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Every Cooking Class Needs A Lot Of Ingredients! – Chef Contos Kitchen

By Liz Bernier aka “Liz-tastic'” of Chef Contos Kitchen and Store: http://chefcontos.com/

65 Falls Rd., Shelburne, VT 05482

At CCKS, as I’m sure you can imagine, we do a lot of grocery shopping. Most of our shopping is done at Healthy Living, they have such a great variety of products and a lot of the hard to find things we need for our endless recipe testing and cooking classes.

We get everything from produce and meat, to after-class snacks and specialty ingredients there. Here are five of our favorite must-haves from Healthy Living, in particular order.

1. Agave gummy bears: Okay, so I know I said this was in no particular order… but this might just be our favorite! I discovered these a few months ago, really randomly, and I brought them to the store. Needless to say the bag I bought did not end up coming home with me that night. We could not stop eating them as we prepared for class. Now one of us usually has a bag of them floating around in our purses, and we take them out as a treat before or after class. I don’t think we go to HL without stopping to get some of these now.
2. Guild Fine Meats Smoked Ham: If you haven’t had this ham, you need to get in your car and go to Healthy Living ASAP. It is one of our CCKS fridge staples. We use it in everything from breakfast tacos to this amazing Yucatecan cheese and ham pastry. We like it sliced super thin, and you can usually find us eating it plain or with a little bit of our favorite mustards.
3. Lyle’s Golden Syrup: We are not fans of corn syrup at CCKS, but a decent amount of recipes call for it. We found Lyle’s (which is an British product) to be a great replacement. We use it in marshmallows, caramels, and to make the most amazing marinade for pork Char Siu. We even use the adorable tins as vases for flowers after we use all the golden syrup inside.
4. Cheese: We love cheese at CCKS, and we use a lot of it. We do a lot of events and parties and when we travel to another location for an event we always bring products for people to try. And some of our favorite products are best served with cheese, and we can always find the perfect fit at Healthy Living. They have such a great selection; it is like a one stop shop for all our cheese needs. Some of our favorites at Vermont Creamery Bonne Bouche and Cremont, Mt. Vikos feta, and their many varieties of goat and raw milk cheeses.
5. Tamarind Paste: This is one of those products that you wouldn’t necessarily think of as a kitchen staple, but once you have it you will find yourself using it more and more. We teach a lot of Asian cooking classes, and this is one of those things that we reach for a lot in the classes. It can be used in marinades, dipping sauces, and even beverages. We really appreciate being able to get this at Healthy Living, because with all the grocery shopping we do it is nice not to have to make a trip to a specialty market.

These are just five of our favorite products we get from Healthy Living, if I took the time to list them all this post would be never ending. We get so many great things from them, and they are always great with special order or helping us to find a specific product or ingredient. We feel lucky to have this great store to close to us, and to be able to find so many great, high quality products there.