We stock the shelves at J.J. Hapgood General Store & Eatery with products that we love. This means the freshest, organic produce, eggs, and maple syrup, local craft beer, our special blend of organic fair trade coffee, Vermont cheeses and charcuterie, basic provisions, and J.J. Hapgood classics like penny candy and barrel pickles.
We also source our favorite specialty items like corn tortilla chips and spicy Mexican-style ketchup from La Esquina in New York City, Ice Cream Man ice cream from Cambridge, New York, BOLAfruit! bars from the Berkshires, Zukali Mexican Gourmet salsas from McKinney, Texas and Dave’s Coffee Syrups from Rhode Island.
We purchase as much as we can from local producers and aim to provide our customers with the products they want and need. Please let us know if there is anything you’d like to see on our shelves.
Here is more information about some of our favorite farm and producer partners.
Maplebrook Farm:
Maplebrook Farm, based in Bennington, Vermont, makes the most delicious, authentic mozzarella, burrata, ricotta cheese, and feta from 100% Vermont whole milk when possible. We use their creamy mozzarella on our wood-fired pizzas.
Vermont Cookie Love:
Vermont Cookie Love’s frozen, all-natural cookie dough is as good as homemade. The Puppy Love (Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip) and Addicted to Love (Mocha Chocolate Chip) are staff favorites.
Fox Hollow Farm:
Fox Mustard, made in New Hampshire by Phyllis Fox, is sweet and spicy, made with imported balsamic vinegar, fresh garlic and molasses. It is a delicious complement to the creamy Plymouth Hunter in our signature Grilled Cheese & Apple Sandwich, and it’s delicious with cheese or as a glaze or marinade for meat.
Vermont Smoke & Cure:
We carry the full range of Vermont Smoke & Cure products, including summer sausage, bacon, pepperoni, and ham. The meat is smoked and cured the old fashioned way, with corn cob and maple.
Misty Knoll Chicken:
We are proud to partner with Misty Knoll Farms, a family-owned and operated farm in northern Vermont that produces naturally-raised chickens and free-range turkeys.
Sidehill Farm Jam:
The sumptuous jams from this artisanal preserves maker in Brattleboro turn our toast, yogurt and peanut butter sandwiches into something special. The family-owned operation never uses preservatives, pectin or artificial ingredients in their rich, fruity jams and jellies. Just ripe juicy fruit and sugar.
Cabot Creamery:
Cabot cheese is practically synonymous with Vermont, and it is our go-to cheddar for everyday snacking and grilled cheese.
Vermont Creamery:
Vermont Creamery produces some of the creamiest, most delicious fresh and aged goat cheeses, cultured butter and fresh cow’s milk cheeses. We love a dollop of their tangy crème fraiche atop our hash at breakfast. Many of their products are available for sale in our dairy case.
Bobo’s Mountain Sugar:
We enjoyed our fair share of pure maple syrup growing up in Vermont. And, we think that Bobo’s Mountain Sugar maple syrup, made in Weston, Vermont by Tina Hartell and Skye Chalmers, is the best. We serve their Medium Amber with all of our pancakes and carry the full line—which includes Dark and Robust and Dark Amber—in bottles to bring home or give as a gift.
New Skete:
The Nuns of New Skete, who live at the New Skete Monastary in Cambridge, New York (near the Vermont border), make the most delicious cheesecakes, including the decadent Chocolate Cheesecake that we serve in the café by the slice or whole.
Rookie’s Root Beer & Ginger Beer:
We carry Rookie’s Root & Ginger Beer in bottles, growlers and on tap. We love the licorice, vanilla and molasses flavors in this hand-crafted, small-batch root beer from Burlington. Their Ginger Beer has a zesty ginger bite and a subtle sweetness from Champlain Apiaries honey. It’s the best for ice cream floats!
Lost Nation:
Lost Nation, from Morrisville, makes some of our favorite small-batch beers inspired by traditional European ales. Their brews are made with locally sourced ingredients. We offer a rotating selection of their beers on tap, including the Rustic Ale.
Aqua Vitea Kombucha:
We offer this micro-brewed kombucha (a fermented drink made from tea, sugar, water, bacteria, and yeast) on tap and in bottles. Aqua Vitea is a small, socially-conscious brewer based in Bristol, Vermont that we are proud to offer.
Red Kite Candy:
Elaine McCabe sources the highest-quality local, organic milk and cream to produce her line of addictive caramels, toffee, nougat, and other candies, all wrapped in the most attractive red-and-white packaging. We sell her Sea Salt caramels by the piece next to the register—a perennial customer favorite.
Yoder Farm:
We source the most pristine produce—including raspberries, strawberries and kale in our seasonal salads—from Yoder Farm in nearby Danby.
Blue Moon Sorbet:
We scoop Vermont’s Blue Moon Sorbet, made with fresh, whole fruits, naturally-sweet fruit purees and juice—and that’s all. The sorbets have an intense flavor, vivid color and silky smooth texture, plus some seriously inventive flavors like Lemon Zest, Pear Ginger and Blackberry Lime that we can’t resist.
Ice Cream Man:
The Ice Cream Man is one of the best parts of summer in Peru, Vermont. This premium ice cream, made by hand with fresh cream in Cambridge, New York, is available to scoop in the store.
Suki Skin Care:
Suki skin care products are made, hand-poured, labeled, and shipped from Northampton, Massachusetts. Unique product formulations for the skin and body are 100% synthetic-free and made for women of all ages.
Harlow Farm:
Located in Westminster, Vermont, Harlow Farm is a century-old 150-acre farm that was one of the first certified organic farms in the state. We source seasonal produce from Harlow Farm and are particularly fond of their organic, curly kale, which we use in our popular seasonal salad.
Taylor Farm:
Taylor Farm produces some of our favorite cheeses, including a range of Gouda, including a delightful Maple Smoked Gouda, on their Londonderry, Vermont farm.
Common Good Cleaning Products:
We are inspired by the team behind Common Good, which makes effective and all-natural green cleaning products that are safe for kids and pets.
Plymouth Artisan Cheese:
We’ve found the perfect cheese for grilled cheese in the Hunter, raw cow’s-milk cheese from Plymouth Artisan Cheese, a short drive north of the store.
McClure’s:
Inspired by and made in Detroit, Michigan, you will find McClure’s Garlic Dill and Spicy Whole Pickles in our famous barrels. Check out our shelves for McClure’s jarred products.
Rick’s Pick’s:
Rick’s Pick’s People’s Pickle is the perfect pickle in our mind. It’s just crunchy enough, just garlicky enough, and just dilly enough to make everything better.
Coop’s MicroCreamery Hot Fudge:
This premium hot fudge is billed as an “over-the-top chocolate experience.” It is all that and more, made from fine European chocolate and milk from Watertown, Massachusetts, where the sauces are made and packed by hand.
Katalyst Kombucha:
We are so crazy for kombucha that we carry two brands. Katalyst Kombucha is pure, raw and organic kombucha from Greenfield, Massachussets.
La Esquina Mexican-style Ketchup, BBQ sauce and Tortilla Chips:
The folks behind La Esquina, one of our favorite taquerias in New York City, recently started producing intense and spicy ketchup, barbecue sauce and the most addictive real corn tortilla chips.
Hill Top Farm:
We source the ground beef for our juicy burgers from Hill Top, a certified organic dairy farm located in Pownal, about an hour south of us near Bennington.
Boyden Farm Beef:
Boyden Farm beef is grass-fed and finished with a mix of sweet grasses, including sorghum, that gives this top-quality, local meat a unique, rich flavor. Our Boyden Roast Beef sandwich is a popular lunch item, piled high on a house-baked roll with horseradish aioli.
Nitty Gritty Grain Company of Vermont:
This is a small, family-owned certified organic farming operation that produces some of the most delicious, and sustainably-produced, grains. We use their flour to make all of our breads, pizza dough and pancakes and sell the bagged flour and grains in the store.
Morgan Hill Farm:
We’ve enjoyed seeing Morgan Hill Farm, located in neighboring Weston, grow over the last ten years from a small vegetable garden and batch maple syrup producer to a 300+ acre working farm raising all-natural beef and pork.
Sunrise Orchards:
Sunrise is a 200-acre apple farm located in Cornwall, Vermont, just south of Middlebury in the fertile Champlain Valley. They grow several varieties of apples that we stock in our produce case and use, sliced, on our delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and in our salads.
Flour Girl Bakeshop:
This small bakery, run by the always-enthusiastic baker Sarah Porter in West Rupert, produces Whoopie Pies and other classic American desserts that are some of our most popular bakery items. Current favorites include juicy summer-fruit pies!
Crackers Crepes & Crisps:
Baker Nancy DeBona makes the most delicate, gluten-free almond torte out of her small bakery in Dorset. We are so happy to offer this locally-made treat for our customers to enjoy.
Vermont Sundae Sauce Company:
Bobbie Dennie makes the most delectable dessert sauces, inspired by her grandmother’s recipe. We love her Maple Caramel, made with real Vermont syrup, and Hot Fudge Heaven, a rich bittersweet sauce that is the natural partner for Ice Cream Man Vanilla.
Sunja’s Kimchi:
We love the crunchy, salty, and spicy flavors of this locally-made kimchi, which takes a starring role in our healthy hash of mung beans, potatoes, nutritional yeast and poached eggs.
Sugar Bob’s Finest Kind:
Sugar Bob’s produces one of our favorite Vermont products—hardwood-smoked pure, dark maple syrup. It has many sweet and savory applications, and it is a key ingredient in our pulled pork and barbecue sauce. This unique syrup is also available for sale on our shelves.
Back Roads Granola:
We think that Back Roads Granola, from Brattleboro, Vermont, is, truly, the best granola. It is GMO-free and certified organic and contains lots of crunchy clusters of almonds, cashews, sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and maple syrup. We serve it in the Café at breakfast for a simple, healthy and satisfying start to the day.
Someday Farm:
We are thrilled to partner with Scout Proft of Someday Farm, located in East Dorset, Vermont. Proft started the first CSA in Vermont at Someday Farm in 1984. She produces the most gorgeous eggs on her sustainable farm, plus 100 varieties of certified organic fruits and vegetables.