Fresh Approach Cooking

Welcome one and all to the Second Annual Independent Food Festival Awards! A kudo-fest devised to give recognition to anyone or thing us food-blogging judges deem worthy, as brought to us by the every-delightful TasteEverything.org. A cause I can get behind for sure.

As some of my more loyal readers may recall, I actually designated an Independent Food Award last year, only at that time I hadn’t exactly been asked to judge, I just sort of went for it, guerilla style. What can I say, I'm a cheeky girl, I had an opinion and I wanted to share.

This year though, I am an official judge (and jurorist) and am honored to be part of this event. So with no further ado, I give you the 2006 Independent Food Awards Winner for

Finest Juice Imaginable (From a Company With a Heart)

And the winner is…CurrantC!






What is CurrantC? It’s a luscious, refreshing, deep purple, real-sugar-sweetened, juice brought to you by proud NY Farmers on a mission.

Mission you ask? Yes, mission, to bring back real, antioxidant-rich currants as a cash crop, support local agriculture and introduce people to a fruit that for more than a hundred years was banned in this country (In 1911 the plant was fingered in a blight scandal and banished to protect the timber industry.) but due to their diligence and passion, has recently been re-introduced.

Now, I’m not a journalist or a scientist, and certainly cannot back their health claims…no, I’m just one girl with an opinion and a public forum to air it in - so having read their website, and tasted their delicious beverage, I can say with all honesty, this is a product and a company worthy of our attention.

The juice they blend is the color of the sky after twilight; it has an intense jammy-berriness, a subtle hint of tartness and a clean – adult - sweetness that doesn’t linger, allowing the purity of the bold fruit flavors to come through. It is perfect chilled, and lends itself to a wide assortment of recipes from salads to desserts. In a nutshell, it is, indeed, a tasty and versatile beverage.

So there you go kids, my choice for the 2nd Annual Independent Food Awards. It wasn’t such a hard choice since I love a company that is doing something for a reason, and doing it well. I hope you will take a moment and check out their site, and find out if they sell their divine elixir somewhere near you...try it, and enjoy!

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In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess, after I first drank down a bottle of yummy CurrantC, (that I bought at the Whole Foods in Beverly Hills, btw) I wrote an email to them saying how much I liked it – mind you, I had already decided to give them this award at this point – because Im just the kind of girl who does that sort of thing. It just so happened, that in response, they most kindly offered to send me a case, which I accepted, and distributed to friends and family. Everyone enjoyed it and are converts. So thank you CurrantC!

Dried currants are not the same thing as fresh currants. Dried currants are actually small raisins - the dried fruit of the Zante grape, originally from Corinth, Greece. Fresh currants (red, pink, black and white) are the fruits of plants in the gooseberry family, genus Ribes. - Food Facts and Trivia