Zestfest Midwest 2013 People’s Preference Award Winners & Show Pics

How about some positive highlights from the Zestfest Midwest weekend. The People’s Preference Awards was voted on by the public via a very interesting computer setup. You log in your basic information, then the staff give you samples of the entries and you rate the texture, the aroma, flavor, etc. I thought it was a clever way of doing things. Once all the voting is tabulated after the Friday and Saturday shows, the winners were announced Sunday morning. Below is a list of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.

BBQ Sauce
1st- Patter Fam Sauces – Jamaican Jerk
2nd- Mild to Wild Pepper & Herb Co. – Southwest Chipotle
3rd- Smoking J’s – Fiery Fatalli

Condiment
1st- The Chile Pepper Institute – Taco Sauce Holy Jolokia
2nd- Ben’s Mustard – Ben’s Sweet Hot Mustard
3rd- Defcon Sauces – Defcon Smokey Dust

Hot Sauce
1st- Scotty O’Hotty Gourmet – Ghost Sauce
2nd- Bigfat’s Hot Sauce – 708 7-Pot Citrus
3rd- Frankie V’s Kitchen – Spooky White

Jam/Jelly
1st- Rafters 7S – Strawberry Jalapeno Jelly
2nd- Ben’s Mustard – Ben’s Jalapeno Jelly
3rd- Puckerbutt Pepper Company – Fiery Trail Preserves (Heartbreaking Dawns)

Salsa
1st- Sweet Slap’n Salsa Company – Hot Peach Salsa
2nd- CaJohn’s Fiery Foods – CaJohn’s Key Lime
3rd- Garden Fresh Salsa – Screaming Hot

Snack
1st- Good Greens – Chocolate Raspberry Bars
2nd- Race City Sauce Works – Salted Caramel & Ghost Pepper White Chocolate
3rd- Puckerbutt Pepper Company – Cherry Bomb Caramel Corn

Spice
1st- The Gourmet Farm Girl – Pork Seasoning
2nd- Mike’s All Purpose Seasonings – Spicy Recipe
3rd- Naturally Farmed Foods Inc – Pork & Poultry

Wing Sauce
1st- Defcon Sauces – Defcon Defense Condition #2
2nd- Patter Fam Sauces – Holy Ghost Revival
3rd- Rafter 7S – Raspberry Chipotle Glaze

BEST OF SHOW
Defcon Sauces – Defcon Defense Condition #2 (Pictured above, stolen from Facebook :-D)