Gourmet Specialties

A Bounty of Maine Products

Maybe it’s the tradition of cooking that honors even the lowly bean when it’s baked just so. Maybe it’s the long, cold winters that make a succulent sauce or jam, recalling summer’s warm bounty, seem such a treasure. Or the fact that so many families in this state have their own recipes, passed from generation to generation—for dishes such as seafood chowder, blueberry pie, mustard pickles, or homemade ketchup. As author Robert Tristram Coffin once wrote, “Good recipes have been built into our family histories.”

Whatever the reason, Mainers have always taken uncommon pleasure in good food, and that may never have been more so than now, when the specialty foods market is bursting with quality products. What’s new is not only the variety and diversity of these items but also some sophisticated packaging that makes many of them great gifts. All types of specialty foods and small rural family farms selling quality home-grown produce and other farm products can be found at Get Real Maine.

More information on Maine specialty foods can also be found at Get Real Maine, MaineMade.com, Made in Maine, and ShopMaine.com.

More than 1,000 of these specialty foods are for sale in Portland at Maine’s Pantry, 111 Commercial St., 877/228-2028.