Deliciouslyorkshire, brand identity for the regional food group, is bringing home a whopping 67 medals from the prestigious Great Taste Awards.

The tasty success - 19 gold medals, 31 silver medals and 22 bronze - was achieved from 4,100 food establishments which entered the awards at London's Olympia from as far afield as India, Brazil, the US and New Zealand.

It also places Yorkshire near the top of the UK league table.

The Great Taste Awards are run by the Guild of Fine Food Retailers, which are the largest in Europe.

Karen Carlyle, executive director of the Yorkshire and Humber Food Group said she was "overwhelmed" at the success of Yorkshire's speciality food businesses.

"These awards are the industry gold standard and winning such a massive amount of medals is really the seal of approval for Yorkshire's mushrooming food industry," she said.

Big successes included Bettys & Taylors, which has five caf tearooms in North Yorkshire - at St Helen's Square and Stonegate, York, as well as Harrogate, Ilkley and Northallerton.

It won gold for its legendary Yorkshire Teacake, silver for its Earl Grey tea bags, and bronze for its range of quality teas and coffees.

Just Puds, the Ripon-based dessert manufacturers, which started life as a farmhouse "kitchen table" business that now supplies the likes of Waitrose & Asda, swept the dessert categories with three gold medals for its Sticky Toffee Pudding, Saucy Chocolate Pudding and Butterscotch Sauce.

The Yorkshire Soup Company, also of Ripon, won two gold medals for its range of soups inspired by the Yorkshire countryside, its tomato with red pepper and Wensleydale winning favour for an original take on traditional ingredients.

Similarly, Harrogate-based caterer Lucinda Hyman won gold for her cream of mushroom and fennel soup.

A red onion marmalade from Elizabeth Smedley of Ripon also won gold.

Updated: 08:51 Wednesday, September 08, 2004