The thirteenth annual Good Food Awards had 2,000 entries for 2023. Seven of the 237 profitable merchandise throughout the United States are from Maine.
The Maine companies have been awarded for superior-tasting meals and drinks and conscientious product and ingredient sourcing.
In a state primarily identified for lobster, the award-winning merchandise have been something however, starting from beer and whiskey to a seaweed meals topping, sizzling fudge, peanut butter cups, and fish stew.
2023 Good Food Awards
The awards happen every year to honor distinctive meals produced within the United States. 2023 is its thirteenth yr, and the awards moved from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon, for the primary time.
The Good Food Awards, a 501(c)3 non-profit group, hopes by honoring producers nationwide, to encourage meals producers and small farmers in each pocket of the nation.
According to the Good Food Awards, greater than 80% of the taking part companies are small firms with a yearly finances of lower than $250,000 and fewer than $1 million in annual income.
The awards characteristic 18 classes that meals producers can enter. Categories vary from honey and elixirs to preserved fish and pickles. Beverage classes embrace beer, spirits, and low.
Each firm is allowed three entries apart from espresso producers, that are allowed two. An $82 entry charge per product covers the Good Food Awards’ working prices, together with the blind tasting.
Judgment through Blind Taste Tests
The Good Food Awards choose a particular panel of judges from all areas of the United States for every class who’ve experience of their specific business. There are 5 U.S. areas for the judges to style merchandise from, all domestically produced.
The judges vary from cooks to grocers, meals crafters, writers, and extra, representing the breadth of the meals neighborhood. Each division’s judges are publicized on the Good Food Awards web site by category.
Products entered into the competitors should be prepared on the market and produced following rules in licensed amenities throughout all native, state, and federal ranges.
Judges search for tasty, genuine, accountable meals throughout a blind style take a look at. Scoring ensures the profitable producers’ style and high quality stay constant.
In addition, excessive scorers bear a vetting interview to confirm ingredient sources and manufacturing strategies earlier than last awards are determined. If a product achieves a prime rating and is vetted, they get an award within the class.
Where To Find The Winning Maine Food Products
The award-winners are entitled to put particular square-shaped blue and gold “Good Food Awards” stickers on their prizewinning merchandise. Travelers heading to the twenty third state, whether or not to key cities or for a Maine road trip, ought to cease at native grocery shops to search for the merchandise, together with high-end epicurean sellers.
Additionally, within the case of drinks, the profitable creations will be tasted at the businesses’ breweries and tasting rooms.
Maine’s Good Food Awards Winners
This yr’s Maine winners run the gamut of meals classes, embodying the range of meals producers within the state. The Maine winners have been within the “East Region” class of the 5 areas within the awards.
Hot Fudge Sauce by Dean’s Sweets in Portland
Dean’s Sweets takes residence an award for producing among the finest candy treats within the confections class. The firm’s sizzling fudge sauce is made with a handful of high-quality components that make it exceptionally scrumptious, together with unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder, pure vanilla, locally-sourced butter from Casco Bay Creamery in Scarborough, Maine, and cream from Misty Brook Farm in Albion, Maine.
The firm beforehand took residence an award in the identical class in 2020 for its Maine Sea Salt Caramel Sauce, which they declare is completely life-changing.
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups by Ragged Coast Chocolates in Westbrook
Judges have given Ragged Coast Cholocate’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups a Good Foods Award within the confections class. Fan-favorite sweet bites are hand-crafted from natural peanut butter, bittersweet chocolate, natural cane sugar, and have a touch of Maine sea salt thrown in for good measure.
Husband and spouse crew Kate and Steve Schaffer co-founded Ragged Coast Chocolates. They proudly use one of the best native components of their creations, like fruits and herbs from Maine farmers. For their chocolate, they use single-origin, sustainably-grown chocolate from producers in Latin America.
Ragged Coast Chocolates is a repeat Good Food Awards winner. In addition, the next treats are additionally confections class award winners: Cassis de Résistance Truffles (2021), Maine Mint Truffle (2016), and Cassis de Resistance (2015). The latter two awards have been acquired underneath the corporate’s earlier identify, “Black Dinah Chocolatiers.”
Little Whaleboat IPA by Maine Beer Company in Freeport
The food Maine may be best known for is its lobster, however what pairs effectively with a recent lobster roll? Beer! Whether at a restaurant in Old Town Portland or sailing the Gulf of Maine in a windjammer, having a chilly Maine beer in hand is the way in which to dive into the state’s beverage tradition.
With an ever-growing craft beer scene, two of Maine’s bottling firms settle for a Good Food Award for his or her brews.
Maine Beer Company wins for its Little Whaleboat IPA, with floral notes and mango, pineapple, grapefruit, and pine aromas. The beer identify honors Little Whaleboat Islands, a cluster of three islands in Casco Bay that the beer firm helped Maine Coast Heritage Trust buy to take care of as an important wildlife sanctuary.
The firm is part of the Independent Maine Brewer’s Association and a member of 1% for the Planet, a non-profit group tackling environmental points.
Blushing Star Beer and Old Port Oat Whiskey by Liquid Riot Bottling Company in Portland
Another firm to take residence Good Food Awards for its drinks is Liquid Riot Bottling Company, situated in Portland’s Old Port. They so staunchly imagine in everybody’s proper to drink that they have been impressed to call the 2013-founded firm after the Chicago Lager Beer Riot and Portland Rum Riots within the mid-Nineteenth century.
Fast ahead to 2023: their Blushing Star Beer takes residence a Good Foods Award. The Foeder-aged Pilsner is made with Blushing Star peaches from Kelly Orchards in Sanborn, Maine. The brew can also be a 2016 World Beer Cup gold medal winner.
Liquid Riot Bottling Company’s Old Port Oat Whiskey wins a Good Food Award this yr within the spirits class. This grown-oats whiskey is a labor of affection, aged in American oak barrels for at least 4 years.
Maine Coast Monkfish Stew by Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association (MCFA) in Brunswick
Maine Coast Monkfish Stew earns a Good Foods Award within the fish class. The stew’s ingredients are monkfish, lobster inventory, heavy cream, entire milk, butter, dry sherry, and greens, together with pink potatoes, celery, carrots, and onions. Several spices end the recipe: paprika, parsley, salt, and cayenne pepper.
The MCFA is a non-profit group that goals to assist sustainable fishing within the Gulf of Maine. For instance, native fishermen sustainably harvest the monkfish used within the stew. MCFA makes use of proceeds from the stew to assist faculties, meals banks, and neighborhood teams addressing meals insecurity.
Seaweed Sprinkle by Smithereen Farm in Pembroke
Smithereen Farm’s Seaweed Sprinkle is a Good Food Awards winner, additionally within the fish class. This “condiment,” as the company calls it, is constituted of all natural components, together with numerous kinds of seaweed and spices, a few of that are grown on Smithereen Farm.
Their farm is certified-organic by MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association) and guarded by conservation easements put in place by Maine Coast Heritage Trust.
In addition to the waterfront farm, the place the crew grows a spread of vegatables and fruits and harvests seaweed, they host instructional packages, together with Greenhorns summer time camp programming and AgriTourism courses.
This article was produced by Sometimes Home and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Mikkel Woodruff co-owns and operates Sometimes Home and Sometimes Sailing journey web sites along with her husband, Dan.
They name the east coast of the United States residence and journey domestically and internationally, motivating individuals to hunt new experiences and discover new locations by way of inspirational content material.
