Greenhouse competitions celebrates 15th year with new trophies and Chef’s Choice awards

(REACH International)

On June 15, 2022, R.E.A.CH. International held its annual Greenhouse Competitions including “The Hottest Tomato,” “The Perfect Pepper,” “The Coolest Cucumber” and the “Best Berry” Competitions.  

This year featured the addition of a Specialty Berry category and the Chef’s Choice Awards, according to a news release.

“We are so excited about these new chef’s choice awards,” Art Barron, president of R.E.A.CH. International, said in the release. “Chef Henry Furtado had 136 products to go through and choose some produce to inspire some appetizers that were served at the awards ceremony. He chose 11 products that were each awarded Chef’s Choice certificates.” 

These competitions have been running since 2007 to celebrate Essex County for being the largest greenhouse industry in North America, the release said. The charity which runs the annual event uses the proceeds from the competition to sponsor over 50 children in Uganda, Africa, annually, the release said.  These sponsorships give the children and teens food, school supplies, medicine, and everything else they need to get an education and break the cycle of poverty. 

A Very Different Kind of Charity: You wouldn’t naturally associate greenhouses with international child sponsorships but that’s exactly what has happened.  R.E.A.CH. International, the Canadian registered child-sponsorship charity, run completely by local volunteers, has been hosting an annual event that both celebrates local Greenhouse Fame while sponsoring some of the poorest children and families in the world, according to the release.  After many other charity scandals, people are often skeptical about what goes on in charities, which is why R.E.A.CH. International is so intriguing.  With no staff taking salaries, the charity is one of the very few that can guarantee that 100% of donated funds will be used for the intended purposes, according to the release.  

The Greenhouse Competitions, presented in part by farm sponsors Red Sun Farms and Nature Fresh Farms, started on Wednesday morning. Produce was delivered to Kingsville Community Centre to be numbered and sorted by volunteers and then delivered to judges across Essex County, the release said.  Once judges received their package of produce, it was time to evaluate and enter scores into a secured online database. These expert judges from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), grocery store produce managers, Culinary Guild of Windsor Chefs, and many others, judged the entries with a specialized list of criteria developed by the Head Judge, Shalin Khosla, the release said.

The awards ceremony was held in person at Kingsville Community Church and broadcast as a live stream at noon on Friday, June 17th.  To watch the recording of the award ceremony visit greenhousecompetitions.com.  The winners received newly designed ceramic cup trophies and, of course, the bragging rights as the best producers in North America.  Photos of the winners receiving their awards can be found at the website.

This year’s event will sponsor another 50 children and teens to attend school, meet medical, clothing or housing needs in Uganda, Africa, the third poorest nation in the world. And with the additional donations, as every year, R.E.A.CH. was able to continue to partner with and support the efforts of local charities that help our community.  

 

2022 Winners in the Greenhouse Capital of North America are:

 

 

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Cocktail Cucumbers

 

SCORE

CC318

Nature Fresh Farms

Tiny Cocktail Cucumber

811.1

CC218

Pure Flavor

Poco Bites Cucumber

811.0

CC065

Topline Farms

Huge Cruncher

758.3

Mini Cucumbers

 

SCORE

CM325

Pure Flavor

Pure Flavor Mini Cucumber

905.6

CM217

Nature Fresh Farms

Nature Fresh Mini Cucumber

891.7

CM085

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Sunset Mini Cuke

863.9

English Cucumbers

 

SCORE

CE115

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Sunset English Cukes

811.1

CE382

Nature Fresh Farms

Nature Fresh Long English

727.8

CE286

Pure Flavor

Pure Flavor Long English Cucumber

725.0

Overall Best Cucumber

CM325

Pure Flavor

Pure Flavor Mini Cucumber

905.6

 

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Red Bell Pepper

 

SCORE

PR232

Nature Fresh Farms

Nature Fresh Red Bell Pepper

980.0

PR549

Pure Flavor

Pure Flavor Sweet Red Bell

933.3

PR118

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Sunset Red Bell Pepper

893.3

Yellow Bell Pepper

 

SCORE

PY024

Pure Flavor

Pure Flavor Yellow Bell

850.0

PY375

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Sunset Yellow Bell Pepper

836.7

PY549

Nature Fresh Farms

Nature Fresh Yellow Bell Pepper

760.0

 

 

Orange Bell Pepper

 

 

 

 

 

SCORE

PO515

Nature Fresh Farms

Nature Fresh Orange Bell Pepper

980.0

PO241

Pure Flavor

Pure Flavor Sweet Orange Bell

923.3

PO127

Mucci Farms

Mucci Orange Bell Pepper

903.3

Specialty Mini Pepper

 

SCORE

PM762

Mucci Farms

Bella Sweets

826.7

PM178

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

One Sweet Pepper

823.3

PM083

DelFrescoPure

Sweetreats

806.7

Specialty Long Pepper

 

SCORE

PL379

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Wildwonder (Brown)

823.3

PL542

Mucci Farms

Rustico

790.0

PL017

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Wildwonder (Red)

763.3

Hot Pepper

 

SCORE

PH452

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Yowzer Pepper

848.5

PH128

Nature Fresh Farms

Nature Fresh Jalepeno

845.5

PH649

Mucci Farms

Mucci Ghost Pepper

830.3

Hottest Pepper was PH362 - Mucci Farms Carolina Reaper

Overall Best Pepper

PR232

Nature Fresh Farms

Nature Fresh Red Bell Pepper

980.0

       
 

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Strawberry

 

SCORE

SS205

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Pear Berry

470.2

SS054

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Lolliberry

461.4

SS005

DelFrescoPure

Yes! Berries

415.8

Specialty Berry

 

SCORE

SB584

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Berry World Raspberry

301.8

SDB125

Nature Fresh Farms

Bashful Strawberries

215.8

Overall Best Berry

SS205

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Pear Berry

470.2

       
 

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Beefsteak

 

SCORE

TB342

Nature Fresh Farms

Nature Fresh Beefsteak Tomato #2

905.6

TB055

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Sunset Beefsteak Tomato

852.8

TB404

Nature Fresh Farms

Nature Fresh Beefsteak Tomato #1

811.1

TOV/Cluster

 

SCORE

TV268

Mucci Farms

Prova

795.8

TV107

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Sunset TOV #1

794.4

TV622

Pure Flavor

Pure Flavor TOV

769.4

Roma

   

SCORE

TR825

Nature Fresh Farms

Nature Fresh Roma

839.9

TR154

Pure Flavor

Pure Flavor Roma Tomato

719.4

TR052

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Sunset Romana

663.9

Cocktail

 

SCORE

TC104

DelFrescoPure

Delights

852.8

TC943

Nature Fresh Farms

Black Label Yoom

813.9

TC113

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Kumato

800.0

Specialty Tomato

 

SCORE

TS416

Nature Fresh Farms

Black Label Hiiro's

972.2

TS217

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Valentino

925.0

TS162

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Moonglow

913.9

Bitesize

 

SCORE

TM582

Red Sun Farms

Sweet Pops

808.1

TM389

Nature Fresh Farms

Black Label Hiiro's

805.6

TM116

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Angel Sweet

763.9

Overall Best Tomato

TS416

Nature Fresh Farms

Black Label Hiiro's

972.2

       
 

 

 
   
 

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Hottest Tomato

   

TC157

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Yoom Cocktail Tomato

TV009

DelFrescoPure

Delfresco T.O.V.

TS217

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Valentino Specialty Tomato

TS018

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Sprinkles Specialty Tomato

Perfect Pepper

   

PL125

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Wildwonder (Yellow)  Long Pepper

PR232

Nature Fresh Farms

Nature Fresh Red Bell Pepper

PL379

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Wildwonder (Brown)  Long Pepper

PH362

Mucci Farms

Carolina Reaper Hot Pepper

Coolest Cucumber

   

CM485

Topline Farms

Topline Mini Cucumbers

CM318

Nature Fresh Farms

Tiny Cocktail Cucumbers

Best Berry

   

SS054

Sunset Mastronardi Produce

Lolliberry Strawberry

       

 

 

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