Beauty first
Annona Gourmet, 2907 Pentagon Dr., St. Anthony, 612-354-2927, www.annonagourmet.com and the Olive Grove, 720 Main St., Mendota Heights, 651-686-4710, theolivegroveoliveoil.com
Bring coffee, too
Biscotti lover Linda Canfield was wowing friends with her twice-baked cookies. Now she's impressing the rest of us with her LindaLicious (www.lindalicious biscotti.com) line of treats ($6), prepared in eight handmade varieties, including chocolate-hazelnut and anise-almond.
Available at Fleurish, 240 Minnetonka Av. S., Wayzata, 952-476-2296, www.fleurishllp.com
In a jam
Of all the locally made preserves, the fruit-pepper jams ($6) made by Lucille's Kitchen Garden www.lucilleskitchengarden.com stand above the rest, not just for their inticing sweet-hot flavors but for their versatility: Use them as glazes on meat and poultry, enliven a plain-Jane turkey sandwich, spoon them over ice cream; the possibilities are endless.
Available at Local D'Lish, 208 N. 1st St., Mpls., 612-886-3047, www.localdlish.com
A SIX-PACK TO GO
Anyone can show up at a holiday party with a bottle of wine, but what about surprising your host with a six-pack of Minnesota-made soda? Spring Grove soda pop (www.springgrovesoda.com) comes in nostalgic flavors -- strawberry, black cherry, grape, creamy orange, cream soda -- and is produced in a low-tech bottling plant in the southeastern corner of the state, "where they have been making soda by hand for 100 years," said Vicki Potts, owner of Grass Roots Gourmet. Put together a colorful mix-and-match six pack ($1.50 per bottle) and Potts tosses in the sixth bottle for free.
Available at Grass Roots Gourmet, 920 E. Lake S. (Midtown Global Market), Mpls., 612-871-6947
Definitely worth its salt
"Luxury in a jar" might be the most accurate way to describe the salted vanilla caramel sauce ($9.95) made by the Golden Fig. The formula couldn't be simpler. Owner Laurie Crowell carefully blends pedigreed ingredients -- cream from Castle Rock Organic Farms in Osseo, Wis., and butter from Hope Creamery in Hope, Minn. -- then adds a little smoked salt and orange zest. "If you drizzle it over Izzy's coffee ice cream, it will make you cry," said Crowell. No doubt.
