Jars, Bottles, and Tubs

Some recommendations from the pantry + a fancy salad dressing recipe

Nothing perks me up like a new little jar. Remember the great black sesame paste obsession of 2024? My cooking life has recently been shifting from “nonexistent” to “hesitant resurgence”—after a few months spent mostly in Vermont, I’m back home, feeding myself. The CSA bags are overflowing and my beloved cracked salad bowl is getting a lot of use. Over the last month a few special little pantry and fridge items have wooed me back into the kitchen. So I’m here to tell you about them.

Sugar Bob’s Smoked Maple Syrup
While staying at my aunt’s house last month, Jackson and I pulled off the road to buy maple creemees, which are simply soft serve made with maple syrup—a canonical Vermont summer treat that I’d somehow never tried despite getting a master’s degree nearby. Inside the big renovated barn there was plenty of maple syrup for sale, some of it smoked, which caught my eye. The Australian woman (random?) working the cash register (she did not seem to be at all related to Sugar Bob by blood or marriage) (is it rude to be surprised that an Australian woman is living in rural Vermont?) told me that the smoked syrup contained no liquid smoke or artificial flavor; just wood smoke and maple syrup. Fine; I bought it; I’m an easy sell. It’s delicious—even on a piece of buttered salted toast, or atop a bowl of porridge. I want to try it on some maple glazed salmon; I am dreaming of a smoked salty maple pie. They sell a gallon jug for $95 which would be such an awesome gift for a very specific type of person.