433903 Wed Aug 22 12:28:31 -0700 2007 1 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 2870371 I might be involved in a international food swap group which got me to thinking, I really don't know these countries well enough to even know what I'd want to swap. Then I thought that I didn't want to swap anything that could be ordered online. That being said, I'm sure we all know a lot of great local companies that have online ordering that might be of interest to others in different regions. It might be good to include what are our favorites from those sites. I'll start. I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area. Here's some of my favorite local food vendors and what I think they excel at. Tierra Vegetables http://www.tierravegetables.com/index.html I'm currenly in love with their chipotle powder which is the best I've ever tried. They grow over 50 varieties of peppers and have a nice selection of dried peppers. If you have a good source of dried peppers near you, I wouldn't go out of my way just for that. If they ever offer the smoked onions online, snap them up. I like their chile jams too. CJ Olson Cherries http://www.cjolsoncherries.com/ The best fresh in-season Bing cherries anywhere. The rest of the stuff is fine but the reason for me for Olson is those Bings. Recently I tried the dried sour cherries which were quite good. Rancho Gordo http://www.ranchogordo.com Steve Sando travels to Mexico yearly to find new heirloom beans. His beans are used by a lot of the top Bay Area restaurants including the French Laundry. I haven't been through much of his line yet, but I liked the pebbles beans quite a lot mainly for aesthetics. They look so pretty dried. Taste good too, but look attractive. Marshall's Honey http://www.marshallsfarmhoney.com/ Pumpkin blossom honey. Enough said. Actually ordering different colors from pale orange blossom to mollases colored Wild, Wild, West is interesting in terms of how different honeys can taste. Skip the infused honeys though. I don't know why they think making coconut infused honey is a good idea. The lavender-infused honey is unexceptional. Licorice, peppermint, banana, etc flavored honey ... so wrong ... especially since their straight from the bee pristine honeys are so wonderful. If you must, they do offer flavored honey straws. http://www.marshallsfarmhoney.com/c-46-honey-stix-honey-straws.aspx Pumpkin blossom ... get the pumpkin blossom. Wed Aug 22 12:28:31 -0700 2007 10264 rworange 1 2871185 Rancho Gordo... if you find Flor de Mayo, Flor de Junio or Hibes I would jump on those. Wed Aug 22 15:28:20 -0700 2007 2870371 42572 Eat_Nopal