Little Apple Treats Original Apple Cider Vinegar
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.
Vain Vanilla Original Baker's Blend Pure Vanilla Extract
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.
Blank Slate Kitchen Sichuan Chili Oil
Fragrant Sichuan chili oil is as common in Chinese restaurants as ketchup is in American diners. Blank Slate's Kitchen small-batch rendition pairs the heat of chili with zesty ginger and aromatic shallots and garlic for an especially bright flavor.
Burlap & Barrel Royal Cinnamon
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. Pure Kosher Sea Salt
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.
The Bitter Housewife Cardamom Bitters
We like our cocktails and our cardamom. In this case, we get both at once, along with a surprising savory element in these handcrafted bitters from Portland, Oregon. The husky, minty flavor of cardamom pairs particularly well with spicy bourbon or earthy rum. We think these bitters might make the perfect Old Fashioned and add a new dimension to a Dark and Stormy. Beyond cocktails, these bitters are a terrific way to add easy flavor to whipped cream, caramel sauce, rice pudding or a pot of oatmeal.
Elevator Coffee for Milk Street 177 Coffee Blend
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.
Yondu Vegetable Umami
We love finding new “magic” pantry ingredients from around the world that instantly boost flavor, and this Yondu is no exception. Fermented soybeans and a rich stock made from a robust blend of vegetables—including shiitake mushrooms, onions, garlic and cabbage—yield a concentrate bursting with umami. Not only will it give you delicious savory vegetarian broth in the blink of an eye, it can also be used as a secret umami boost for everything from marinades to cooked grains. We love how it’s an easy-to-pour liquid (and not a paste, which can be harder to incorporate into dishes) and how deeply savory its flavor is compared to store-bought broths—which can taste too sweet from relying on carrots. It’s wonderfully earthy from alliums and mushrooms, yet remains balanced. And the yeast extract, a popular ingredient for boosting savoriness in vegan dishes (and for creating the distinctive flavor of Marmite), produces an incredibly rich, intensely savory character that complements the Yondu’s complex flavors perfectly.
Burlap & Barrel New Harvest Turmeric
We love that Burlap and Barrel's New Harvest Turmeric doesn't have the flat metallic bitterness typical of other brands; rather, its bitter notes add woodsy depth to this complex spice. In cooking, this turmeric does so much more than add a yellow tint to curries.
The Bitter Housewife Old Fashioned Aromatic Bitters
These handcrafted cocktail bitters from Portland, Oregon, are a modern take on the classic spice profile of Angostura bitters. They add the bitterness you'd expect in an Old Fashioned, but we also liked the spicy warmth the bitters added to seltzer water over ice with a lemon wedge or even a few dashes over roasted root vegetables.
Jacobsen Salt Co. Infused Garlic Salt
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.
Eat This Yum Heirloom Cranberry Compote
This bright-red holiday favorite from small-batch jam maker Eat This Yum starts with ripe cranberries grown in New Jersey. Because cranberries are the star here—they’re blended with only a little d’Anjou pear, candied ginger, port and freshly grated orange zest to help the tart fruit shine. The compote tastes more savory-tart than sweet, a perfect companion for holiday roasts. With a silky texture and traditional flavor, this compote is for anyone looking for a tart cranberry sauce. Get yours while you can—Eat This Yum only makes a little of this every year, depending on how many cranberries they can source, so inventory is limited.