Like a vegan kefir, this milky beverage from the folks at Harmless Harvest is made with USDA Organic coconut water, coconut meat, cane sugar and live and active cultures, including fermented strains and added GanedenBC30. Available in four smooth, fruity varieties, each bottle contains 12.5 billion CFU and no stabilizers, gums or thickeners.

Bone broth is savory, satisfying and a paleo favorite, but neither Brooklyn hipsters nor crossfit cavemen can live on protein alone. Mom told you us to eat your veggies. Bonafide Provisions tells you to drink them. Though perhaps a bit salty for some, Drinkable Veggies still put all the functional factors into what could be called the comfort food of the beverage world.

Greens have more fun. These bowls bring chickpeas front and center—but not your typical blonde chickpeas. Instead, Vana serves up green chickpeas, which boast higher protein and fiber in convenient boil-in-the-bag (good for camping!) or microwavable pouches and flavors like chipotle, chimichurri and coconut/lime. We’d like to see organic but are pleased to see non-GMO chickpeas that naturally fix more nitrogen into U.S. soil.

From Colorado, yes the landlocked state known for its skiing, comes this sustainably sourced seafood dinner kit. LoveTheWild shares the love of seafood by making it easy for consumers to cook with cut fish, tasty sauces and parchment paper, ready to prepare with easy instructions. The company, though, exists to preserve waterways with responsible aquaculture. We love the great traceability, too: Each box is labeled with the specific location from which the product was sourced. LoveTheWild is available in four varieties: Barramundi with Mango Sriracha Chutney, Catfish with Cajun Creme, Rainbow Trout with Salsa Verde, and the newly launched Striped Bass with Roasted Pepper Almond Sauce.

There’s just so much to like here. Smoky, bacon-y strips of sustainably sourced, wild-caught salmon spiced up with gluten-free, non-GMO, kosher goodness. The strips cook up tender and deliver not just a lean bacon alternative, but the added umami and (not fishy!) flavor complexity of keta salmon. And at $5 for a half pound pack, it won’t break the fishy bank.

Most known for its colorful, globally inspired, veggie-packed frozen bowls, Sweet Earth also makes a mean veggie burger. The Mediterranean Veggie Burger launching this spring is a vibrant and bold burger packed with organic chickpeas, mushrooms, barley, quinoa and more. Each patty packs 12 grams of plant protein and 5 grams of fiber.

Kraut kings Farmhouse Culture bring us a chip with the delicious taste and the beneficial function of sauerkraut. Rich in a plant-based probiotic blend, these tangy tortilla chips are great for when you’re craving a salty snack. We’ll gladly accept this organic, non-GMO, gut-friendly replacement for the traditional salt and vinegar potato chip. 

Good Karma Dairy Free Yogurts deliver 5 to 6 grams of plant-based protein, 800 mg of omega-3 healthy fats, and seven live and active cultures. Delivering a flax-based alternative with form and function, Good Karma is nutritious, free of all major allergens and a nutritious example of snacking innovation.

Most maple syrup producers take the sap runs at the end of the year to make Grade B syrup: a dark, overcooked, lower-quality product. Not so at the Maple Guild, where passion for the community and the woods drives innovation. The team uses the sap leftover after the fleeting season of Grade A Amber maple syrup production and turn it into sweet and tangy maple vinegar, plus a whole slew of interesting maple-infused products. We love their commitment to creating jobs in Vermont by extending the production cycle and amount of SKUs that come from one resource.

Hail Merry’s bite-sized tarts are the perfect little dessert–vegan, paleo-friendly, and free of dairy, gluten and GMOs, with some of the cleanest ingredient lists we’ve seen. The treats contain only plant-based, energizing "good fats." We love that this women-owned company is dedicated to making raw treats that taste great and don’t exclude those with dietary restrictions.

Who says you have to hit the spa for your next great skin care treatment? Here’s our pick for performance—elevated. As the natural beauty industry hones its focus on results-oriented products, MyChelle raises the bar with the latest addition to its Perfect C line. This serum features patented (which helps guarantee potency and quality) L-Ascorbic Acid, the research-backed form of skin-healthy vitamin C. At 25 percent, this professional level concentration allows for deep skin penetration and powerful healthy aging benefits.

Chronic stress is a right-to-win area for supplements because it’s not a disease state (only drugs can make disease claims) but rather just a lifestyle problem. Employing authentic biodynamic practices ensures the power of the plant is in every tincture release. 

Gouch! liquid, launched in December 2016 from Redd Remedies, is a new format for this formulation, designed to for easy absorption and to quickly support healthy uric acid levels. Currently the No. 1 sold solution for gout is tart cherry, which does not fully address the problem. Gouch! Liquid is designed with a whole-body perspective, combining tart cherries and quercetin along with other condition-specific supportive botanicals. Gouch! provides the quality of the science-backed claims, along with the sharp marketing. We believe this to be a relevant addition to a health category for consumers really craving discomfort relief.

The future of supplements is here: a zero-waste, plantable packaging box containing wildflower seeds, an innovative spray delivery system, and a non-fish source of an impressive 600 mg DHA. Then it’s lightly flavored with organic pineapple and citrus flavor. Yum—hold the fish burps. 

Boulder Clean embodies green initiatives in its impressively powerful, natural and sustainable products. Its Dishwasher Detergent Power Packs use an innovative, plant-based sugar technology to deliver a high-performing, nontoxic cleaning agent that supports both a safer home and planet. The package is 100 percent recyclable and includes a How2Recycle Store Drop-off label aimed at educating consumers on recycling and diverting waste from landfills. 

SeaSnax Chomperz is the healthy and natural alternative to salty, crunchy kids’ snacks. Boldly going where no seaweed has gone before, these bite-size snacks are innovatively designed to appeal to kids: Seaweed curls are wrapped in rice and seasoned with hints of flavors, including onion, barbecue and jalapeno.

Juvecol, developed by Maypro, is a proprietary, eco-friendly salmon nose cartilage extract clinically shown to support joint health and skin beauty with the added advantages of small daily dosage, ease of formulation, competitive price and rapid action. It utilizes high quality and purified cartilage that is not used by fishermen. We were impressed by not only the reported benefits, but the supply chain story, where previously wasted material has been repurposed into a beneficial health product.

Our judges loved how 10^th Avenue Tea’s salt shaker-like packaging stands out on the shelf among boxes and tins and eliminates the use of tea bags. Each recyclable shaker bottle contains 45 to 60 servings of instant tea powder made from matcha or black tea extract. Just shake it into a mug, pour hot or iced water over it, and drink. The Chicago-based company was founded by two "tea-loving, tree-hugging entrepreneurial moms."

Open Farm Pet Food highlights transparency in its supply chain to further its mission to produce healthy pet food. Each unit is equipped with a lot number for the consumer to look up on the Open Farm website. The lot number report will show where each ingredient was ethically sourced and the third-party lab results of each individual bag.

Wize Monkey creates delightful coffee leaf tea infusions made from Arabica coffee leaves. Even among strong category contenders, its mission stands out with the goal of creating stable, year-round revenues for coffee farming communities. Wize Monkey's goal of inspiring a world-wide change in coffee farming and creating long-term value for farmers across all continents is one we support.

This savvy small business is fixing whole-food supplements' irritating dirty-label problem by coming up with a rice-based (organic on request) replacement to the top two non-nutritive fillers: silicone dioxide and magnesium stearate. Thanks to Ribus, supplements just got a whole lot cleaner.

Lundberg Family Farms celebrated its 80th year anniversary in 2017—an incredible feat for a company that has survived WWII and seen the devastating 1930s Dustbowl first-hand. Lundberg’s continued commitment to serve as stewards of the soil made them a clear choice for this award. We were wildly impressed with Lundberg’s new corn-free Grounded Snacks. In addition to a heavy sprinkle of spices, these crunchy triangles featured organic rice and organic quinoa, the Peruvian and Bolivian grain that grows well in high altitudes. Lundberg is actively working to widen the supply of American-grown, organic quinoa to provide jobs, promote local sourcing and minimize carbon footprint.

Misfit Juicery caught our attention because the company is devoted to mitigating food waste in nearly every part of its business. For sourcing, Misfit partners with farms, produce distributors and even large-scale caterers to salvage misshapen, bruised and asymmetrical produce from the landfill and turn these odds and ends into delicious cold-pressed juice. While many juice companies are burdened by an inordinate amount of juice pulp, Misfit sees this as an opportunity for partnership. The company collaborates with an organization called the Compost Cab to turn fibrous, nutrient-dense pulp into compost, and is currently experimenting with ideas to turn the pulp into a complementary snack product. Other companies should use Misfit as a model to retool their supply and waste streams to put a dent in food waste.

Upholding the company’s unwavering commitment to organic and fair trade ingredients, Dr. Bronner’s new cooling formula contains arnica, camphor, menthol and peppermint oils in a base of organic beeswax and organic oils. Massage on your sore feet or lower back, rub into cracked knuckles and elbows, or simply apply it to your body for instant relaxation and you’ll know why it’s called "magic."

But best of all is this company’s ongoing commitment to issues that far transcend its regular introductions of beloved bathroom staples. Year after year, Dr. Bronner’s reinforces the ethos of the natural products industry and the power that businesses can have to, quite literally, change the world. Whether it's fair wages, GMO transparency or hemp legislation, Bronner’s is never afraid to take a stand on important issues. This year, the company is focused on climate change and how regenerative agriculture, supplier relationships and industry partnerships can work toward reversing global warming. One of the first personal care companies to be a part of this conversation, Dr. Bronner’s proves how beautiful conscious business really can be. 

True to the clever name, Nice Mussels are precisely that. This pet-food snack is human-grade, non-GMO, single ingredient, whole-food and high in omega-3 fatty acids. The mussels are freeze-dried, New Zealand blue and green mussels that are rated by the Monterey Seafood Watch Program as one of the most sustainable seafood products in the world.

Recognizing that our oceans are drowning in a sea of plastic, Rainbow Light partnered with 5 Gyres Institute and reduced its carbon footprint by 92 percent by switching to EcoGuard 100 percent post-consumer waste plastic. Not just recyclable but recycled, Rainbow Light could—and should—change the entire packaging game for supp bottles.