We’ve been cooking at home a lot more in recent weeks, and if you’re anything like me, chances are your culinary creativity has sputtered out. First, you made banana bread. Then you tried every food writer’s favorite dishes. Finally you cleaned out the pantry, finding recipes for those ignored ingredients shoved to the back of the cupboard. And now, you’re in need of a little foodie boost. Here to save the day (and your palate) are 10 gourmet mail-order foods you can have delivered right to your doorstep.
Photography provided by Pappardelle’s Pasta
Pappardelle’s Pasta
Turns out we’re eating plenty of pasta these days, but there are better options out there than the dry grocery-store variety. Case in point: Pappardelle’s out of Denver, which has been churning out handmade pastas since 1984. Sure, the brand offers plenty of dry varieties, but our favorites are the fresh-frozen pastas and sauces. Inventive ravioli flavors include garden mint pea, Southwest elk in hatch green chili, and Point Reyes blue cheese with walnuts, pears and balsamic. There’s even a chocolate hazelnut ravioli if you’ve still got room for dessert.
Photography provided by Sitka Salmon Shares
Sitka Salmon Shares
Last summer, we gave you a behind-the-scenes look at this Alaska-based company, which delivers freshly caught seafood right to your doorstep. Think of it like a CSA from the sea: This community-supported fishery works with a select group of small-scale family fishermen to bring home chefs monthly packages of seasonal wild Alaskan seafood, from king salmon to dungeness crab to sashimi-grade albacore tuna.
Photography provided by Rogue Creamery
Rogue Creamery
Been missing those delish cheese boards? Rogue Creamery out of Oregon has you covered with award-winning handcrafted organic cheeses. I’m a big fan of the caveman blue, but the touvelle and the la di da lavender Cheddar are pretty irresistible, too. If you can’t make up your mind, there’s always the cheese party variety pack. Because after all this self-isolation, you probably deserve a cheese party.
Photography provided by Fortuna’s Sausage
Fortuna’s Sausage
This family-owned business based in Vermont honors Old World Italian techniques with its recipes passed down from generation to generation. The all-natural sausages the brand is best known for are dry cured and nitrate-free. Varieties range from the Tartufo truffle salami to the cabernet and garlic salami to the spreadable ’nduja, a Calabrian specialty. Proprietor and third-generation sausage maker Patti Fortuna is proud of the company’s accolades, including honors from Martha Stewart, the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Photography provided by Savannah Bee Company
Savannah Bee Company
A charcuterie board is incomplete without some honeycomb (trust us on this one), and Savannah Bee Company boasts the best raw honeycomb that exists. It comes straight from the Amazon rainforest and is harvested by Bolivian beekeepers, free from pesticides, pollutants and other contaminants. Its rich, deeply layered flavor — floral and herbaceous with notes of citrus — tells the story of the bees’ journey across the rainforest as they harvest a unique variety of pollen from exotic flowering plants.
Photography provided by Cameron’s Seafood
Cameron’s Seafood
Craving some Maryland seafood? Cameron’s delivers hyper-fresh True Blue certified crab and crab cakes (along with a bevy of other seafood) straight from Chesapeake Bay. The brand began in 1985 and has since grown to 14 locations across the East Coast, with a whopping 75,000 bushels of crab and 150,000 crab cakes sold each year. There’s also Alaskan crab legs, lobster, shrimp and shellfish aplenty.
Photography provided by Banner Butter
Banner Butter
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I love butter. And when you’re a butter aficionado, no ordinary butter will do. Which is why I’m a huge fan of Banner Butter, a brand out of Atlanta that offers small-batch butters made with cultured cream from hormone-free, grass-fed cows. Flavors range from classics like sea salt to seasonal varieties like blackberry basil and honey rosemary. But why choose just one flavor when you can have ’em all with the quarterly butter subscription? (You’re welcome.)
Photography provided by Northern Waters Smokehaus
Northern Waters Smokehaus
This Duluth-based company is a favorite of ours, not just for its smoked salmon and Lake Superior smoked whitefish but also for its creative culinary concepts. Take, for example, the cult-following Cajun Finn sandwich kit, which includes everything from smoked Cajun salmon to Tribeca Oven par-baked stiratos to scallion cream cheese. If you’re having pandemic-driven indecision (it’s a real thing), just opt for the Smokehaus selection of the month.
Photography provided by Bee K’onscious Artisanal Honey
Bee K’onscious Artisanal Honey
This “hive to home” Denver-based startup sources its single-origin honey from the finest beekeepers around the world who maintain ethical and sustainable beekeeping practices (think California, Montana and as far-flung as Brazil). These honeys are raw, meaning they retain all their natural antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Plus you can trace your honey back to the single beekeeper who produced it by scanning the jar’s QR-coded label. Sweet stuff, indeed.
Photography provided by Blackberry Farm
Blackberry Farm
We’ve long been fans of Blackberry Farm (not to mention its new sister property, Blackberry Mountain). Alas, traveling to Tennessee might not be in the cards right now, so why not let the resort’s award-winning provisions come to you? We’re talking sheep’s milk pimento cheese, ash-ripened Hawkins Haze, Finocchiona salume and lick-the-jar bacon jam. You can also choose to leave it to the pros and order the cheese and charcuterie board that serves six (or one — we won’t tell).
