IT’S NOT every day you come across Cream Tea Ice Cream, but this year it will be just one of around 1000 deliciously delightful entries into the region’s 2010 Taste of the West competition, which begins today.

Water Buffalo Fillet Steak, Chilli Fudge, Pigs’ Ears and Jostaberry Jelly – a jostaberry is a cross between a blackcurrant and a gooseberry in case you are wondering! – are also among the many weird and wonderful submissions to this year’s contest.

The hugely prestigious event is being hosted for a second year by Exeter College in its state-of-the-art Lawrence Building, home during term-time to the Hospitality, Hair and Beauty faculty.

Annually, the event attracts literally hundreds of food and drink producers from across the South-West, and this year is no exception.

With approximately 240 competitors submitting their wares from as far afield as Gloucestershire and the Channel Islands, competition for the much-coveted awards is expected to be especially tough.

Under the watchful eye of a top secret panel of judges who are a mixture of industry experts, food technologists, and top-rated chefs, a vast range of goods will be tasted, tested, and marked on their merit over the course of this week until Friday.

And with 200 entries in the bakery categories alone, and 50 different types of sausage to be sizzled up by staff in the kitchens of Exeter College’s @34 student training restaurant, there will certainly be no time for mincing words.

Looking forward to what has now undoubtedly become one of the highlights of Taste of the West’s annual calendar, Chief Executive John Sheaves says: “It’s great to be back at Exeter College for a second year, where we are privileged to be able to use the excellent facilities for our premier awards programme.

“This is such an important event for regional producers and the South West economy as a whole, as it provides top quality benchmarking for over 1000 regionally-produced products.”

The very best will then go on to the next round – to be judged by BBC Radio 2 food critic Nigel Barden – to find the Taste of the West’s Champion Product for 2010.