Just off the boat at Cherry Republic
Speaking of food as souvenir, the haul from a late summer trip to northern Michigan is dwindling. We certainly found some keepers this time: chipotle cherry salsa from Cherry Republic in Glen Arbor, pomegranate-infused balsamic vinaigrette and Tunisian harissa olive oil from Fustini’s in Traverse City, and many pounds of locally grown dried tart cherries (Traverse City’s marketing moniker is “the Cherry Capital”). We ate several pounds of smoked whitefish and salmon from Port City Smokehouse in Frankfort and still-warm cherry fritters from a local bakery. Oh, and chocolate bark and cocoa-laced sunflower seed butter from the Grocer’s Daughter in Empire. (The chocolate bark with hazelnuts and sea salt was gone so fast, I almost forgot about it just now.)
With the Internet and UPS–and a new Fustini’s outpost right here in Ann Arbor–of course it’s not hard to procure more of any of these morsels. But there’s that whole carbon footprint thing, and…well…the foods just don’t taste the same when they arrive at your doorstep in a cardboard box. Somehow they have more flavor when you discover and taste them while exploring, and savoring, the places they call home.
What are your favorite edible souvenirs?
What remains of our Northern Michigan souvenir bounty
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Wow, that salsa sounds delicious, I would love to try it out sometime. And the sunflower butter infused with cocoa…I can see why you’d scarf that down so quickly. Great gift ideas too!
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