Gracious Gourmet Spiced Sour Cherry Spread

by Christine Gorney, Public Relations Assistant

Every year, outstanding participants in the Summer Fancy Food Show are awarded the coveted sofi Award. The sofi Awards are considered the highest honor in the specialty food industry. The word “sofi” stands for “specialty outstanding food innovation” and the winners are chosen by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT ).

This year there were 2,326 entries and the winners were chosen by a panel of 300 retail and food service buyers at the show. The 33 categories included everything from cheese and dairy products, chocolate, pasta sauces, pet products and more.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to make it to the show, but after doing some research on all the winners, I chose my top three based on packaging design, uniqueness of product, and if I would want to buy it. Here they are:

Tea Forté- Teas for the heart: (winner of best food gift) This one was probably my favorite. The product was made to help raise awareness for women’s heart disease. It is a box of “heart healthy” tea packets in the shape of a heart. The tea bags are in the shape of a triangle, so they can stand up on their own in a cup, which is super cool. Maybe it is because I love tea, or that I love the idea of supporting women’s health, but I was instantly drawn to this product and its eye catching packaging.

Chaparral Gardens’ Blackberry Balsamic: (winner best salad dressing) I love balsamic vinegar and I love blackberries, which is probably why I was drawn to this product. Plus, it’s from the Central Coast! It is made with organic blackberries and pure cane sugar, which sounds like pure goodness to me. I’m not that crazy about their packaging, but the product sounds delightful.

Stonewall Kitchen’s Roasted Peach Whiskey Sauce (winner best cooking sauce or flavor enhancer) or The Gracious Gourmet’s Spiced Sour Cherry Spread (winner best condiment): I confess that I am a huge fan of sauce and I like a lot of it on my food, not matter if it is BBQ sauce, hot sauce, or chocolate sauce. That is why I couldn’t choose between these two great sounding sauces. Peach whiskey or spiced sour cherry? Salty or sweet? It’s a tough decision. The spiced cherry sauce comes from a small startup and the peach whiskey comes from a large, well established food company. I like the design of the peach whiskey sauce label better, but I also tend to root for the underdog startup, especially since we have worked with so many food and beverage start ups and I see how amazing their products really are. To make a final decision, I guess I will have to try them someday. Until then, I will let my mouth continue to water as I think about them both.