ONCE A YEAR in Brussels, the world’s best food and drink experts – Michelin-starred chefs and those who cook for presidents and royal families – sit alone at small, separate tables in complete silence at a judging session convened by the International Taste Institute. Wearing their chef whites, these gastronomic gurus ponder the entity before them. The food can be viewed only in natural light on standard white chinaware. Judges don’t know who produced each entry, and gut instinct is not allowed – they must rigorously apply the International Hedonic Sensory Analysis criteria: first impression, vision, olfaction, taste and texture.

In May this year, a blueberry variety bred in Australia was awarded an overall score of 91.8 per cent and bestowed with a three-star Superior Taste Award – a class reserved only for the most exceptional competitors. The cultivar, known as Eureka, was produced by Ridley Bell of Mountain Blue Orchards near Lismore in northern New South Wales. Bell is known as the grandfather of Australia’s blueberry industry and has bred the fruit for forty-seven years. He first saw the Eureka in 2008. Upon seeing (and tasting) the giant orbs dangling from a test bush on his farm, Bell ran to his wife saying, ‘look at this amazing plant’. She said ‘Eureka! You’ve found it!’ And so the fruit was named.