Each year, the Specialty Foods Association conducts thousands of blind tastings across dozens of food categories in order to identify the best new small-batch products to hit the market. The top-ranking products are honored with a sofi (specialty outstanding food innovation) Award, recognizing tastemakers and trailblazers and forecasting future growth. The 2017 sofi Awards saw a dozen new categories — most notably, barbecue sauces. From Kettlewood Combustion Co.’s sweet and smoky steak sauce to Corine’s Cuisine‘s spicy, savory, all-purpose marinade, these are the sauces to baste, brush, dip and smother on everything that goes on the grill this summer.
Gold: Kettlewood Combustion Co. Pecanwood Smoke and Bourbon Vanilla Barbecue Sauce ($11)
Silver: Wild Thymes Mad Moroccan BBQ Sauce ($7)
Bronze: Corine’s Cuisine No. 28 Spicy Asian BBQ and Stir-Fry Sauce ($12)
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