Heather Giacone of Food Liaison wins top prize in AvoFest Best Guacamole contest
Judges sample the 14 entries in the AvoFest Best Guacamole contest during the Carpinteria Avocado Festival on Sunday.
The overall winner of the 2022 AvoFest Best Guacamole contest is the executive pastry chef of the Food Liaison restaurant in Carpinteria.
Heather Giacone, of Carpinteria, won top prize for her “excellent” guacamole in the competition that drew 13 entries, said Avocado Festival organizer Kim Gutierrez.
“I did try it, and it was excellent,” Ms. Gutierrez said. Ms. Giacone’s recipe will be posted online at AvoFest.com.
Among the criteria judged were an entry’s taste and texture, she said. Some entries from “purists” consisted of the standard avocado, tomatoes, onions and garlic, some augmented by lemon or lime juice. Other entries were more spicy, she said.
The competition was hosted by Rebecca Brand and Arthur Von Wiesenberger, who “had the crowd roaring” as the scores were tallied, Ms. Gutierrez said.
The contest’s celebrity judges were Carpinteria City Councilwoman Natalia Alarcon, Fred Brander of the Brander Vineyard, Mac Brown of the Wiggy Ranch, 2020 Carpinterian of the Year Beth Cox, Carpinteria City Manager David Durflinger, Little Dom’s owner Warner Ebbink, 2021 Carpinterian of the Year Clyde Freeman, Corktree Cellars owner André Jackson, KEYT reporter Tracy Lehr, KJEE General Manager Steve Meade, The Food Liaison executive chef and owner Nirasha Rodriguez and Battalion Chief Noah Tunney of the Carpinteria/Summerland Fire Department.
Day Two of the 36th Annual Avocado Festival, held in downtown Carpinteria, drew tens of thousands of visitors Sunday, just like it did the day before.
“It was three days of peace, love and guacamole,” she said. “We had great crowds and great music, and everyone was happy to be out there sharing with each other.”
In addition to offering the largest free musical festival in California – 75 musical performances on three stages spread over Friday, Saturday and Sunday – the festival featured a ferris wheel and food booths providing festival-goers with guacamole, taquitos, guacamole brownies, avocado egg rolls, tri-tip sandwiches and all things avocado, including avocado ice cream.
The 2022 Avocado Festival returned in person for the first time since 2019. While a virtual version of the festival was hosted in 2020 and 2021, this was the first in-person festival since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The festival was created in 1986 by community leaders Rob Godfrey, Connie Korbel, Debbie Murphy, Fran Puccinelli, Bob Ealee and John Franklin, the result of a brainstorming meeting to create an ongoing weekend event that would benefit the fundraising efforts of local nonprofit groups.
They turned to the avocado, which made sense since Santa Barbara County is the third largest avocado producer in North America.
email: nhartstein@newspress.com
