Award-Winning Regional Snacks the Rest of the Country Needs

Do you get the munchies between meals? Do you like to sample small-batch and locally made sweets and snacks? Then put down those chips you bought at the local big-box store and expand your snack horizons with one of these tasty treats. Each is a recipient of the 11th annual 2021 Good Food Awards, which honor regional food and beverage makers. From more than 2,000 entries, judges at the Good Food Foundation selected four regional winners in each of 18 categories, including snacks, pantry items, cheese, preserves, beer and spirits, and more. Here's a scrummy sampling of the award-winning snacks.

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Ulu Mana | Honolulu

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Potatoes aren't the only food you can enjoy as crisp chips. Honolulu-based Ulu Mana uses breadfruit, a staple of the traditional Hawaiian diet, sliced thin, deep-fried, and seasoned for their Ulu Chips. Choose from garlic sea salt, cool lime, or mixed with sweet potato chips. Ulu Mana also sells four flavors of hummus made from breadfruit.

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Hummingbird Wholesale | Eugene, Oregon

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These organic sprouted pecans are lightly seasoned with Himalayan pink salt and dried to a pleasant crunchiness. Not nuts about pecans? Hummingbird Wholesale sells a variety of other snacks, including nuts and nut butters, granolas, dried fruits, honey, and more, all of it organically grown and sourced from farmers who make sustainability a core of their agricultural practice.

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Yu Bakery | New York City

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Yu Puffs are made from yuca (also known as cassava), a starchy, carb-centric tuber that's common in Brazil, Nigeria, Thailand, and elsewhere. They're available in two flavors: parmesan or oil and flaxseed. Want more yuca yummies? Yu Bakery also sells Yu Buns, their take on Brazilian cheese bread.

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Sweet Dames Artisan Confections | Washington, Alabama

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Satisfy that sweet tooth with these mini macaroons, made by hand and, like all of Sweet Dames' products, free of sugar and wheat. Want more? Try their salted caramel or pineapple macaroons, or one of their other sweet treats, all inspired by founder Genelle Drayton's Bahamian born-grandparents, who inspired her love of food.

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Primo Botánica | Troy, New York

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This upstate chocolatier's mission is to support indigenous cacao farmers and collectives in North, Central, and South America, turning small-batch harvests into sublime sweets free of refined sugar, dairy, soy, and gluten. Try the Good Food Award-winning Mountain Cardamom bar, or one of their other single-origin chocolate bars, drinking chocolates, or dried fruits.

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Tulip Tree Creamery | Indianapolis

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Co-founded by a Dutch cheesemaker and a one-time health educator, Tulip Tree produces European-style cheeses made from milk from Indiana dairy cows. This semi-soft Gruyere-style cheese is aged 3 to 6 months and available in 5-pound wheels. Cheeseheads will want to sample Tulip Tree's other offerings, including their triple-cream Trillium, which won a silver medal at the 2019-20 World Cheese Awards and took top honors at the 2019 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest.

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Ground Up PDX | Portland, Oregon

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Spread the love with this Good Food Award-winning sweet nut spread made from almonds, cashews, and coconut butters. Prefer something simpler? Try their smooth or crunchy almond butters, or dip into one of their limited-edition creations like their Coco-Crunch Tahini Cookie Nut Butter.

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Killik Hot Sauce Co. | Cleveland

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Hot sauce is great for giving food a spicy kick, but many sauces are too high in sodium for foodies on restricted diets (including company founder Michael Killik). Killik's Zeta sauce -- one of three he sells -- is a spicy blend of Fresno and habanero chilies. If that's too hot for your taste, try their milder Delta or Eta hot sauces or buy a sampler pack.

Kansas City Canning Co. | Kansas City, Missouri

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Bathed in a brine infused with fennel, bay leaves, and fresh garlic, these pickled green tomatoes are then packed by hand. Like all of their pickles and preserves, the tomatoes are sourced from area farms and prepared in small batches.

Potter's Crackers | Madison, Wisconsin

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Potter's Crackers uses Wisconsin-produced organic cheese, butter, and whole wheat in its products, including these cheesy oyster crackers. If cheese isn't your thing, Potter's sells more than a dozen other crackers, oyster crackers, and crisps. Flavors include caramelized onion, applewood-smoked, and Wisconsin rye.

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Burtz Bees | Dallas, North Carolina

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No, this isn't honey from that other Burt ... Burtz Bees is a family-run operation that grew from a couple hives to more than 100 bee colonies in and around the region. Their Good Food Award-winning wildflower honey is available in a variety of sizes, and Burtz Bees also sells beeswax candles and supplies bees and colonies to other area beekeepers.

Grandma's Gourmets | Albert Lea, Minnesota

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Yes, a real grandma makes these snacks, inspired by recipes her own grandmother used. As with all of their jams, jellies, pickles, and salsas, their Blueberry Lavender Jam is made by hand from locally sourced berries. Grandma's is no stranger to the Good Food Awards. They were also honored in 2018 for their Bloody Pickles and again in 2019 for their Strawberry + Balsamic + Black Pepper Jam.

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The Good Food Foundation received 1,928 entries across 11 categories for the 2021 competition. Judges pared the list to 475 finalists, with producers representing 45 states, plus the District of Columbia and Guam. Winning producers were announced in January, except for the oils category, which will be announced in July. 

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