Heston Blumenthal helps pick new crisp flavour ... and no, it's not snail porridge

One of Britain's most adventurous chefs has taken a break from fine dining and helped to select a new flavour of crisps.

Heston Blumenthal, who runs the Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, helped to whittle down public entries in a competition to find a new flavour for crisps giant Walkers.

After a public taste test and the casting of more than one million votes, the Builder's Breakfast flavour, created by trainee midwife Emma Rushin, will be appearing in shops across the country.

Builder's Breakfast flavour took more than 22 per cent of the votes, beating rivals such as chilli and chocolate and fish and chips. It will combine the tastes of bacon, buttered toast, eggs and tomato sauce.

Heston Blumenthal is no stranger to odd flavour combinations. His restaurant, recently ranked second best in the world, has served customers snail porridge as well as bacon and egg ice-cream.

He said: "Our taste buds are changing and developing as new flavours and foods become readily available. Everyone has their favourite flavours but lately people are becoming keen to experiment and try new foods."

Ms Rushin, a 27-year-old mother of two, won £50,000 and will earn royalties equivalent to one per cent of sales of the new crisps - potentially more than £57,000 a year.

She said: "I'm thrilled to have won. I'm so proud to have my flavour crisps continue to be on sale and it will be fun to see people snacking on them on their way home from work."