Our Local Finalists for the Good Food Awards
The Finalists for the Good Food Awards have been announced, and we are proud to say that a few local favorites are on the esteemed list. At Edible Shasta-Butte, we’ve been long-time fans of Salt & Savour, Lassen Traditional Cidery, and Rancho Llano Seco, but we love to see our homegrown companies getting national recognition.
This year, nearly 2000 entries from forty-two states were submitted by American craft food and beverage producers in eighteen categories. The Good Food Awards team then go through a blind tasting before making the final list. The team looks for just what its name says, good food: food that brings people together, builds strong, healthy communities, honors social and environmental responsibility, and celebrates craftsmanship and flavor. It’s the best of the best. The goodest of the good!
Salt & Savour represents our region in the pickle category. Hailing from Dunsmuir, which boasts the best water in the world, Salt & Savour makes sauerkraut from all organic ingredients.
Founder, krautmaker, kraut bottler, and kraut deliverer David Edmondson first submitted his Apple Ginger Sauerkraut for the 2020 competition. The award ceremony that year was held in January, right before the pandemic rocked our world. Edmondson recalls the amazing spread at the after party (with food from all the finalists), and really feeling the community of craft food makers.
It was a reminder that he’s not alone in his efforts to provide an excellent product to the community. Salt & Savour has six flavors, and each year a different kind has won. Ironically, his favorite, Horseradish, has not received any love … yet! Producers can submit three products each year, and two Salt & Savour sauerkrauts are among the finalists. We’ll see what happens in April!
Not surprisingly, Lassen Traditional Cidery pulled through for the cider category. Founded by Ben Nielsen, this cider is produced seasonally in Chico. The apples are harvested at their peak ripeness, pressed, fermented in neutral wine barrels, and finally, aged in bottles. Nielsen began entering his Farmhouse Cider in 2018 and has been a finalist and winner four out of the five years he has entered. He was frustrated with other cider competitions that didn’t seem know and appreciate the nuances with unfiltered and small batch productions. The Good Food Awards offered a more foodie palate to the judging. Plus, he notes, he got to receive a kiss on the cheek from Alice Waters when he received his award at the ceremony in San Francisco! Nielson has a lot of respect for the Good Food Foundation and what they look for in their winners and is proud Lassen Traditional Cidery is recognized.
Llano Seco pushed through to finalist in the charcuterie category. A Chico treasure, Rancho Llano Seco is a sixthgeneration family-run farm with responsible and humanely raised pork and beef and heirloom beans. They have been a Good Food Guild Member for a number of years, but this is only their third time submitting product for an award and the first time making it to the finalist stage. They have entered their three salami flavors each year: Hibernian, Chinese 5 Spice, and Californiano. They are proud to be finalists this year and among like minded food companies. “We have put a lot of time, energy, and thought into creating our Californiaspecific salami line and are proud of the flavors we create and always excited to share them with interested consumers,” says Lindsey Barrett in Marketing & Operations.
The Good Food Awards are an epic three-day affair open to the public this year in Portland, Oregon, in April. It is an honor just to make the cut, and we’re rooting for our friends at Salt & Savour, Lassen Traditional Cidery, and Rancho Llano Seco for these prestigious awards. Perhaps a road trip is in order to get your fill of the best craft food in our country, and to cheer our exceptional local makers.
Bonnie Pipkin is an author and freelance writer who came back to her hometown of Chico in 2019 after nearly two decades in Brooklyn. She is a writer, a reader, a mother, a teacher, a dreamer. There is hardly a thing she enjoys more than a great meal with delicious wine shared with people she loves.
