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Dave’s Gourmet is launching a national contest to find America’s next great sauce, salsa or dip.

“I know that somewhere someone is home making their own sauce because they know it’s better than anything they can get at the supermarket,” says Dave Hirschkop, founder of Dave's Gourmet. His South San Francisco, Calif.-based specialty food company has received two sofi Golds in 2009 and 2010 for his pasta sauces. “Well, I want that sauce. I want to manufacture it and bring it to people around the world. The only problem I’ve had in that equation was how to find it.”

Enter Dave’s brainchild: the Dave’s Gourmet Recipe Challenge, which carries a grand prize of up to $1,000,000 in sales royalties.

Entries are due by Dec. 31. 

From Jan. 1-4, 2012, Dave’s team will test the recipes and choose a bank of semifinalists. Sauces will be judged in five categories – taste, appearance, creativity, consumer appeal and the recipe’s ability to be mass-produced.

Those semifinalist sauces will be taste-tested by a panel from Dave’s Gourmet and finalist sauces will be chosen and their owners notified between Jan. 12-14.
 

On Jan. 15 to 17, hundreds of food professionals attending the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco will taste the finalists’ entries and will vote for their favorite.

On Jan. 18, the winner or winners will be announced and notified. The winner will receive royalties for six years, up to $1 million.