Our Favorite New Locally Made Pantry Items
By Allecia Vermillion June 23, 2016 Published in the July 2016 issue of Seattle Met
Bow Hill Organic Pickled Blueberries
The much-loved blueberry farm makes jams and sauces, but there’s something so memorable about fat, sweet blueberries pickled in tart brine. Berries can garnish salmon or—as discovered in the Marx Foods test kitchen—you can reduce the brine with honey to use it as a glaze.
Get it: Marx Foods, Bow Hill’s online store at bowhillblueberries.com
Callahan’s Habanero Hot Sauce
Seattle is lousy with great hot sauce, but this new habanero version is equal parts bright and fiery. The sweetness is subtle, not excessive, and comes from local carrots and Walla Walla onions.
Get it:Local specialty markets
Umami Kushi Yuzu Koshio
The owner of a yakitori catering business began making this Japanese chili paste, using yuzu and sea salt from Japan and Alvarez Farms chili peppers, to slather on grilled meats. Customers use it as a pork marinade, to add citrusy fire to everything from soups to sweet potatoes, and even in a savory French toast recipe.
Get it: Local specialty markets
Sisters Baking Co. Rain City Crunch
Snacky hunks of granola are made with oats, nuts, seeds, raw honey, Washington cream and butter, and just the right calibration of sweet and salt. A dessert-suitable version contains Theo chocolate.
Get it Cone and Steiner, Bartell Drugs, Whole Foods
Chocolate Krak
Honeycomb candy—looks like a sea sponge, tastes like fluffy caramel—is coated in good-quality chocolate and finished with salt. The name is a trifle indelicate, but the sentiment that you can’t stop eating this stuff is apt.
Get it: Cone and Steiner, West Seattle Thriftway
Landsea Gomasio
Japan’s rice condiment, a mix of toasted sesame seeds and salt, gets an Orcas Island makeover with the introduction of stinging nettle and high-potassium kelp in place of salt.
Get it: Marx Foods
Distillery Provisions Gin Pickles
Over at Batch 206 Distillery, the owners use spent gin botanicals—like juniper, tarragon, citrus peel—to brine these crunchy pickles. The results yearn to garnish a bloody mary.
Get it: DeLaurenti, E. Smith Mercantile, Marx Foods, Batch 206 Tasting Room
