The makers of an award-winning fruit snack aim to make it a national taste sensation.

Fruit Leather, a snack that contributes to the five-a-day campaign and devised by Butterfly Meadow, based at Wraik Hill, Whitstable, was named Best Innovative Product in the fifth annual Taste of Kent Awards held at Leeds Castle last night.

It was a new category - sponsored by the South East England Development Agency - for the prestigious awards that recognise outstanding and innovative Kent food and drink products, producers and retailers.

The winning product is made by drying fruit puree using warm air and without adding any sulphur dioxide, preservative or sweeteners, and made into strips.

Steve and Sue Dansey collected a glass trophy and a £1,000 cheque to spend on marketing their product. Mr Dansey said: "I’m absolutely elated. It really does mean a lot ot us. We’ve worked really hard to get this product where we are and to get some form of recognition is terrific."

The idea came to him when he saw a tomato dehydrator on an American television shopping channel and thought it could be ideal for fruit.

"Although we will have a Kent-based range, we also want to do regional ranges for the rest of the country. Our aim is to be a national company."

Other winners, voted for by the public, included The Chapel Press, based at Burmarsh and honoured for its rapeseed oil, rated best food and drink product.

Farming couple Andrew and Sarah Martin run the company. Mrs Martin said: "We’re hoping to push out of Kent, that’s our next aim. There are other people to compete with but we think our product is far superior and we’re ready to take them on."

This year’s public vote was 42 per cent up on last year. More than 450 businesses entered the awards. Amanda Cotterell, patron of Produced in Kent, the awards organisers, said: "It’s an important testament to the progess Produced in Kent is making in raising awareness throughout the county.

"We have some of the greatest product diversity of any county. Local producers continue to do well even in these very tough economic times.

Other trophies went to A J Barkaway, Faversham (Best Butcher/Meat Producer); Ramsgate Brewery, Gadds no3 (Best Beer); Chapel Down Winery, Tenterden – Chapel Down English Rose (Best Wine);Whitstable Fish Market (Best Seafood Retailer); The Little Stour Farm Shop, Wingham (Best Local Food Retailer); Cliftonville (Best Farmers’ Market); Pine Trees Farm, Doddington (Best Non-Alcoholic Drink Producer); Blue Bell Hill Apiaries, Lidsing, near Gillingham (Best Food Producer); The Mulberry Tree, Boughton Monchelsea (Best Restaurant); The Plough at Stalisfield, Stalisfield Green, near Faversham (Best Pub); Hard Core, Core Fruit Products, Mystole, near Canterbury (Best Cider or Perry).

Award sponsors: Barclays Bank; BBC Radio Kent; Belmont International; Bennett Opie; Biddenden Vineyards; Chapel Down Winery; Foodari Direct; Hadlow College; Kent County Council; Kent Frozen Foods; Kent Life; Maxim PR & Marketing; SEEDA; and W K Finn-Kelcey.