toothsome
ruby
beet
chunks,
savory green tomatoes. Blazin’ Beans
and hot peppers aptly dubbed Pure
Fire. Pickled wild ramps and fiddle-
heads are available seasonally in small
batches. The pickled vegetables are
perfect to snack on straight out of the
jar, as part of an appetizer course, or
with a summer cocktail or cold beer.
Melissa also produces cranberry
ketchup, made with Vermont-grown
cranberries, and Green Mountain Grill
Sauce, a maple-based barbecue sauce
perfect for marinades or swabbing on
top of chicken, beef, or pork. And then
an array of jams, crafted to highlight the
summer-ripe fruit, not sugar: raspberry
peach, strawberry rhubarb, orange
marmalade, summer berry, and black
gold, a delicious blend of black raspber-
ries and rhubarb. Grab a spoon—toast is
optional!
Oak Summit honey is packaged in
whimsical chubby bear-shape glass jars
or in square-sided bottles capped with
a cork and dipped in fragrant beeswax.
Thick, creamy raw honey comes in
standard glass jars ranging in sizes from
one pound to a whopping six pounds.
Melissa gained a keen eye for aesthetics
from her dad. “I was always painting or
drawing. He encouraged my creativity,
and he was honest whether something
looked good. That helped me develop
a visual concept.” Melissa’s innate art-
istry infuses everything she touches: the
colorful pickled veggies, fresh flower
arrangements, and the alluring dis-
play of pickles, preserves, and honey
at her Dorset Farmers’ Market stand.
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