Oser Communications Group

GOURMET NEWS JULY 2016 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES 8 sofi Awards Continued from PAGE 1 before the Summer Fancy Food Show and winners were named at the same time as finalists. This process was designed to make the judging more fair and transpar- ent, according to the Specialty Food Asso- ciation, which owns the sofi Awards program. The products were judged by criteria that awarded 70 percent of the product's score for taste, which included flavor, appearance, texture and aroma and 30 percent for ingredient quality, which included a consideration of whether any of the product's ingredients were artificial and whether they were combined in a cre- ative or unexpected way. One winner was chosen in each of the 28 judging cate- gories, and the top 4 percent of the entries in each category were named finalists. No awards were presented this year in classic, foodservice or product line categories, which were part of last year's contest. Finalists for the Best New Product award included Dalmatia Sour Cherry Spread from Atalanta Corporation, Jansal Valley Boneless Prosciutto Toscano D.O.P. from Sid Wainer and Son Specialty Pro- duce and Specialty Food, Organic Stone- ground Flakes Cereal — Purple Corn from Back to the Roots and Sliced Pro- sciutto (Domestic) from Creminelli Fine Meats. "Prosciutto is everywhere in the U.S., but we do it differently, using whole- m u s c l e Duroc pork that's 100 percent vege- t a r i a n - f e d with no an- tibiotics ever. We layer it in the tray by hand instead of by ma- chine," said Kyle Svete, C r e m i n e l l i Fine Meats' Director of Sales for National Accounts. "We invest in people, not machines. It's part of who we are – people, animal, craft.... We have machines to help us do our job, but it's really about the people. The recyclable tray and the elegant look of it elevates the product and the cate- gory." "We're proud of it. We put the ingredi- ents right on the front of the label," he added. "That's all there is to it – time, love, pork and sea salt." Chocolate-covered Cocomels - 5 Salts from JJ's Sweets, Gourmet Honey Spread: Salted Honey from Cloister Honey LLC, Wild Boar Salted Star Anise Single Origin Organic Dark Chocolate Bar from Hagens- borg Chocolate Ltd., Original Tangerine Sriracha from Just Jan's Inc., Mr. Hot Stuff Pepper Spread from Steppin' Out LLC, Clementine Crush Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Enzo Olive Oil Company/P-R Farms, Inc. and Deschutes Brewery ® Black Butte Porter Truffle from Moonstruck Choco- late, Co. were also among the finalists for the Best New Product Award. Other finalists were Pineapple Ha- banero Caramel from JulieAnn Caramels, Frozen Passion Chia Lassi from Monsieur Singh LLC, Chicken Fat (Schmaltz) Pre- mium Cooking Oil from Fatworks LLC, Avocado Oil Mayo and Licorice Mint Tea from Chosen Foods, Inc., Chili Crunch Bar from Vivra Chocolate, Vegan Stone Ground Hazelnut Butter from Karmalize LLC, Raspberry Amaretto Preserves from Robert Rothschild Farm, Orange Artisan Fruit Cracker from Simple & Crisp, Gluten-Free Coffee Brownie from Savvy Girl Baking Company and Dark Moon from Marin French Cheese Company. In the remaining categories, Sprouts from Pacific Pickle Works, Inc. was named the best appetizer. The Spice Hunter, Inc.'s Coriander Lime Global Fu- sion Rub was named best baking ingredi- ent, baking mix or flavor enhancer, Ginger Hemp Granola from Michele's Gra- nola LLC was the best in the category for breads, muffins, granola or cereal, and Vermont Creamery's Bijou was judged the best cheese. Vermont Creamery's Bonne Bouche was a finalist for the award both this year and last year. Money on Honey by Droga Chocolates won the sofi in the chocolate category, and Bittermilk LLC's No. 3 Smoked Honey Whiskey Sour won the award in the cold beverage category. Bittermilk was a sofi fi- nalist last year with the same product. Non-GMO Salted Caramelized Fig Spread from King's Cupboard was named the best condiment, and Sea Salt & Vanilla Farm- stead Goat Milk Caramels from Big Pic- ture Farm LLC received the award for the best confection. Big Picture Farm won sofi Awards last year for best new product with its Raspberry Rhubarb Goat Milk Caramels and for best confection with its Goat Milk Chai Caramels. Moon Dance Baking's Holly Baking Cookie Brittle Cin- namon & Spice was named in the cate- gory for cookies, brownies, cakes or pie. Barnier Pimento Sauce with Preserved Lemon from FoodMatch Inc. was named best cooking, dipping or finishing sauce. Cranberry Pistachio "The Original" from Jan's Farmhouse Crisps was named the best cracker. Epicurean Butter's Organic Cocoa Coconut Butter was named in the category for best dairy or dairy alternative product. "The reason this is something re- ally new and innovative is that this is or- ganic pasteurized cream, organic coconut oil, organic honey, organic canola oil, or- ganic cocoa powder and Himalayan pink salt. It's good on crepes, pancakes French toast. We actually just love it on a baguette," said Janey Hubschman, who co-founded Epicurean Butter with her husband John, who's the chef and still does all the formulations for the com- pany's products. "It's got a lovely mouth feel with the butter and the coconut oil and then the finish of the salt." The Or- ganic Cocoa Coconut Butter is part of a product line that includes 13 finishing butters, of which two are organic. The company has just installed new equip- ment in its plant that allows Epicurean Butter to produce single-serve squeeze packs. Each of those has 190 calories for a 1-ounce serving, and Hubschman ex- pects that the single-serve packaging will draw a lot of interest from the producers of home-delivered meal kits. Bourbon Matured Maple Syrup from BLiS LLC was named the best dessert sauce, topping or syrup. Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate's Single Origin Drinking Chocolate 72% Belize, Toledo received the sofi Award for the best hot beverage. Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate was a fi- nalist in the chocolate cat- egory last year with its 72% Madagascar, Sambi- rano bar. The Gelato Fi- asco's Ripe Mango Sorbetto was named the best ice cream, gelato or frozen treat. Cioccomiel, a spread made from hazelnuts, cocoa and honey, won the sofi Award for the best jam, preserve, honey or nut butter. It is im- ported by Marcelli Formaggi LLC. Fermín Chorizo Ibérico Picante / Fermín Ibérico Pork Dry-Cured Chorizo Sausage Spicy from Fermin USA was named the best meat, pate or seafood. Stöger Organic Austrian Pumpkin Seed Oil was named the best oil. It is imported by Los Chileros, which won a finalist award last year for the same product. Gustiamo, Inc.'s Pianogrillo Sicilian Cherry Tomato Sauce took home the sofi Award for the best pasta sauce, while the best pasta was Pasti- fico Artigianale Leonardo Carassai, made in Cam- pofilone, Italy, and imported by Bravo International Inc. Wozz! Kitchen Creations, which won the 2015 sofi Award for best salsa or dip with its Kiwi Lime Salsa Verde takes home the gold in the salad dressing category this year with North African Chermoula Dress- ing. This year's award in the salsa or dip category went to American Spoon Foods' Pumpkin Seed Salsa. Hickory Smoked Spicy Candied Bacon from Little Red Dot Kitchen LLC won the sofi Award this year in the category for sa- vory snacks. The best sweet snack came from Creative Snacks Co. with its Organic Coconut Bites. Dinner Tonight Black Bean Tortilla Chili Mix from Backyard Safari Company won the award for best soup, stew, bean or chili. ParmCrisps Mini Aged Parmesan Crisps from Kitchen Table Bakers won the award for the best vegan or gluten-free product. Kitchen Table Bakers was a finalist last year for its Jalapeno Parmesan Crisps. Finally, this year's best vinegar was Balsamic Nectar from Boulder Flavours. GN

• Cover