It’s time to whip out that world famous chili recipe you’ve been keep­ing under wraps. The Red Apron Chili Cookoff is com­ing to town on Feb­ru­ary 25^th, and you still have time to enter any or all four cat­e­gories in the con­test tak­ing place at TANGER II Out­let in Bluffton, and ben­e­fit­ing Bluffton Self Help.

Ever won­dered how pop­u­lar Chili Cookoff con­tests really are?

Well, ICS (The Inter­na­tional Chili Soci­ety) is the largest food con­test, fes­ti­val orga­ni­za­tion in the world! And Bluffton Self Help is bring­ing a sanc­tioned ICS Chili Cook-off right here to Bluffton. It is the first sanc­tioned chili cook-off to be help ever in the Hilton Head/Bluffton area. The RED APRON CHILI COOKOFF will ben­e­fit BSH, a United Way Agency. This first year event has open­ings for 20 cooks in each of the four categories.

The Cat­e­gories and Prizes are:

• Best Com­pet­i­tive Red Chili (top prize — up to $500 plus a week­end resort stay in Hilton Head area)
• Best Chili Verde Chile pre­pared by a cook (top prize — up to $500 plus a week­end resort stay in Hilton Head area)
• Best Salsa (top prize — up to $250 plus a week­end resort stay in Hilton Head area)
• Best Home­style Chile (new cat­e­gory) (top prize — up to $250 plus a week­end resort stay in Hilton Head area)
• People’s Choice Chili — your favorite recipe made with beans and offered for spec­ta­tor tast­ing through­out the day.

If you’re not really the cook and more the cook’s best friend… there’s a job for you, too — TASTING!
The prizes will be awarded accord­ing to pop­u­lar vote from the event’s expert tasters.

Put this on your cal­en­dar now!

WHEN: Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 25^th
WHERE: TANGER II OUTLET
COST FOR COOKS: $35 for sanc­tioned RED and GREEN plus ICS Mem­ber­ship fees,  $25 for Salsa and $35 for Home­style plus ICS Mem­ber­ship fees)
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: Bring 2 gal­lons of chili to offer to spec­ta­tors for tast­ing, and your $35 entry fee will be waived.
COST FOR TASTERS: $10 plus a bag of non­per­ish­able food items or $15 with­out food dona­tion
BEER AND WINE: With proper iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, wrist bands will be pro­vided to allow pur­chase of alco­holic bev­er­ages
TIME: 10:ooam — 4:00pm; judg­ing at 3:00pm;  tast­ing through­out the day; Spe­cials avail­able all day at par­tic­i­pat­ing Tanger II stores and restaurants.