I don't know when this actually became something that I looked for, but I have recently fallen in love with the concept of buying locally sourced, made, and/or grown products. This summer my family and I have been spending a lot of time at the local public market that runs in our new town of Edmonds every year and we have found several vendors that produce some amazing stuff.
On our first visit we found not one, but two local creameries making cheese and other dairy products and a local producer of apple butter and related products including a absolutely amazing apple hickory BBQ sauce (Frawg n' Turtle). Frawg n' Turtle is also gluten free and corn syrup free if you are looking to be extra healthy or have friends who cannot due gluten like I do.
On our second trip, we discovered locally independent bakery producing homemade, gourmet pies, tarts, and torts. We also had to go back to one of our cheese vendors, Golden Glen Creamery, and discovered they had an amazing dill and garlic cheese curd in addition to the wonderful sun-dried tomato white cheddar that we picked up last time. Next to them was a place called Pete's Perfect Butter Toffee and never has the adjective "perfect" been so deserved.
Pete's toffee is delicious. It's creamy and flavorful and has just enough crunch to it to make it crunchy without making it jagged and overly hard. He's got dark and milk chocolate varieties as well as some mixed flavors like coconut, espresso, and a particularly yummy one with cranberries and pecans mixed it. The man also does fudge and buy is his fudge great. Thick, creamy, not gritty at all. It was firm enough to not start melting away at first touch but soft enough to never hold out against a good bite. He even cut the $5 chunk into family friendly slices after he had already wrapped it.
There have been others discovered away from the Edmonds Public Market too and other that I'm sure I'm forgetting. One last one worth noting was a locally sourced honey, called Pure Washington, that produces several varieties of honey including a delicious fire weed.
I like that I am supporting local small business, even if it is just with my weekend brunching or gourmet tastes. These folks worked hard and deserve the patronage. They have all been excellent in terms of quality and I never get better customer service than I do from a guy/gal on the other side of a stall. As an added bonus, most of this stuff tends to be a lot healthier than other stuff sold at stores. Sure it's pricier but you are paying for quality and hand-crafting. Besides nothing gets the creative cooking juices flowing like strolling through a market.
Take care and enjoy your Saturday!
P.S, Nothing beats fresh made mini doughnuts fresh from the fryer with a light sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar.
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I hear ya, my family and I really try to do the local thing whenever we can also. Maybe its just my imagination but I swear I can taste the difference!
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's your imagination. Growing up on a farm like you and I did, we know the difference!
ReplyDelete-Eli
Sounds fun!
ReplyDeleteI have a booth at the Farmer's Market every weekend here in Madison, WI. Although I sell artwork, t-shirts, pinback buttons etc... but they're local and organic :P
AK - How can those of us who are less local purchase your stuff?
ReplyDeleteBeing in the south there are literally twenty + farmers markets within driving distance of me. There is also the Riverside Art Walk area where they have fruits, veggies and other fun items for sale. There's even a ren faire guy there that sells leather goods.
ReplyDeleteThere is a local attraction called Frontier Village that plays host to numerous small folk art, craft, and rustic businesses as well as having an banquet hall.
ReplyDeleteOne of the places there is an iron work called "The Hobbit Ironworks" where they make hand-forge iron goods. There is also a cool shop that make furniture out of stumps. It's amazing how nice a pieceo f tree leftover can look once you stain and polish it.