The 2021 From Michigan With Love Holiday Shopping Guide!

Here it is - my favorite post of the year! The 2021 From Michigan With Love Annual Holiday Shopping Guide. Please give us a like or follow and share with your friends and family.

Welcome to the 2021 edition of the “From Michigan, With Love” Holiday Shopping Guide featuring terrific gift giving ideas for the holiday season. If you want to see photos of this guide, please visit https://youtu.be/TCqsgwFSGJQ New data suggests that if every household in Michigan replaced $45 per month on Michigan made items, approximately $2 B would be pumped into Michigan’s economy annually. We have to support our local businesses! Here is this year’s line up:

BETTER MADE SNACK FOODS, Detroit, MI, www.bettermade.com Now in its 91st year, Better Made continues to be Michigan’s favorite potato chip and snack maker. The company is still family owned, and still supports Detroit and many charitable organizations in Michigan. The company continues to develop and release new, delicious products, and has a new Snack Pack assortment. Better Made’s Chocolate Covered Chips are back and still the best tasting chocolate covered chip in Michigan! You can buy them in stores, the Better Made retail store 10148 Gratiot Avenue in Detroit, or on-line at www.bettermade.com - available in milk or dark chocolate. For holiday gift giving, Better Made offers a sampler box of different freshly made snack foods that are sure to please everyone in the family!

MICHIGAN SOAP CO-OP, Adrian, MI www.misoapcoop.com Located in Adrian, the Michigan Soap Co-op started as a way to help the many independent soap and body products makers throughout the state survive during Covid. There are currently five companies involved and customers like the expanded variety of products available through the co-op, including vegan products, products for men, palm free products, a full line of bath and body products, Envy sunless tanning products, and Hempexco CBD products, deodorants, pain creams, salves, lip balms, shampoo bars and solid conditioner bars, and fanciful soap cupcakes, soap cakes, and party favors, bath bomb donuts, bath macaroons, bath bomb cupcakes, and so much more. All of the co-op’s products are available at its retail location at 1113 West Beecher Street in Adrian, MI, as well as By Nature Store and Ghidrah's Mystic She Ways in Adrian, Grey Fox Floral in Tecumseh, Handmade Means Love in Sylvania, OH, and Facebook Marketplace and Instagram.

PINCONNING CHEESE COMPANY, Pinconning, MI www.piconningcheese.comThe city of Pinconning, known as the “Cheese Capital” of Michigan, is where you’ll find The Pinconning Cheese Company – home to the famous Pinconning brand of cheese – the finest cheese made in the state since 1915. The aging process is what gives Pinconning cheese its special flavor. The Pinconning Cheese Company has cheese that is aged up to ten years. Super sharp cheese is an original and can only be found in Michigan at Pinconning Cheese Company, Deli, and Fudge Shoppe. The shop is always expanding the number of Michigan made goods is offers. The company also offers famous cheese and custom-made cheese spreads, Michigan made meats and jerky, smoked fish, pickled items, and a wide array of specialty condiments and sauces.

THE TOFFEE STORE, Oakland Township, MI www.thestoffeestore.com There’s nothing quite like the taste of fresh toffee made from scratch with real ingredients! The Toffee Store does just that – produces delicious small batch toffees that are made to perfection! It’s savory and sweet, easy on the teeth, and comes in six delicious varieties, including Birthday Suit (plain), Enrobed (chocolate dipped), Signature, Cherry Birthday, Cherry Chocolate, and Kona Coffee Toffee. There are four sizes from which to choose – single, three-ounce, eight-ounce, and one pound with variations/mixed selections in those sizes. The Toffee Store also creates beautiful gift boxes featuring all made in Michigan treats! There are only eight pure ingredients used: butter, sugar, vanilla, milk and dark chocolate, pecans, cherries, and Kona coffee. These are perfect as wedding thank you gifts for table guests, birthday and anniversary gifts, corporate gifts, and for any occasion! The packaging can be personalized for any occasion.

SRODEK’S PIEROGI AND MEATS, Hamtramck & Sterling Heights, MI www.srodek.comThe best in all things Polish since 1981! A family-owned business, Srodek’s makes over 35 variety of pierogi, including kraut, Kraut with meat, potato, cabbage, farmer’s cheese, pulled pork, spinach artichoke, breakfast, Buffalo chicken, and many other delicious flavors – including gluten free pierogi! The company also makes incredibly good sausages, Kiszka, a variety of bun-size sausages for grilling, cottage ham, smoked bacon and ribs, chunky and fine ground pork and veal sausage, fun-to-eat sausage sticks, head cheeses, jellied pigs feet, krakowska, and many other meats. Srodek’s has a large selection of Polish candies, jams, beers, other hard to find Polish treats. Their horseradish is some of the hottest in Michigan and is great by itself or in meals and salads. The new Sterling Heights store on Mound Road has a large fresh meat counter, and now offers a growing line of European cosmetics and Michigan made products. Srodek’s makes any holiday party better!

PENN STREET BAKERY, Grand Rapids, MI www.pennstreetbakery.com Penn Street Bakery makes the most decadent, delicious gourmet cakes, rich, creamy hand-painted chocolates, caramel corn, chocolate lava cakes, gourmet cookies, and raw cookie dough for making delicious cookies at home or for fundraising! The company’s baked goods contain only the finest ingredients – real butter, sour cream, wholesome oats, plump raisins, brown sugar, and more. All products are prepared in-house by hand and certified Kosher so that everyone can enjoy them. The company’s cookie dough is distributed fresh or frozen to catering companies, hotels, and restaurants. Penn Street Bakery creates a variety of moist, delicious Bundt cakes for individual purchase and the cakes are also purchased by 5-star hotel chains and discriminating restaurants. The Carmel Sensations gourmet snack line is now offered to specialty grocers, coffee shops, and major retailers across the country. In 2013 the company added Aria Fine Chocolates to its line up, bringing hand crafted artisan chocolates to the marketplace. These items make terrific gifts or for keeping around the house for when friends drop by. You can order the chocolates in gift boxes, gift towers, and Gift Baskets. This is a must-have for the holidays!

CASK & KETTLE, Battle Creek, MI 269/420-2529 www.caskandkettleusa.com Cask & Kettle in Battle Creek makes fine restaurant quality Hard Coffees & Cider, which are now available in Michigan Walmart stores. Now you can enjoy a hot cup of spiked coffee with your choice of toppings in the comfort of your own home. Cask & Kettle has five delicious flavors, including Mexican Coffee, Spiked Irish Coffee, Hot Blonde Coffee, Spiked Dry Cider, and the newest flavor, Mint Patty. Cask & Kettle comes in k-pods, which can be used in Keurig-Style coffee machines or just pour into hot kettled water. Each pod contains gives robust curated flavors. Just add your favorite coffee finishing touches, like creamer, ice cream, or add nothing at all. They are available throughout Michigan, as well as many other states.

2 DOGS HOT SAUCE, Ferndale, MI www.2dogshotsauce.com It’s time to spice up holiday meals with 2Dogs Hot Sauce! The company offers up some of the best hot sauces available in Michigan. Brian Jones started making hot sauce in his kitchen and after bottling the sauce, his friends tasted it, loved it, and suggested he start a company and sell it. Brian and his business partner, Todd Larson came up with a plan to make a go of the sauces. Flavors include Black Garlic Habanero and Michigan Cherry Habanero were the two unanimous winners. 2 Dogs uses all premium ingredients to create sauces that have a great heat without sacrificing flavor. The sauces go well with any meat or vegetable and are also great in soups. 2 Dogs is gluten free, vegan friendly, and comes in a 5.5 oz bottle. 2 Dogs has added two new flavors; "The Green Mild" (Tomatillo, Jalape?o, Poblano blend) and "Give up the Ghost" (Citrus Ghost Pepper). The sauces are available at Plum Market, Westborn Market, Holiday Market, Western Market, Nino Salvaggio, DeVries and Company, Dos Locos Tacos, Hazel Ravines and Downtown, Old Nation Brewing, and many other locations, listed on the website.

ST. AMBROSE CELLARS, Beulah, MI www.stambrosecellars.com St. Ambrose Cellars just introduced Shotgun Wedding – it’s a Strawberry-Rhubarb combination with a kick! The company produces the best in honey-based beverages. Mead is the oldest fermented beverage known to man – It’s simply honey, water, and yeast. Of course, St Ambrose Cellers is a little more ambitious and puts its own bold, modern expression on the ancient drink. The company features a myriad of flavor profiles. Owners, Kirk and Sharon, started with a handful of beehives and delivered fresh honey in an old hatch back car, with the back seat removed. Fast forward over 40 years and St. Ambrose Cellars/Sleeping Bear Farms is now one of the Mid-West’s leading privately owned Apiaries, running over 6,000 hives and producing over 400,000 pounds of pure honey per year. St Ambrose Cellars is an award-winning Meadery and is available throughout Michigan as well as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and 31 other states.

LITTLE DIABLO SALSA, Whitmore Lake, MI www.littlediablosalsa.com Doug and Stacy Bering are both foodies with a passion for great tasting, healthy food. Each love salsa and struggled to find one they liked in the stores, as they usually contained chemicals, preservatives, added sugars and thickeners. So, Doug used his culinary background to create seven different salsas and created Little Diablo Salsa in 2011. The salsas are chemical and preservative free, made with the highest standards for taste and quality, and are delicious! The Salsa have won numerous awards, and Gold Medals and 1st Place trophies came next. The company continues to make their products fresh and without chemicals – one bite and you’ll be hooked, says Doug. The company honors the men, women and canines who put on a uniform every day to keep us safe in our hometowns and abroad. They stand for the flag and kneel to give thanks. Making great tasting award-winning salsas and respecting others defines their work ethic. Visit the website to find out where to purchase, or buy them on-line.

DEVON’S MACKINAC ISLAND FUDGE, TOFFEE, AND CARAMEL CORN, MACKINAC CITY AND ST. IGNACE, MI www.mackinacfudgeco.com Why wait until summer to enjoy the great taste of Mackinac Island Fudge when you can enjoy it year-round? The creamy, delicious fudge, crunchy savory caramel corn, and chewy, flavorful salt-water taffy made by Devon’s is a phone call or a few computer clicks away! With over 50 varieties of fudge, taffy, and popcorn, Devon’s has what you crave and the taste of summer is available any time you like. Devon’s Mackinac Island Fudge Company makes over 50 varieties of creamy delicious Mackinac Island fudge, salt water taffy, various caramel corns and other popcorn, and scrumptious brittles. In the retail stores in Mackinaw City they also carry a large selection of specialty items like pure maple syrup, thimbleberry jam, and other treats from around Michigan. The company always uses local ingredients from suppliers in Michigan because they know the value of supporting Michigan businesses. They strive to be innovative with their candy making by keeping up with current trends as well as staying true to traditional favorites.

UNCLE PETER’S PASTIES, Clarkston, Orion, and Shelby Township, MI www.unclepeterspasties.com Uncle Peter's uses an original pasty recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation but with a healthy twist. All their pasties are 3/4 lb and handmade with free range, grass fed, antibiotic and hormone free meat, just like they were back in the day. Uncle Peter's only uses locally grown organic vegetables. Pasties include beef, chicken, breakfast, venison, buffalo, elk, lamb, and other styles, plus gluten free and coconut oil crust pasties. It all began with a vision and a passion for food by from Peter and Nancy Caruso, and a dream to keep a generational tradition alive. Crafting an extraordinary culinary tradition, Uncle Peter's Pasties brings back memories of mom in the kitchen making pasties, grandma sending grandpa to work with a hot meal, and the immigration of great grandparents into the United States. The pasties are in more than 170 stores. Grab your favorite Uncle Peter's Pastie and share in the memories of the past and the hope for the future!

ALTES, Detroit, MI What would a good holiday party be without a high-quality, Bavarian-style drink to go with great foods? Altes brand is back and more popular than ever with the older generation who remember it from days of yore to the young 20 somethings who just love the new flavor Altes brings! And exciting news – brand new from Altes – Sportsman Copper Lager – first brewed in Detroit by Altes Brewing Company in the 1950’s in honor of Michigan’s great outdoors and sporting traditions. It’s now been relaunched with the craft beer enthusiasts in mind. Sportsman has flavorful drinkability for all seasons – copper in color with an inviting smoothness and aroma. It is made from 100% barley malt and imported German hops, delivering a malty backbone and a crisp hop finish. A faithful companion that pairs well with all of Michigan’s outdoors! Ten years ago three friends who grew up in Detroit and loved Altes, discussed creating a new craft beer that would capture the Bavarian style of brewing and honor Altes’ important place in Michigan beer history. They’ve succeeded by reviving the company name and original, and by creating a smooth, great tasting beer made from imported hops. Altes is available at over 1,500 stores, restaurants, bars, and other locations all over Michigan.

LITTLE TRAVERSE TILEWORKS, Harbor Springs, MI www.littletraverse.com Little Traverse Tileworks was founded in 2010 with the mission of providing superior quality ceramic tile to the retail industry. Whether it’s souvenir gift tiles, commemorative tiles, or an entire kitchen backsplash installation, the company has done it all. Tile crafters work in the classic Arts & Crafts style and got their footing with a historic pottery just outside of Petoskey, with over 30 years of experience in creative clay and production. In 2021 Little Traverse Tileworks expanded and moved to their very own studio space in Harbor Springs. Their elegant and whimsical tiles are featured in installations and sold through galleries across the U.S. The company’s designers and staff create amazing ceramic tile for wholesale and commercial installation at the studio, and also specializing in wholesale production and custom tiles, like fireplace surrounds, kitchen and bathroom tile, and custom shower surrounds. The company uses clay that is developed right here in the Midwest. The tiles are stoneware and thus suited for indoor or outdoor applications. They begin with a design either hand carved in plaster or sculpted in clay. Visit the website to see their large selection of custom tiles, cool Michigan-themed tiles, and other great items.

GREAT LAKES PICKLING COMPANY, Shelby Township, MI www.greatlakespickling.com Making award-winning pickles takes more than just good family recipes – it takes time, the freshest produce, the best spices, and a lot of love! That’s exactly what Beverly Patterson, owner of Great Lakes Pickles believes, and the taste speaks for itself! Great Lakes Pickling offers seven varieties of all-natural, low or no sodium pickles with produce that is locally sourced from Michigan farmers. Great Lakes is a family-owned business and was awarded the 2019 Hidden Gem Award of Macomb County. The company’s pickles are featured at Randazzos, Polly’s Country Markets, Hollywood Markets, and many other retailers in Michigan.