Seventeen Shropshire businesses have been announced as finalists in this year’s HEART of ENGLAND fine foods (HEFF) Diamond Awards.

This is the fifth annual Diamond Awards from HEFF, the food group for the heart of England, based in Shrewsbury.  

The group celebrates the best of local food and drink from across Shropshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Birmingham and the Black Country.

The finalists were revealed during Food and Drink Expo this week, featuring Farm and Deli, the largest food and drink trade show in the UK this year.  

There are 73 finalists in total across all award categories, including 51 products, all hopeful of winning a sought after Diamond Award.

There are 15 awards up for grabs including nine product categories, the three business Special Diamond Awards of GROW, INNOVATE and EXCEL, the Retail Award, the Hospitality Award and the highly coveted Special Diamond Award for TASTE which is awarded to the overall winner from the product categories.

The product categories this year are: Alcoholic Drinks; Bakery and Confectionery; Condiments and Preserves; Dairy; Desserts; Fresh Meat, Poultry and Game; Prepared Foods; Prepared Meats; Soft Drinks.

The Shropshire finalists are:

Bonbonniere Handmade Chocolate (Shrewsbury)

House Food Partners (Shrewsbury)

The Little Round Cake Company (Shrewsbury)

The Flavoured Butter Co (Shrewsbury)

Smoke & Pickle (Shrewsbury)

Oriental Food Express (Shrewsbury)

Coopers Gourmet Sausage Rolls (Shrewsbury)

Alpha Ontrac (Shrewsbury)

Building Trust in Safety (Shrewsbury)

Crumblicious (Oswestry)

Shropshire Cheese Company (Oswestry)

Graphics and Print (Telford)

Mukaase Foods (Telford)

Hungersheath Farm Shop and Tea Room (Market Drayton)

Hobsons Brewery (Cleobury Mortimer)

Shropshire Country Oils (Church Stretton)

Van Doesburgs Gourmet Food Shop (Church Stretton)

The list of finalists is also a good result for the Shropshire Food Enterprise Centre. House Food Partners, Smoke and Pickle, Oriental Food Express and Coopers Gourmet Sausage Rolls are all tenants at the state of the art centre.

Over 60 judges, including retail, hospitality and food service buyers, chefs, other industry specialists and consumers, attended the two day judging at Shropshire Food Enterprise Centre in February to taste test the products.

The winners will be revealed at the Diamond Awards Gala Dinner which will take place on Saturday, 12 May 2012 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole and will include a mouth-watering six course locally sourced dinner. Tickets to this glittering annual event are now on sale at just £65.00.

For more information or to book tickets contact the HEFF office on 01743 452818.