Madre Chocolate and Kuaiwi Farm were among 130 winning food and drink producers announced at the fourth annual Good Food Awards ceremony Thursday in San Francisco.
Madre Chocolate’s Triple Cacao was one of nine honorees in the chocolate category. It’s the second straight win for the Kailua-based company.
In the preserves category, Kona’s Kuaiwi Farm won with its Papaya, Apple Banana, Rangpur Lime Fruit Leather. It was among 15 producers honored.
The awards recognize foods that have no artificial additives, use local ingredients and are responsible with regard to growing practices, water use, recycling, animal husbandry and fair compensation. And, of course, winning foods must taste good.
Other categories include beer, charcuterie, cheese, coffee, confections, oils, pickles and spirits.
This year’s winners were selected from 1,450 entries submitted from 32 states. Judging was provided by 225 experts in various industries, who took part in a blind taste test in September.
On Saturday, winners presented their products to thousands of food shoppers at a public marketplace. In past years buyers for companies such as Whole Foods Market and Williams-Sonoma attended and subsequently added winning foods to their shelves. Other events included panel discussions, and a beer and spirits garden featuring winning brewers and distillers.
The Good Food Awards was created by nationally recognized food producers, food writers, grocers, farmers and chefs brought together by the Seedling Projects, a California-based public-benefit corporation. The Seedling Projects explores better ways to feed communities. It partners with such organizations as Slow Food USA, Whole Foods Market, Williams-Sonoma and Civil Eats (civileats.com), an online news site that offers articles about the American food system.
