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National Food Competition Honors The Juice Hive and The Cottage with Five Good Food Awards

New Recipes from Local Bluffton Restaurants Rose to the Top Among 1,928 Entries This Year 

Bluffton, SC, January 2021 – For the fourth consecutive year, local Bluffton chef and restaurant owner Leslie Rohland has been recognized with multiple prestigious Good Food Awards for new recipes available at her two local restaurants.  Leslie, who has long been committed to creating, and serving, delicious and healthy cuisine at both The Cottage Café and The Juice Hive in Bluffton, has this year been recognized by The Good Food Foundation with a total of five Good Food Awards – with her creations rising to the top of nearly 2,000 entries and singled out for award-winning dishes that are tasty, authentic and responsible.

The national Good Food Awards honor the people throughout the country who make food that is delicious, respectful of the environment, and connected to communities and cultural traditions.  Out of this year’s 1,928 entries in 17 categories, 336 food and drink crafters were selected as finalists, with 219 winners from 41 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam honored with a national 2021 Good Food Award.  Once again, both The Cottage Café and the Juice Hive were the only South Carolina restaurants to be named a winner in this highly-regarded food national food competition.  

Each year, competition is fierce for a Good Food Award – in each category, three food crafters from each region (North, South, East, West, and Central) receive the honor each year, with winners having the distinction of the blue Good Food Awards seal.  This year, for the first time in Good Food Awards history, the public also took part in a portion of the judging.

2021 Good Food Award-winning entries from The Cottage Café and Juice Hive are:

The Juice Hive:

Black Garlic Kimchi (Category: Pickles)

Amaranth Greens Kimchi (Category: Pickles)

Zephyr Zucchini Pickle (Category: Pickles)

The Cottage Café:

Cherry Bomb Jam (Category: Pantry)

Green Tea Watermelon Rind Pickle(Category: Pickles)

The winning creations will be available as limited specials at both The Cottage Café and the Juice Hive.  Cherry Bomb Jam is featured on the Cottage Café’s Delmo Burger (which comes with Boursin, Red Onion, tomato jam, and red pepper jelly), fried Zephyr Zucchini Pickles are available as an appetizer special at the Cottage Café, and Watermelon Rind Pickles are being used as a garnish on all of the Cottage Café’s Bloody Marys.  In addition, samples of the Amaranth Greens Kimchi and Black Garlic Kimchi will also be available at the Juice Hive for a limited time.  All of the winning creations use organic fruit and produce supplied by Three Sisters Farm, a certified organic farm located along the Colleton River in Beaufort.

This year’s Good Food Awards were announced on Friday, January 22nd in a virtual Awards Ceremony broadcast across the country, offering a behind-the-scenes look inside the Winners’ kitchens and farms.  In addition, for the first time ever, people all over the country will have the chance to buy from multiple winners from a single place, in a single transaction at the Good Food Awards Pop Up Shop, a virtual marketplace featuring this year’s winning products.

In its 11th year, the Good Food Awards is the first national initiative to recognize food producers based on both taste and sustainability criteria. The Awards distinguish food producers committed to strengthening the sustainable food industry through the creation of ‘tasty, authentic, and responsible’ foods.  All finalists rose to the top in a blind tasting of 1,928 entries, then passed a rigorous vetting to confirm they meet Good Food Awards standards regarding supply chain transparency and environmentally sound agricultural practices.

For more information about the 2021 Good Food Awards, and a complete list of this year’s winners, visit https://goodfoodfdn.org/awards/winners/