SWEETS

Thanks to a hand-cracked finish, Whitney’s Castleton Crackers are as known for their rustic look as they are for their tasty variety of flavors. Using unique ingredients such as maple, rosemary, and Vermont farmstead cheese, each all-natural batch would make a worthy addition to any cheese plate, but we especially love the Toasted Sesame Seed Graham Crackers, with hints of brown sugar and maple syrup.

CASTLETON, VERMONT

WHITNEY’S CASTLETON CRACKERS TOASTED SESAME SEED GRAHAM CRACKERS

larkfinefoods.com

Suggested Retail Price: $8 wich the Espresso Chip with ice cream. we began bringing interesting products back to the office to taste and compare. whenever one of them made our eyes light up, we put it on the short list. opposite: Cato Corner Farm “Hooligan”

Landaff Creamery “Landaff”

Graham Crackers,”

“Toasted Sesame Seed

Whitney’s Castleton

Prosciutto,”

“Local Del Duca

Daniele Foods

“Crottina,”

Blue Ledge Farm

“Bear Hill,” clockwise from top: Grafton Village Cheese

Lark’s catchphrase is “Cookies for Grownups,” and that’s the perfect description for these three tasty flavors of buttery shortbread. Eat them solo or pair the Burnt Sugar–Fennel with cheddar and the Salted Rosemary with smoked meats or fish, or sand -

ESSEX, MASSACHUSETTS

Shortbread Trio

LARK FINE FOODS

Baked Goods

bostonsmokedfish.com

Suggested Retail Price: $8 per 4-ounce package with—but not overpowered by—pecan smoke. to Matt Baumann’s excellent smoked fish. A former tax -attor ney, Baumann changed careers in 2012, experimenting with different wood smokes and -doz ens of brines before perfecting his recipes. The result: delicate, succulent fillets, perfumed

A chance tasting at a Boston farmers’ market introduced us

SUDBURY, MASSACHUSETTS

Simply Smoked Salmon

BOSTON SMOKED FISH danielefoods.com

Suggested Retail Price: $5.99 per 3-ounce package

Silky, sweet, and delicately salted, Daniele’s Local prosciutto line is made with pork sourced from New England farms and has a superior flavor and texture. Serve it at a party with cheese and fruit compote, or wrap it around poached dried figs.

BURRILLVILLE, RHODE ISLAND

DANIELE FOODS LOCAL DEL DUCA PROSCIUTTO

meat & fish

Suggested Retail Price: $12 per 6-ounce wedge graftonvillagecheese.com

It’s made with sheep’s milk and expresses that extra level of richness without any of the strong flavors sometimes associated with sheep’s-milk cheeses. Excellent in fondue.

This alpine-style cheese has the sweet, nutty flavors of a Comte or Gruyère, with a wonderfully silky texture.

BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT

BEAR HILL

GRAFTON VILLAGE CHEESE

Suggested Retail Price: $19.99 per pound landaffcreamery.com

LANDAFF, NEW HAMPSHIRE

LANDAFF

LANDAFF CREAMERY

Suggested Retail Price: $6 per round blueledgefarm.com and painters in the Champlain Valley, tending a herd of 100plus goats to produce beautiful cheeses like this small disc, aged three weeks, whose dense white paste turns runny under the rind. hardt are farmers, cheesemakers,

The flavor is grassy and citrusy, creamy, and simple. Wonderful with honey.

Like many great New England cheeses, Landaff was born of an effort to preserve a family farm. Doug and Debby Erb based the recipe on a traditional Welsh cheese, using milk from the dairy operation that his parents had started. Made in New Hampshire, the cheese ages in the caves of Jasper Hill in northern Vermont, where it develops its buttery, tangy, slightly sharp character.

Hannah Sessions and Greg Bern -

SALISBURY, VERMONT

Crottina

BLUE LEDGE FARM catocornerfarm.com

$28 per pound

Suggested Retail Price:

To call this cheese “stinky” isn’t an insult. Hooligan is made to be pungent—a soft, creamy, twomonths-aged cheese washed in buttermilk and brine to create a slightly crystalline orange surface and strong aroma. You’ll taste mushrooms and grass and crave a pint of ale. It makes a terrific grilled cheese.

COLCHESTER, CONNECTICUT

Hooligan

CATO CORNER FARM