Warrick Dowsett and Ashley Thompson run Wozz! Kitchen Creations, a new company that makes artisanal condiments, dressings, and glazes out of a Hardwick, Vt., shared kitchen. They drive into Boston from the Northeast Kingdom to sell their wares at SoWa and other farmers’ markets, and a few retail shops. Last week, two of the couple’s products won a Sofi (“specialty outstanding food innovation”), a top honor from the Specialty Food Association, a group of food producers, wholesalers, and buyers. Dowsett, 38, and Thompson, 33, walked away with two gold statues of a chef holding a chafing dish for their Triple Ale Onion Savory Spread, a condiment with sweet and hoppy flavors, made from caramelized onions and three artisanal ales, and for Ginger Soy Infusion Dressing, which combines dashi stock, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and toasted sesame seeds. The couple shared the stage with five other New England food producers, who won in various categories, including Tonewood Maple of Waitsfield, Vt., for their line of fresh maple syrups, cream, seasonings, wafers, and eye-catching maple cube that is grated,
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like cheese, for toppings. Other Vermont winners were Castleton Crackers of Castleton for Governor’s Cheddar Crackers, and Vermont Creamery of Websterville for Bijou, a French-style goat cheese. Hancock Gourmet Lobster Co. in Topsham, Maine, took home a Sofi for gluten-free lobster mac and cheese, and Coop’s MicroCreamery of Watertown, Mass., won for innovative packing of the cool, drippy wax lid on jars of hot fudge. Wozz! Kitchen Creations, www.wozzkitchen
creations.com; Tonewood Maple, www.tonewoodmaple.com; Castleton Crackers, www
.castletoncrackers.com;
Vermont Creamery, www
.vermontcreamery.com;
Hancock Gourmet Lobster Co., www.hancockgourmetlobster
.com; Coop’s MicroCreamery, www.coopsmicrocreamery
.com.