Renfro Foods Announces 70th Anniversary Recipe Contest Winners

FORT WORTH, TX, December 05, 2010 (Press-News.org) From more than 350 recipes received from across the United States, Spicy Gorgonzola Black Bean Sausage over Seared Skillet Polenta was the overall top-winning recipe in Renfro Foods' 70th Anniversary Recipe Contest. Submitted by Candy McMenamin of Lexington, SC, it won in the Entree category.

Other Top 3 recipes include: Roasted Garlic Layered Border Dip from Kellie Foglio of Salem, Wis., and Divine Vegetarian Breakfast Burritos from Lindsay Gollihar of San Francisco, Calif. They won in the Appetizer and Healthy categories, respectively.

Original recipes were received through Renfro's company website and by mail.

"We were just overwhelmed with the response and received many terrific recipes," said Doug Renfro, president of Renfro Foods. "To celebrate 70 years of business, we thought it would be great fun to have a recipe contest since we include recipes on our labels and have a recipe page on our website. We received some wonderful and creative recipes and can't wait to share them with everyone on our jar labels and on our website."

The Top 3 recipes not only received Grand Prize status but also garnered recognition as a Judge's Choice. Among the Judge's Panel were some of the Dallas-Fort Worth area's top chefs, including Jon Bonnell (Bonnell's), Don Agate (Eddie V's), Keith Hicks (Buttons), and Brian Olenjack (Olenjack's Grille).

The Judge's Choice, the final judging event, was a partnership between Renfro Foods and the Tarrant Area Food Bank in Fort Worth. Culinary students of the food bank's Community Kitchen program, working under the guidance of Training Chef Vedat Lika and Production Chef Manuel Vasquez, prepared the Top 12 of 24 Grand Prize recipes, selected by Renfro Foods.

Grand Prize winners' recipes will be featured on a Mrs. Renfro's specialty salsa label and be included on Renfro Foods' online recipe page. Grand Prize winners will receive a year's supply of Mrs. Renfro's gourmet salsa, along with other prizes.

About Renfro Foods
Renfro Foods is a third generation family business founded 70 years ago as a packaged spices and pepper sauce business. It later expanded to include syrup, jellies, preserves and chow chow, and then salsa. Today Renfro Foods, known for its innovative line of Mrs. Renfro's products which come with a simple and tasty recipe right on the label, manufactures a variety of salsas, sauces and relishes, including 30 Mrs. Renfro's products distributed through leading supermarkets, gourmet foods stores and gift shops in all 50 states, Canada and the Caribbean. The company's newest and hottest salsa - Ghost Pepper - is its fast-selling new salsa and a 2011 Scoville Award winner. For more information, please visit http://www.renfrofoods.com, and join in on the conversation on Facebook (Mrs. Renfro's Gourmet Salsas) and Twitter (@RenfroFoods).