Awards
It’s Not Easy Being King Or Making
The Best-Darn Meat Market Products!
Ever wonder about all those many awards and plaques behind the meat counter? They mostly represent 1st-pace finishes when Corralitos Market has entered CAMP’s yearly (California Association of Meat Processors) competitions. Like Corralitos Market, its members are made up of individually owned businesses, smaller, non-corporate grocery stores, meat processors and butcher shops.
“The awards are nice and validate our hard work,” says president and butcher shop manager Dave Peterson. “Annually, smaller markets and manufacturers will attend CAMP conventions, where many of us will enter the best of our products in numerous categories — ham, sausage, bacon, beef jerky, luncheon meats and more — in the hopes of taking home first place.
Going Back to School
“The conventions are held at various California universities and colleges such as UC Chico, Cal Poly, UC Davis and Fresno State,” Dave continues. “There we’ll attend numerous seminars and classes which cover an array of topics to help keep us on top of new laws, regulations and trends, such as meat inspection, new machinery and supplies, spices, sausage casings, even the latest industry diseases. It’s very informative and a learning experience.”
Back to the awards: Judges consider everything about each entry: looks, texture, too much or too little salt, fat and more. Win or lose, those who enter their products can personally talk to the judges after the awards are announced. Dave says, “It’s great that we can can get feedback about what you’re doing right and wrong.”
Highest Standards
It’s obvious that the Corralitos Market butchers have high standards and care deeply about making the highest quality products available to their loyal customers. After all, the market has won over 100 1st-place awards over the years and yet they still go to these annual seminars. “We been attending the seminars since 1977,” says Dave. “We know that we make some outstanding products. But that doesn’t mean that we still can’t learn something new to help keep us on top of our game.”
Our Award-Winners
Some of the markets award-winning product are their the apple sausages, smoked salmon, smoked turkey, and marinated meats such as trip-tip and marinated chicken breast. Generally, the market will enter 10-13 products for judging, and will take home several 1st, 2nd- and 3rd- place finishes.