Six SOFI Winners
Since 2007
2011, SOFI GOLD WINNER:
Our Mixed Berry Jam was selected as the "gold " winner for the "Outstanding USDA Certified Organic Product Award."
IN 2009, TWO SOFI SILVER WINNERS:
Our Rhubarb Jam was a finalist for “Outstanding USDA Certified Organic Product," and our Syrah Wine Glaze was a finalist in the "Outstanding Condiment Category”
IN 2008, TWO SOFI SILVER WINNERS
Our Apple Pie Jam was a finalist in the "Outstanding Dessert or Dessert Topping," category, and our Spiced Plum Jam was a finalist for “Outstanding USDA Certified Organic Product."
In 2007, SOFI GOLD WINNER
Our Strawberry Jam was the first ever "gold " winner of the "Outstanding USDA Certified Organic Product Award." |
Colorado Mountain Jam
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The Plum Daisy Kitchen
SOFI AWARDS
WASHINGTON DC FANCY FOOD SHOW
2011
Wow! We won! “Outstanding USDA Certified Organic Product for 2011!”
Of all of the Silver and Gold sofi awards that Colorado Mountain Jam has won, this sofi Gold for our Mixed Berry Jam for the “Outstanding USDA Certified Organic Product” was the most exciting for us. The award ceremony, held July 11 at the annual Summer Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C., was really special because all of the winners were given an opportunity to speak, and there was an electric sense of the enormity of what winning a sofi Gold meant to each winning company.
The Fancy Food Show attracts more than 2,400 exhibitors from 80 countries who present 250,000 products, and there are only 33 winners chosen! Clearly a product that wins a sofi Gold stands out as the “Best of the Best” in the food world!
This ceremony was especially significant for Judith and me because Cat Cora was the celebrity host for the ceremony, and Rick Bayless, “The Mexican Chef,” was at the show. Rick’s company, Frontera, was a Silver Finalist in two food categories at the 2011 Fancy Food Show.
When Jude and I were still doing farmers markets, we were selected to exhibit with a group that brought “Celebrity Chefs” to Colorado. Of all the chefs who attended, Rick Bayless, whom we met in Denver, and Cat Cora, whom we met in Telluride, both took the time to sample our jams. They were generous in their praise of what we were doing, giving us the support and encouragement we needed to continue.
It was very special to receive the award from Cat and to have the opportunity to thank these two individuals who freely gave of themselves and made, unknown to them, an enormous contribution to our lives. But, in some ways, it was even more special to thank the three American Organic Farms that provided us with the berries for our Mixed Berry Jam. Possibly more than any other product, in a competition that relies on the “innovation and creativity of the creator of the product”, ours relies instead on the quality of the fruit and the farmers who grow it.
Three farms provided us with the exceptional berries that enabled us to win the sofi Gold for the Mixed Berry Jam. We purchase blueberries from Sidhu Farm in the heart of Washington’s Puyallup Valley. Our strawberries with incredible old-fashioned flavor come from Kelly Wilmer of Pacific Ridge Farms in Oxnard, California, and our raspberries are grown by Sakuma Brothers Farms, a family business spanning four generations in the Skagit Valley of Washington State.
Our gratitude also goes to the thousands of people who have sampled our jams and wine jellies, many of whom expressed to us the joy they felt on recalling loving food memories from their past. Judith and I thank you for all the support and encouragement you have given to us.
"Sometimes things become possible if we want them bad enough."
— T.S. Eliot
Our relationships—with the land, with the fruit that it produces, and now with other growers—form the chain of quality that you can trust .Please feel free to call—we’ll be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Regards,
Brian & Judith Olesen
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