We just found out we made the cut for the 2022 Good Food Awards! We couldn’t be more proud because the Good Food Awards are a bit different from other specialty food awards. They believe what we believe—caring for our employees, environment, and local economy is essential to making delicious, high quality food.

Chukar’s ultra dark Organic Chocolate Tart Cherries made the list because we source our cherries from Certified Organic family farms in central Washington and Oregon. We then dry our cherries naturally before coating them in sustainably-sourced, organic ultra dark chocolate and a dusting of organic cocoa powder.

The Good Food Awards are sponsored by the Good Food Foundation—an organization committed to supporting “growers, ranchers, makers and merchants stubbornly swimming upstream to create and share the kind of food we all want to eat: tasty, authentic and responsible.” Unlike other awards programs—the Good Food Awards judges products both on their flavor and on the methods used to produce them. In their 12th year, the awards program honors products in 18 categories: Beer, Charcuterie, Cheese, Chocolate, Cider, Coffee, Confections, Drinks, Elixirs, Fish, Grains, Honey, Oils, Pantry, Pickles, Preserves, Snacks, and Spirits.

The Good Food Awards’ high standards set apart companies that produce exceptional food in socially and environmentally sustainable ways. To qualify, foods must meet a long list of criteria including being made in the USA and being free of artificial ingredients, GMOs, or high fructose corn syrup. However, the list does not stop there—among other qualifications, companies must also be upstanding members of the community, honor the regional heritage of their foods, and commit themselves to equality in their workforce.

All finalists have been chosen and winners will be announced in mid-November. Fingers crossed!

The full list of finalists can be found Good Food Finalists.