Six Sensational Ways to Drink and Eat Locally for Spring

If you have followed this blog or my social media for very long, you will know that I love what I do. My jam is discovering all the local and sharing it with all of you. As I travel across the Carolinas, and beyond, I am always in search of great locally produced products to share on these digital pages. My adventures over the past several weeks have led me to these six sensational ways to Drink and Eat Locally. I know you will love them, everyone.

Want to see even more? Check out my last Eating Local post with a focus on Gluten Free Local products.

Shopping Local is what it’s all about. Follow my leads and you’ll find great locally produced product at farmers markets, in grocery stores, and in locally run shops and markets. Over the past couple of weeks, Tom and I have traveled to the Carolina coast and back. You can read about one of our recent trips in my Wilmington Three Day Getaway feature here. As we traveled, I’ve found the six sensational products I’m featuring in this spring round up.

Sharing Six Ways to Drink and Eat Locally on TV

I was delighted to share this same list on the morning of March 8 with my friends at WCNC’s Charlotte Today.

In case you missed it, you can watch the video by clicking here.

I’ll also link back to it in upcoming blog posts with more recipes featuring each of these products.

In the meantime, keep reading for six sensational ways to celebrate spring with local products to enjoy on your plate and in your glass.

Look for a follow up recipe post to come. Today, find a brief description of each product is listed below with all the links and where-to-buy info you’ll need to be enjoying them all by this weekend.

Here we go…

Drink Locally with Canned Cocktails from End of Days Distillery

You and your friends will love toasting to the Spring season by pouring three of easiest craft cocktails ever. Here is the recipe. Fill your glass with ice. Open a Can. Pour. Garnish and Enjoy.

It’s all made possible with a trio of incredibly delicious canned cocktails from End of Days Distillery in Wilmington NC. These come in single serving four packs; and make manning your own bar super simple with impressive results.

When End of Days developed their line of canned cocktails it was important to distillery owner Shane Faulkner that they taste every bit as good as a craft cocktail you’d get from the distillery bar. And they do. Our favorite is the Cargo Mule, made with lime, fresh ginger syrup and EOD’s Port of Call Vodka.

In NC, look or ask for these ( and other locally produced canned cocktails I have mentioned here before) at your local ABC store. You may also purchase them at the distillery.

When next you visit Wilmington NC, be sure to stop by the distillery for a afternoon or evening cocktail and perhaps some great local eats – they run events all the time. You can also by cans and bottles and lots of swag from the distillery store – open every day, including Sundays, for your shopping local convenience. Read more at www.eoddistillery.com

Spice Things Up with Cackalacky’s new Love Bomb Bitters

I’ve written about my friends at Cackalacky and their fabulous sauces and snacks before and it is important to note, I love all they do from BBQ sauce to cocktail nuts.

The Cackalacky brand hails from Pittsboro NC, where they have been making their original sweet potato based sauces for years.

Now they’ve taken their much loved mix of spices a step further. Introducing, Cackalacky Love Bomb Bitters  the perfect finishing touch when you are crafting your own cocktails and mocktails; or when you want to spice up a springtime sauce or dessert.

Each year they have something new and now the line up includes a branded coffee colab and these chocolate-ty laced bitters. Bitters are made from alcohol traditionally infused with herbs or botanicals. At Cackalacky, these bitters are an infusion of chocolate, cherry and the same Cackalacky’s secret spices used in their famous variety of BBQ sauces.  

Stay tuned: In the follow up recipe post to this round up, I’ll share recipes for a Cackalacky Affogato – with the bitters as the finishing touch to a chocolate brownie topped ice cream and coffee drink that is as much as dessert as it a sweet and satisfying beverage.

Keep Things Salty with Sea Love Sea Salt

When I am traveling, I always try to spend any Saturday morning of my trip at an area farmers market. Such was the case with our recent trip to Wilmington, when Tom and I headed out to The Wilmington Farmers Market at Tidal Creek.

Its a wonderful market and I was thrilled to connect with Jason Zombron of Sea Love Sea Salt while we were there. Jason and his wife Jeanette are new owners of this local company, and you can almost feel the love they have being stewards of the sea. Like all the other producers in this round up, they love what they are able to bring to the table.

This is more than a finishing salt, its a salt to cook with, to bring out the flavor in all the other local ingredients you have on your plate. Use it to rim cocktail and mocktail glasses and more. Stay tuned for some fun recipes in the follow up post. Meanwhile, order your own from their online shop here.

This is 100%  solar evaporated sea salt. Made by hand in Wilmington NC. It comes in a variety of grinds and flavors to help us all Keep it Salty!  Read More and Order online at  www.sealoveseasalt.com

NC Rice Flour for the Best Fried Anything Ever!

Tidewater Grain Company is the first and largest rice farm in North Carolina. The grown Heirloom Grain Carolina Gold Rice and produce Rice Flour from Oriental NC. Like others in this post, I have written about their NC grown Carolina Gold Rices before.

But this post is specifically about their new rice flour. They mill the rice into flour onsite at the farm. The results make for a great gluten free start to your favorite bread or roll recipe. Check out the gluten free yeast roll recipe I created for them, here.

This should now be your go to for breading any fish, pickles, green tomatoes or fried chicken.

At the recent Flavors of Carolina trade show, Captain John Mallette from Southern Breeze Seafood in Jacksonville NC, created a breader with the Tidewater Rice Flour and wowed the crowd as he used it to make the most divine fried chicken! Crunchy, even when it was cold – it’s my forever go to, now when I am breading anything!

They are the only NC farm to produce rice flour – invaluable in making gluten-free sweet and savory baked goods, pasta and sauces.

Order online directly from the Tidewater website; or in the Charlotte area, you can buy Tidewater flour from Coddle Creek Farms on Saturdays in Bldg. C at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market and at their farm store in Mooresville. Tidewater products are also available at Mano Bella Artisan Foods at the Market at 7th Street in Uptown Charlotte and via Charlotte’s Freshlist home grocery delivery service.

Drink Local and Eat Local with Golden Drops from Turmeric Zone in Raleigh NC

These drops are like a vegan bouillon cube, but made from a blend of turmeric powder, Ceylon cinnamon, clove and black pepper with a touch of Eucalyptus Honey. They are one of my favorite products from Morrisville, NC based Turmeric Zone.

The honey in the mix helps to bind the other ingredients together, so they dissolve easily into any liquid. While this product was developed as a quick and easy way to make real Golden Milk, I Iove it as a base for delicious soups and sauces. Add it to a bechamel or white sauce for the very best of flavors in your next chicken or veggie or seafood pot pie.

Order online here, and while you are on the website, be sure to look for their award winning Turmeric based honey as well.

Sweets Elderberry Syrups and Shrubs not just for cold season anymore 

With so many elderberry syrups on the market, I love that this one is made right here in Charlotte and I also love that this is a woman-owned company.

I’ve know about Sweets for some time, but actually just met owner Morgan Smorgala about a week ago. In fact we found out that we don’t live far from each other and it was great to see her the other day when she dropped off product for me to share with you in recipes for follow up posts to this one – stay tuned!

So many surprises here. I also loved finding out that the company’s VP of operations, Ellen Stevens, is an old friend that has been in the eat local, drink local game for some time now. Together, these two women and producing big flavors, not only with their elderberry syrup, but now with an award-winning elderberry shrub as well.

Shrubs are also known as drinking vinegars and they offer a good-for-you alternative to soft drinks or sodas. Blend the shrub and the syrup together or separately with sparkling water for a delightful springtime spritzer. or use these organic elderberry-based blends to blend into cocktails, mocktails and springtime dressings, marinades and desserts. The possibilities are endless. Check for availability near you or order online at    sweetselderberry.com

Stay tuned for more… in the meantime, drink local, eat local and shop local and be sure to #TellThemHeidiSentYou