Produced from hand-picked apples, not the low-grade and windfall apples most companies use, and aged in oak barrels for two years before bottling, Little Apple Treats cider is bright and sharp, with a bold apple flavor and subtle caramel tones contributed by the barrel aging. This is the best American apple cider vinegar we’ve tasted, every bit on par with the fancy, expensive French stuff from Normandy.

This small-batch vanilla extract from Kansas-based Vain Vanilla is prepared completely by hand using only the best ingredients. The Original Baker's Blend is made with top-shelf rum that emphasizes vanilla's sweet characteristics and adds its own cane-sugar dimension. We especially love that Vain Vanilla leaves its vanilla pods in the bottle, which has two benefits. First, over time the extract will continue to deepen in color and become more complex as the pods release more flavor compounds. Second, when you're done with the vanilla extract, you can still slice open the pods and use the beans themselves in your desserts.

Also known as Saigon cinnamon, Royal Cinnamon is a hard-to-find heirloom variety that comes from the mountains of central Vietnam. Our recipe developers agreed it was the sweetest and brightest cinnamon we have ever tasted, with an aroma you can smell from across the room. It's clean-flavored and boldly spicy-sweet, yet with a delicate quality. To fully appreciate its flavor, we recommend trying Royal Cinnamon first in simple applications.

Jacobsen Salt Co.’s Pure Kosher Sea Salt is wonderful as a finishing salt—but it can do so much more. It has a smaller grain than the company's signature flaky sea salt, which makes it a perfect go-to alternative for table salt in recipes: It weighs just a tad less than table salt, so the volumes are almost equivalent, yet it's easier to pick up by hand and sprinkle into dishes than table salt (which is why all Milk Street recipes call for kosher salt). The company hand-harvests every single grain of salt from the Netarts Bay in northern Oregon, so this bright, clean-flavored sea salt has an even consistency ideal for cooking, baking or pickling, in addition to finishing sprinkles.

After tasting coffees from roasters around the country, we decided to partner with Elevator Cafe & Commons, a small roaster in Portland, Oregon, to produce a custom blend for us from the freshest beans. They are the US Coffee Roasting champion of 2023 and the bright, clear flavors and precision of their roasting thoroughly impressed us. When you order our blend, you can be sure that the beans have been freshly roasted and shipped out immediately. Our inaugural 177 Milk Street coffee is a do-it-all blend that works across brewing methods and accommodates a variety of palates. The medium roast mix of Central and South American beans packs a full, rich body and a balanced nutty, cocoa-rich flavor. It’s a solid, full-bodied blend that’ll be terrific brewed in your standard coffee maker, pour-over, French press, Italian-style Moka pot or cold brew.

If you’re sick of struggling to remove stuck food from your pans, skillets and Dutch ovens, Knapp's patented Chainmail Dishcloth is the tool for you. The tightly woven stainless steel “fabric” has a rough enough texture to take on the most stubborn stuck-on bits but also won't damage cast-iron seasoning. Knapp's product features a larger chainmail link in one corner so you can hang it up to dry and keep it in top condition. Note that this scrubber is intended for Pyrex, cast iron, carbon steel and stainless steel pans; it will damage non-stick pans or other delicate surfaces. Try it on your grill as well—it works wonders on the grubbiest grate.

This sweet maple spread will add a dollop of decadence to all kinds of desserts and breakfast items. Each jar has an incredibly high concentration of pure, organic maple syrup from Vermont—which packs a lovely, bold maple flavor compared to other maple creams we’ve tasted that use lower-quality syrups. Though thick, the cream is spreadable and able to be drizzled. And because it’s sugar, it melts quickly on the tongue, releasing a wonderfully rich taste. It’s flavorful enough to simply slather across a thick slice of warm bread—letting the sugars dissolve and soak into it—or eat by the spoonful.

Jacobsen's hand-harvested sea salt from Oregon has a delicate crunch and releases bright bursts of clean, crisp salinity with each bite; it's perfect for tempering the pungency of garlic, making this one of the most balanced garlic salts we've tasted. The blend is savory and slightly nutty without being overpowering.

If you’re sick of struggling to remove stuck food from your pans, Knapp's chainmail dish scrubber is the tool for you. Knapp's intricate chain mail is tough enough to take on the most stubborn stuck-on bits, and the links are just the right size: large enough that food doesn't get stuck in them but small enough to easily reach the corners of pans. The food-grade stainless steel will last a lifetime, though it needs to be hung up to dry; Knapp's design features a larger chainmail link in one corner for hanging. Note that this scrubber is intended for Pyrex, cast iron, carbon steel and stainless steel pans; it will damage non-stick pans or other delicate surfaces. Try it on your grill as well—it works wonders on the grubbiest grate.

Hand-harvested from Madagascar's northeastern Sava region, which is famous for its vanilla production, SAVA Trading Co.'s Extract-Grade Madagascar Vanilla Beans are fresher than conventional brands and hand-processed using traditional methods to maximize their vanillin content and preserve their woody-sweet depth of flavor and intoxicating aroma. The company partners with Malagasy farmers to source sustainably grown vanilla beans picked at peak maturity. By cutting out middleman costs, SAVA is able to directly pay Madagascar farmers above-market prices for their premium vanilla and support local village economies. These whole beans are great for making homemade extract—simply soak beans in the alcohol of your choice. Or scrape the seeds out to use in desserts and keep the leftover pods in a jar of sugar to infuse it with vanilla flavor.