Who has the hottest tomato and coolest cucumber? Essex County greenhouse awards revealed
Nature Fresh Farms displays some of their awards. (Courtesy Nature Fresh Farms)
Windsor, Ont. -
R.E.A.CH. International brought back its annual Greenhouse Competitions for 2021 and has announced the Essex County winners.
The competitions have celebrated Ontario’s Essex County as home to the largest greenhouse industry in North America since their debut in 2007, with a hiatus in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Every year this event draws a lot of local attention with the grower base,” said Nature Fresh director of Sales Matt Quiring. “This year’s event presented us with a clean sweep on the Bite-Sized Tomato Category taking home 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in one of the most highly sought-after tomato categories.”
Competitions are separated by crop, including “The Hottest Tomato,” “The Perfect Pepper,” “The Coolest Cucumber” and the “Sweetest Strawberry,” with more specific categories within each one.
BEST OVERALL WINNERS:
- Tomato: Umami bite-sized tomato by Nature Fresh Farms
- Strawberry: Dreamberry by Sunset/Mastronardi Produce
- Pepper: Rustico sweet long pepper by Mucci Farms
- Sunset Mini Seedless cucumber by Sunset/Mastronardi Produce
The competitions were redesigned this year to be contactless, to protect the contestants, volunteers and judges amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Produce was delivered to 30 judges across Essex County, including members of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs, grocery store produce managers, Culinary Guild of Windsor chefs, and others.
The awards ceremony was broadcasted as a live stream on Friday, June 11.
Organizers say this year’s event will sponsor another 50 children and teens to attend school, meet medical, clothing or housing needs in Uganda, Africa.
2021 WINNERS OF THE GREENHOUSE COMPETITIONS:
Coolest Cucumber competition
- Cocktail Cukes : One Sweet Cucumber by Sunset Mastronardi Produce
- English Cucumber: Mucci English Cuke by Mucci Farms
- Mini Seedless Cukes: Sunset Mini Seedless by Sunset Mastronardi Produce
- BEST OVERALL CUCUMBER: Sunset Mini Seedless by Sunset Mastronardi Produce
Hottest Tomato Competition
- Beefsteak Tomato: Pure Flavor Beef by Pure Flavor, Pure Hothouse Foods
- Bite-Size Tomato: Umami by Nature Fresh Farms
- Cocktail Tomato: Campari by Sunset Mastronardi Produce
- Roma Tomato: Mucci Roma by Mucci Farms
- Specialty Tomato : Orange Cherry by Nature Fresh Farms
- T.O.V./Cluster Tomato: Nature Fresh TOV by Nature Fresh Farms
- BEST OVERALL TOMATO: Umami by Nature Fresh Farms
Perfect Pepper Competition
- Hot Peppers: Yowzers by Sunset Mastronardi Produce
- Orange Bell (sweet) Pepper: Sunset Orange Bell by Sunset Mastronardi Produce
- Red Bell (sweet) Pepper: Red Bell Sweet by DelFrescoPure
- Specialty Bell (sweet) Pepper: Aloha by Sunset Mastronardi Produce
- Specialty Long (sweet) Pepper: Rustico by Mucci Farms
- Specialty Mini Pepper: Sweet To The Point by Mucci Farms
- Yellow Bell (sweet) Pepper: Pure Flavor Yellow Bell by Pure Flavor, Pure Hothouse Foods
- BEST OVERALL PEPPER: Rustico by Mucci Farms
Sweetest Strawberry Competition
- BEST OVERALL STRAWBERRY Dreamberry by Sunset Mastronardi Produce
For the complete list of winners including second and third places, visit greenhousecompetitions.com.
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