HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

In that spirit, we hope you’ll enjoy these treats, organized into six categories. Serve them at a party or give them as gifts to others.

Early on, we decided not to organize the awards around a single bestin-category winner. Choosing just one jam or goat cheese would lock up those categories, preventing us from bringing other, equally worthy products to light. Frankly, there’s too much good food out there to paint ourselves into that corner. Think of these as “awards of excellence,” rather than an either/or competition.

Traveling around New England, we surveyed farmers’ markets, gourmet shops, festivals, and supermarkets—and began bringing interesting products back to the office to taste and compare. Whenever one of them made our eyes light up, we put it on the short list.

hree years ago, we launched these food awards to highlight the delicious cheeses, chocolates, jams, charcuterie, and other specialty foods that we saw coming to the market with increasing frequency.

Our guide to