Nature Fresh Farms and Mastronardi Produce took top accolades at this year's annual Greenhouse Competitions.
Nature Fresh Farms received the Overall Coolest Cucumber and three Chef's Choice awards, drawing attention to the importance of quality, flavor, and the eating experience. "Our team has invested significant focus on food service and understanding the importance of a product's flavor, freshness, texture, and overall quality as it relates to the preparation of the eating experience for the end consumer," said Matt Quiring, senior vice president, sales and marketing. "To receive such high acknowledgment in the Chef's Choice Awards tells us that our continued investment and learnings in this area are paramount to our success."
The Greenhouse Competitions celebrates Essex County for being the largest greenhouse industry in North America.
The company claimed top honors in the following categories:
- Chef's Choice Awards:
- Nature Fresh Farms Yellow Seedless Mini Sweet
- Nature Fresh Farms Crimsons
- Nature Fresh Farms Mini Cucumbers
- English Cucumber – 1st Place
- Best Overall Cucumber
- Mini Pepper – 1st Place
- Roma Tomato – 1st Place
Mastronardi Produce
Competing in the Leamington Greenhouse Competitions and the Superior Taste Awards in Belgium, the company announced the addition of 31 awards to its ever-growing collection for SUNSET® and BerryWorld® brand products, including the top three Overall Best in Competition awards for Best Tomato, Best Pepper, and Best Berry, eight first-place awards, and sweeping the cocktail tomato, strawberry, and specialty berry categories.
“It is truly gratifying when the products we carefully cultivate and nurture are recognized on the global stage,” remarked Paul Mastronardi, President & CEO of Mastronardi Produce Ltd. “We take great pride in growing world-class produce that tastes unlike any fruit or vegetable you’ve ever had. Congratulations to our talented and passionate teams who work tirelessly to deliver the best flavor and quality.”
This year, Mastronardi Produce took home 28 awards in the local Leamington competition, a company record since the competitions began in 2007. Notably, the company won the Cocktail Tomato category in a clean sweep taking all three placings. Again in Specialty Berries, Mastronardi took home first place for SUNSET WOW® Berries moonberry™ blackberry, second place for WOW angelberry™ raspberry, and third place for BerryWorld XL Blueberries. WOW Berries went on to sweep the Strawberry category with pearberry™ placing first, lolliberry™ placing second, and dreamberry™ placing third. The pearberry strawberry not only won Best Overall Berry, it was also the top-scoring product overall out of 183 competition entries.
Click here for a complete list of award-winning Mastronardi Produce entries from the 2023 Leamington Greenhouse Competitions.
Produce at the competitions is scored by an expert judging panel comprised of professionals from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs, grocery store produce managers, chefs, and others who are given a specialized list of criteria upon which they rate produce during blind taste testing.
For more information:|
Krysta Markham
Nature Fresh Farms
Tel.: +1 (519) 326-1111 ext.1630
krysta.markham@naturefresh.ca
https://www.naturefresh.ca/
Audra Macintyre
Mastronardi
Tel: 519-326-3218
audra.macintyre@sunsetgrown.com
www.sunsetgrown.com