NASFT ANNOUNCES SHOW'S FANCIEST FOODS

BARBARA MURRAY

NEW YORK -- The winners of the 29th Annual National Association for the Specialty Food Trade Product Awards Competition were announced at the Summer NASFT Fancy Food Show here last month, and represent the hottest products in the specialty food industry, according to the association. The 21 winners were chosen from among 94 specialty food Finalist products that were sectioned into 20 categories.

Heading the list was the Outstanding New Product 2001, Epicurean Truffles, from B.T. McElrath Chocolatier, Minneapolis. Outstanding New Best Seller was LuLu Preserved Meyer Lemon, Fennel & Sage Marinade, by Restaurant LuLu Gourmet Products, San Francisco. The whole line of Bella Cucina Artful Food, Atlanta, was judged Outstanding Product Line, and Grafton Village Cheese Co.'s Classic Reserve Vermont Cheddar Cheese, from Grafton, Vt., won Outstanding Classic.

Outstanding Packaging or Design went to Oberpfalzer Waldfruchte Konservenfabrik, Montclair, N.J., for its Mushroom "Caps" Chanterelles.

White Chocolate Orange Cookies from The Cuisinary Fine Foods, Dallas, won Outstanding Cookie or Cracker.

The El Paso Chile Co., El Paso, Texas, won Outstanding Food Gift Pack for its Patio Daddy-O Deluxe BBQ Set. Outstanding Non-Food Specialty Item was Silpat, from Harold Import Co., Lakewood, N.J. It's a reusable lining "that you put in a pan and nothing will stick to it, even if you burn your cookies. It's like a reusable parchment but it's a rubbery material," said a company representative.

The Outstanding Beverage was Boylan's Creamy Red Birch Beer, by the Boylan Bottling Co., Haledon, N.J. Stonewall Kitchen, York, Maine, won Outstanding Jam, Preserve, Spread or Sweet Topping, for its Fig and Walnut Butter.

Frescobaldi Laudemio Olio Extra Vergine Di Oliva won in the Outstanding Oil, Vinegar or Salad Dressing category. It is from Manicaretti Italian Food Products, Oakland, Calif.

Another Italian product, Radici of Tuscany White Bean Appetizer, from Ritrovo Italian Regional Foods, Seattle, won in the Outstanding Pasta, Rice, Bean or Soup category. Outstanding Confection was Valor Chocolate Nougat, from Valor Chocolate, Miami, Fla.

Outstanding Baked Good, Bread, Grain or Cereal was Le Lingue Piemontese Crackers, from Crystal Food Import Corp., East Boston, Mass.

Native Kjalii Foods Fire-Roasted Guacamole, by the San Leandro, Calif.-based company of the same name, won Outstanding Snack Food, Hors D'Oeuvre or Salsa. Frontera Mild Red Pepper Sesame BBQ & Grill Sauce was the Outstanding Savory Condiment, from Frontera Foods, Chicago.

Nearly 100 specialty food retailers, supermarket buyers, catalogers and other resellers analyzed, tasted and judged the Finalist products. The winners and finalists were displayed in the Products Awards Focused Exhibit Showcase during this recent show and will be displayed again at the Fancy Food Shows next January in San Francisco, and March in Chicago.

This year's competition began in May, when NASFT member companies submitted 1,640 entries totaling more than 3,000 products. In the initial round of judging, five specialty retailers from around the country selected the finalists based on quality, uniqueness, taste, salability, merchandisability, best in its category and retail price. The judging panel was made up of Jacqueline Dufty, Uppercrust Products, Gainesville, Fla.; Phillip Myers, Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society, Hanover, N.H.; Dub Perry, Contri Bros. Gift Basket, Birmingham, Ala.; Lynne Symons, Symons General Store, Petoskey, Mich.; and Richard Vernon, West Point Market, Akron, Ohio.

"Not only were the truffles wonderful," said Vernon, the chief executive officer of West Point Market, commenting on the Outstanding New Product. "But the packaging, too." Vernon, a first-time judge, noted that for many new products, success has a lot to do with the packaging. "They spend a lot of money on it, and there is so much competition, too, that they have to make themselves stand out," Vernon told SN.