Kingsville, ON (June 11, 2020) – For a company who places flavor at the top of their game, winning a prestigious flavor award is an honor that SUNSET® has received for not one, but three of their newest produce innovations. Honey Bombs™ golden cherry tomatoes on-the-vine, Shazam!™ shishito peppers, and Kaboom!® black jalapenos all received Superior Taste Awards at this year’s blind tasting presented by the International Taste Institute in Brussels, Belgium.
“Winning these Superior Taste Awards is a true honor and great testament to our continual dedication in delivering quality, flavorful produce to our customers and consumers. We know that people dig flavor and we will continue to give healthy, flavorful options that revolutionize the category and inspire our consumers to live life flavorfully,” says Paul Mastronardi, President and CEO of Mastronardi Produce. “What I love most about this prestigious event is that it is a blind taste-test conducted by some of the world’s greatest chefs and sommeliers and products are judged purely on the full sensory experience that they deliver.”
SUNSET® was amongst 800 other food and beverage producers from around the world who submitted their products in hopes of receiving a Superior Taste Award Certification. Each product was judged by a jury of over 200 of the world’s most renowned Michelin-starred Chefs and Sommeliers and evaluated on the following criteria: first impression, vision, olfaction, taste, and texture.
“It’s a strict process. The products are blind tasted; this means that the samples are anonymized: we do not see the packaging and do not know the brand name nor the producers’ name; we don’t even know from which country it comes,” says Stijn Roelandt, International Taste Institute jury member and Sous-Chef at Hof van Cleve, 3 Michelin stars. “This forces us to be completely objective as we do the sensory analysis. Only truly good products are certified.”
This is the 11th year in a row that SUNSET® has received Superior Taste Awards from the International Taste Institute. Other award-winning products include their Aloha™ striped peppers, Flavor Bombs® and Sugar Bombs® from the Bombs™ lineup of on-the-vine snacking tomatoes, and Campari®, the world’s first branded tomato.
