Cutchogue Spice Company Wins SOFI Award

Photos by Randee Daddona

cHarissa, a local spice business, announced on Wednesday that the company won the prestigious Specialty Food (SOFI) award.

“This is a tremendous honor,” cHarissa’s 91-year-old founder Earl Fultz, who attended the ceremony with co-owner Jeri Woodhouse and members of the cHarissa team said. “To be selected as the top entry in our category by our peers is truly rewarding. People love cHarissa because it is like no other spice. It’s the healthy choice that’s good on everything.”

On Sunday, June 28, the start-up, founded by Cutchogue resident Earl Fultz, traveled to Manhattan’s Jacob Javits Center and took first place in the “Cooking, Dipping or Finishing Sauce” category at the 2015 Summer Fancy Food Show.

The contest finalists were chosen by a national panel of 36 specialty food experts during eight days of tastings prior to the show.

Selections were based on quality, innovation, ingredient profile, packaging and pricing of the products. The ultimate winners were determined by votes from show attendees.

cHarissa was developed in America by Moroccan native Gloria Elmaleh Fultz, it is made of all natural ingredients and contains no sugar, MSG or gluten.

Gloria and Earl were encouraged for decades by family and friends to sell cHarissa but it wasn’t until they settled into retirement that they began to bottle it.

Though Gloria passed away in 2013, Earl, continues to grow the company.

In October, the company was one of the top five grand prize winners in the Wells Fargo Works Project contest, winning $25,000 for their business, tailored solutions for their business, six months of professional guidance from small business experts and a $5,000 donation to an eligible non-profit organization in their community made by Wells Fargo.