When you peek inside the kitchens of our editors, here are some of the locally made favorites that you might be lucky enough to find.
Artisanal Ice Cream
Greenfield Ice Cream Company Tuxedo
If you’re going to do a calorie splurge on one thing, this is it. Free of weird gums or other suspect ingredients, this freezer-find incorporates Hudson Valley Fresh milk and local eggs. In fact, the company actually wants you to read the label. The makers churn out classic signature flavors, like chocolate and salted caramel. Think vanilla is boring? Try the Vanilla Honey Crumble, a creamy mix with veins of sweet nectar, bite-size oats, light brown sugar, and cinnamon. We challenge you not to eat the whole pint in one sitting. 855-486-3587; www.greenfieldicecream.com
Related: Artisanal Ice Cream Shop Celebrates Its 30th Year
Black Currant Caviar
Hudson-Chatham Winery Ghent
Dress up your next brunch or wine-and-cheese soirée with this thick, jammy spread, which pairs beautifully with a cheese plate. It not only resembles true caviar in its glistening blackness, it also contains whole currant berries, which feel like tiny beads of Beluga on your tongue. Grown all over Europe but only recently introduced to New York State, currants outdo even blueberries in antioxidant value, and they’re also loaded with vitamin C, so you can always say you’re eating this strictly for medicinal purposes. 518-392-9463; www.hudsonchathamwinery.com/black-currant-caviar
Related: Black Currant Wine Makes a Comeback
Duck Eggs
John Fazio Farms Modena
Duck eggs have gone from humble to haute, appearing in daring dishes on top restaurant menus. It’s about time, too: Everything they’re quacked up to be, they are the perfect yolk for foodie folk. Larger than chicken eggs, with a richer, smoother, creamier consistency, and higher protein content, these thick-shelled wonders can be used in exactly the same way as chicken eggs — and often without setting off allergies. Duck Eggs Benedict, anyone? Get your stash from this Modena farmer, who feeds his birds an antibiotic- and hormone-free diet. 845-590-7108; www.johnfaziofarms.com
Related: Where to Buy Duck Eggs Locally
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Coconut curry from Maya Kaimal Fresh Indian Foods (left) and “healthy’ soda syrup from Drink More Good - Partner Content -
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Coconut Curry
Maya Kaimal Fresh Indian Foods Rhinebeck
If you’ve only tasted Indian food in restaurants, hold on to your pakoras: This 12-year-old company, headed by Julia Child Award-winning author and chef Maya Kaimal, specializes in fresh Indian home cooking that you can buy in stores and prepare in your own kitchen. Coconut Curry simmer sauce is our first love: a Southern Indian recipe spiced with ginger and curry leaves. Use it to wake up meat and vegetables (there are recipes on the website). For those who like it hot, try the chili-laden vindaloo with pork, lamb, or beef. Try it on a taco! 845-876-8200; www.mayakaimal.com
French-Style Tarts
The Art of the Tart Clinton Corners
Call her the Queen of Tarts. Kate Weiner revives the almost-forgotten art of flaky puff pastry made with European butter and combines it with intriguing combinations of fruits and flavors. Slow-roasted herbed cherry tomatoes with toasted cashews or asparagus-Gruyère are two to try. Apricots in saffron syrup and Mirabelle plums poached in sweet Marsala are deeply decadent ways to end a meal. You can feed a crowd with these, but now Weiner is making individual tartlets so that you can have one all to yourself. Sure, the butterfat content is off the charts, but then again, so is the taste. 845-868-7107; www.theartofthetart.com
Fresh Pasta
La Bella Pasta Kingston
You got stuck late at work and need to feed the kids quickly. Here’s the plan: Pick up fresh pasta (made daily); grab some sauce and a loaf of bread, and head home. The kids will love a five-cheese ravioli or some linguini for twirling. And because it’s tender and lighter in texture than dried, this stuff cooks up fast and will be on the plate long before the local delivery guy gets in his car. For more adult tastes, we like the spinach dough ravioli with spinach filling. A few grates of Parmesan, and you’re done! 845-331-9130
Healthy Soda Syrups
Drink More Good Beacon
Riding the crest of the craft beverage wave, these soda-syrup concentrates are trending right now. But they’re also old-fashioned at heart, made from herbs and spices crushed with a mortar and pestle — just like back in the day when sodas were “tonics.” We like the Cassia Kream flavor, somewhere between a cola and a cream soda and made with classic soft-drink ingredients like star anise, roasted kola nut and citrus, with a twist of vanilla and cinnamon. Use with a soda machine or just mix with seltzer and add a little sparkle to your day. 845-797-1838; www.drinkmoregood.com
Related: Healthy Soft Drinks? You’d Better Believe It
Pickles
The Brine Barrel Saugerties
When the uncontrollable urge to nosh on a good pickle hits, hightail it over here. These barrel-cured gleaming green goodies put supermarket pickles to shame. Tangy, fat, garlic dills; extra-crispy half-sours (which means they’re not fully fermented, owing to a shorter stay in the brine); horseradish pickles that bite you back (nicely) — it’s all here and ready for gobbling. Sweet bread and butters and spicy sliced pickle chips are a specialty. They also carry street-fair-style pickles on a stick. Join the pickle club: Get your card punched every time you buy a quart, and the seventh one is free. 845-247-3016; www.brinebarrel.com
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Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette (left) crafts vinegar the old-fashioned way, while Jay Spica of New Confectioner (right) makes vegan ice cream Photograph (left) by Jennifer May |
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Sherry Vinegar
Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette Lagrangeville
Peek into the cellars of the Our Lady of the Resurrection Monastery in Lagrangeville, and you’ll find a sea of fermenting red, white, and rose wine vinegars — that is, if you turn on the lights. That’s because Brother Victor-Antoine strictly follows medieval recipes that call boiling brews with herbs, fruits, and spices and then letting them breathe for months in the dark. Our fave is the sherry vinegar, which has a lively acidity and is perfect for combining with brown sugar in a glaze for duck or salmon, or for splashing over berries in a sweet-and-sour dessert. www.ourladyoftheresurrectionmonastery.webs.com/monasticvinegars.htm
Vegan Ice Cream
The New Confectioner Lagrangeville
Pinch us, please. Velvety ice-cream-style desserts and scrumptious sorbets that are actually healthy and not loaded with fat or artificial ingredients? These fab frozen treats from purveyor Jay Spica are made with coconut milk and organic soy milk instead of cow’s milk, so they’re vegan. The two best-selling “ice creams” are peanut butter-chocolate and strawberry rhubarb (minus about 50 calories per four-ounce cup compared to mainstream brands). The sorbets are loaded with real fruits, too. Two top flavors are blueberry and oh-so-sophisticated pears poached in Chardonnay. 845-661-4902; www.newconfectioner.com
