H-E-B received more than 700 entries from 140 cities from across the state of Texas of the most delectable, scrumptious, memorable dishes and beverages for its 5th Annual Quest for Texas Best culinary competition. Official judges have had the audacious task of narrowing down that field to the top 25 and five of them are from Houston. All 25 finalists will compete in the final round of competition on August 9-10, 2018, in Austin, TX for prizes totaling $70,000.

James Harris, Director, Diversity & Inclusion and Supplier Diversity, H-E-B, said, “Each year keeps us on our toes with innovative products, and this year is no exception.” Since the start of the competition, Harris said H-E-B judges have tasted more than 2,700 Texas-based food and beverages as a result 432 new products have been placed on the store shelves of the grocery giant.

During this year’s competition Harris said a panel of judges representing H-E-B’s business development division evaluated products based on their uniqueness as a product and its uniqueness to Texas. Next judges talked to culinary entrepreneurs to learn the story behind their product and brand finding out how they got started and what keeps the business going. Packaging and the cost to the consumer are considered as well as the overall market appeal. Judges want products to be distinctive from the numerous products H-E-B already has in stores. Finally, the judges taste the product. Although on the top 4 entries will be named as the grand prize winner and 1st through 3rd runner-up, all will not walk away empty handed. Besides receiving a wealth of information to enhance their product, some entrepreneurs may still get to see their product on the store shelves of H-E-B. “A great product is a great product,” said Harris.

I, along with the other media outlets, had the opportunity to sample what Houston area finalists are bringing to the table. Meet the 2018 Quest for Texas Best Houston Area Finalists:

Bellefontaine – French-style ice cream

Before you think things like gelato and shaved ice, don’t. This ice cream is way more sophisticated. Using only the freshest of ingredients, Lucienne Duforets, owner of Bellefontaine, makes some of the lightest, smoothest, flavorful ice cream there is. Starting as a pastry chef in France, Duforets perfected her skills as a dessert chef and found that she favored ice cream over the delicate pastries she made. She went developing her own recipe for the cool treat with the goal of making it less dense and rich. She struck goal with Bellefontaine. Making everything locally including her ingredients, the French style ice cream comes in 10 flavors like Salted Butter Caramel, Pistachio, Rose, and Bananas Foster. There is even a line dairy and gluten-free sorbets with flavors like dark chocolate, mango & passion fruit and coconut I probably tried all ten flavors. It was such a hard choice to pick just one as my favorite but I went with Lemon. Not too tart and just enough lemon made it sooooo good.

Bellville Meat Market – summer sausage

A summer is just not the same until you have a snack of summer sausage, cheese, and crackers. And if that is part of your summer routine, then your summer sausage needs to come from the guys at Bellville Meat Market. Thirty-seven years ago, Jerrod and Marcus Poffenberger’s parents Daniel and Diann just wanted to make some extra income to help feed the family. Utilizing his experience as a meat expert from working in their town’s grocery stores, Daniel developed his own brand pecan smoked sausage. The couple's sons took over the business a few years ago to grow the brand. Now the company sells everything from and a line of jerkys, dry sausages, smoked sausages, bacon wrap tenderloin, summer sausages, and more. Using only the leanest of meats, their summer sausage comes in four flavors – Peppercorn, Green Onion, Jalapeno Cheese, and my personal favorite, Sweet Chipotle. At first, I thought I would hate Sweet Chipotle since in my head sausage is not suppose to be sweet but the intense flavor won me over.

Big Little Fudge - fudge

The Big Little Fudge company is a small business packing plenty of flavor. Building off of Robin Strickland’s love affair with fudge, she and Kevin Graham started the company in 2009, with their own brand of fudge loading it with pecans, coconuts, cherries, and cranberries. Strickland wanted to present fudge in an unusual way so she decided to package it like a candy bar with the tagline “Live a little. Fudge a lot.” The big flavor in a little package took off and before long, the childhood friends were doing so well as candy makers they left their corporate oil and gas jobs to run their sweet business full time. They have a line of nine flavors with wacky, fun names for each of them. I adore the Big Wally, which is a classic take on traditional fudge with pecans. Their fudge is soft and moist and not hard and dry like some I have had. Pumpkin walnut, maple walnut, and salty blonde flavors will be introduced this fall.

Chef Rey Inc. - cheesecake

Cheesecake is served everywhere and everyone thinks their recipe is the best. But I ask you, have you tried Chef Rey’s cheesecake? Because if you haven’t then you don’t know good cheesecake. Reynold Darthard aka Chef Rey has been making cheesecake for 15 years after leaving his corporate to go study at culinary school at 37 years old. Inspired by the loving hands of his grandmother and mother, he leaned on history to craft his own brand of cheesecake that is smooth its like velvet. Coming in strawberry, raspberry, chocolate swirl, and sweet potato, Chef Rey offers the desserts as a regular 9-inch pie, mini individual pies, and trio of mini pies (for those who can’t just have one flavor). Unlike most who bake cheesecake in a water bath, Chef Rey blind bakes his cheesecake blends in his sour cream (that last part is one of his secrets). The biggest compliment for him is turning someone who hates cheesecake into a lover of one after trying his version. Yes, I have been converted.

Mad Hectic Oatmeal – oatmeal

Breast cancer survivor Beth Gallo just wanted to improve her diet with a healthy, quick breakfast. It had to have no artificial colors, trans fats, or sweeteners and it had to be quick and taste good. Twiddling and tinkering in her kitchen she created a high-protein nutritious oatmeal mix that will please even the pickiest eater (hence, me). Gallo’s oatmeal has carbs and lots of protein, organic oats, fiber, and a little sugar. Now run by family members Mallory and Ben Cowell, Mad Hectic Oatmeal comes in a variety flavors including almond pecan, French chocolate, and raspberry almond. And they are a company that gives back. Through their Random Acts of Oatmeal, customers can donate money, which they give to area food banks along with bags of oatmeal. To date they have contributes more than 450 bags of oatmeal equaling nearly 3,000 hot breakfasts for kids across Texas. Scared as a child by bowls of slimy oatmeal, I reluctantly tried Mad Hectic’s oatmeal and was oh so pleasantly surprised. This one is a keeper.

Besides giving these entrepreneurs a shot at having their product on H-E-B store shelves, H-E-B is giving them an opportunity to grow the Texas economy. By giving their products more exposure, the entrepreneurs are growing their demand increasing their income and them in turn needing employees to help fill the demands. “It’s a full circle operation,” said Harris. And H-E-B loves giving back and supporting small businesses.

H-E-B will award the Grand Prize winner $25,000, the coveted title “Texas Best” Primo Pick, and placement on store shelves; first-third place winners will receive $20,000, $15,000 and $10,000, respectively. In celebration of the fifth year of the competition, an additional prize of a 2018 Toyota Tundra is also being given away.

Harris has fun with this competition each year and offers some advice for next’s year competitors. Leading up to the competition, Harris gives a number of tutorials throughout the state for entrepreneurs to prepare to compete. He talks about packaging, nutritional facts, and what make a product most sellable. Entrepreneurs also get amazing feedback about their products. These tutorials by Harris happen around mid-February to early April so be on the lookout.

Good luck to all of Texas’ culinary entrepreneurs, especially those from the Houston area!