Picnic Basket

LDS chefs, purveyors, and food entrepreneurs are innovating their way to deliciousness, maybe greatness. As you shop for that summer outing, consider some of these goodies for your picnic basket.

1. Creminelli Fine Meats was a local, Utah secret, but no longer. The company of artisan, salamis was started by Cristiano Creminelli of Biella, Italy who somehow ended up in Utah and set up shop with local experts who expanded the business to a national, award-winning juggernaut. (Black summer truffle infused uncured salami, garlic salami minis) $14.95, $6.49

2. Beehive Cheese is the winner of multiple awards, including six major awards for its Seahive, a Utah cheddar rubbed with ancient sea salt harvested from a pristine ocean deposits in Redmond, Utah and with local wildflower honey. In 2021, the cheese took a silver rating at the World Cheese Awards in Oviedo, Spain. Plus, the company is a certified B-Corporation. (Seahive, two 12 oz. wedges) $34.99

3. Delmosa is a curator of grower-produced, terroir-driven, non-alcoholic beverages from Europe and Canada. This company that supplies some of the best restaurants in America with non-alcoholic drinks is run by Bruce Blosil of Bristow, Virginia. Many international vineyards bottle fruit juices and blends for customers who don’t drink. For foodies (what’s the beverage equivalent of that?) who have stopped thinking of Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Cider as a festive luxury item, these complexly flavorful and adventurous beverages will change your world. 

• Zerozzante Cuvée Nr. 3 Wild Red-fleshed Apple (Cold pressed juice of wild, red-fleshed apples and Dornfelder grapes, vitamin C, carbon dioxide. Sparkling. Unpasteurized. 750ml/25.4 fl. oz) $24.00

• Jörg Geiger Cuvée Nr. 21 (Juice of organic heritage apples and pears, hay flower, roasted barley, carbon dioxide. Sparkling. Gently pasteurized. 750ml/25.4 fl. oz) $21.00

• Jörg Geiger dzin Bitter (Juice of heritage apples, cucumber, and gooseberry blended with hydrosols of juniper, fir, orange, anise seed, angelica, meadowsweet, mint, carbon dioxide. Sparkling. Gently pasteurized. 375ml/12.7 fl. oz) $16.00

4. Kodiak Cakes is a Park City, Utah food company founded by Jon Clark that partners with wildlife conservation and awareness organizations like Vital Ground Foundation and Kati Conservancy while encouraging a healthier diet. Kodiak Cups are whole grain products that can be quickly made in a microwave: oatmeal, muffins, and flapjacks. (Oatmeal, cinnamon, 2.12 oz) $2.70; (Muffin, chocolate chip, 2.36 oz) $2.70; (Flapjack, s’mores 2.36 oz.) $2.70

5. Crispý Cones is a fresh dough cone filled with ice cream, fruit, and toppings that is a traditional dessert in Eastern Europe. As seen on Shark Tank, two current stores are in Rexburg, Idaho and Logan, Utah. Too far away to try? Settle for clever logo stickers or t-shirts. (Crispý Cones Stickers, 3 x 1.25 inches) $2.50

6. If you do an online search for “soda wars,” you’ll probably be led to articles about the rivalry between Coke and Pepsi. But, LDS addicts (sorry, customers) of drive-by soda shops like Swig, Sodalicious, Twisted Sugar, and Fiiz, would scoff in boredom at such predictable, tired, big corporation concoctions. Fans are passionate about their designer, dirty soda favorites. Fights and lawsuits have resulted. But there are empty calories enough for everybody; can’t we all just get along? (Swig Til I Die air freshener, 2.5 x 3 inches) $6.00

7. Eight years ago, Sodalicious opened its first store behind the one-chair Johnny’s Barber Shop in Provo, Utah. To commemorate the occasion, the company that now has over two dozen locations, has created an anniversary sticker pack with five stickers. Retro vibe and zero calories. (5-pack of .5 inch stickers) $6.00

8. Crumbl is a new, heirloom vegetable co-op that delivers local farmers’ organic harvests directly to your table via solar-powered drones…. Kidding. As you undoubtedly know, Crumbl is a sprawling chain of luxury cookie shops founded by Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley in Logan, Utah in 2017. Indulgent, sure, but don’t you deserve it? Of course, you do. The nutrition facts state that a serving size is 1/4 of a cookie. Good luck with that. (Six pack of cookies: Milk Chocolate Chip, Dirt Cake, Banana Bread, Strawberry Cake, Chocolate Milk, and Classic Pink Sugar) $15.78

9. Snacktivist is a women-owned and operated company in Coeur d’Alene Idaho that produces baking mixes. Its founder is Joni Kindwall-Moore, an Ethnobotanist, who now uses the same principles of plants as food and medicine for a line of allergy friendly, plant-based mixes. (Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix, 12 oz., vegan, gluten-free, and assembled with only water, oil, and vanilla) $9.99

10. Steven Colvin and Cole Munger are the owners of Bobelo (based in Sandy, Utah), the first self-carbonating drink mix. It grew from the founders’ determination to create a sustainable soft drink that was better for the planet than commercial sodas and their endlessly wastefully discarded plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The individual, 15 calorie Bobelo packets are poured into your own bottle of cold water and shaken. Then the carbonating magic happens. (Sample pack of 12 0.28 oz packets in four flavors: Tropical Bliss, Mountain Berry, Orchard Breeze, and Lavender Lemonade) $12.49