Thome Chocolate Gelato; Travelling Bee Company’s Sweet Chestnut Honey; Opalsunshine’s Blackman eddy’s Black Garlic Hot Pepper Sauce; Doddington Dairy’s Admiral Collingwood cheese; and Water Rat vodka from the recently relocated Hibbotts Artisan Spirits.
For a full list of the region’s star products, visit greattasteawards.co.uk/results