A LUXURY pudding business near Darlington has picked up three Great Taste Awards (GTA) for several of its products in the 'Oscars' of the food world.

Burtree Puddings' Sticky Toffee Pudding and Sticky Toffee Sauce, and Golden Syrup Pudding and Sticky Syrup Sauce, were each awarded two stars, while their Rich Chocolate Pudding and Belgium Chocolate Sauce took away a one star award.

The latest accolades bring the total number of Great Taste Awards husband and wife Robert and Lea Darling have won to 31.

Mrs Darling said they were extremely pleased to gain recognition from the Guild of Fine Food, organisers of the awards.

"It means that we are not prepared to sit on our laurels and accept the awards we have already won for our puddings but are constantly reaffirming that we produce fantastic, truly scrumptious puddings," she said.

"We're proud of the fact that every one of our puddings has won a Great Taste Award as it reiterates our dedication to making exceptional products."

Free range eggs, milk, butter and cream from neighbouring farms are used in all their puddings, which are baked in small batches by hand.

The annual Great Taste Awards are acknowledged as the benchmark for quality artisan and speciality food.

This year, 10,000 products were entered with only 35 per cent receiving an award. The products were blind taste tested by more than 400 judges including food critics, chefs, journalists, farmers, food writers and restauranteurs.

The Sticky Toffee Pudding, one of the business' most popular puddings, has previously been crowned the awards Supreme Champion.

Burtree Puddings can be found in farm shops, delis and food stores across England, Scotland and Wales.