AN OKEHAMPTON chocolate company has been given a two star gold award for its truffles in the prestigious 2009 Great Taste Awards.

Browne's Chocolates Ltd picked up the award for their Moor Fair Trade orange milk chocolate truffles.

The company produces a wide range of hand-made chocolates, from truffles and fudge to chocolate drops and bars, drinking chocolate and diabetic chocolate.

The gold awards, which cover a huge variety of categories of food, are divided into one, two and three stars.

Proprietor Wendy White said they were all thrilled. 'We have been so busy with new product development this year that we thought we would put one of our old-timers in.

'It is one of our oldest recipes, so we are thrilled that something that has been around for a long time is still one of the best truffles in the country.

'It's really good that we won as it says that what we are doing is right. It's fab!' Wendy said.

Judges included Anthony Worrall-Thompson and food critic Charles Campion and each gold winner was blind-tasted by a minimum of eight experts. There were 4,873 entries, with only 83 being awarded three starts and 308 two stars.