Quince & Apple’s Fig & Black Tea Preserves — Clare and Matt Stoner Fehsenfeld own the Madison, Wisc.-based jam company Quince & Apple. Together, they produce handcrafted preserves using locally sourced fresh produce from surrounding Wisconsin and Michigan farms. All of their preserves are made by hand in open pots, with Clare and Matt tasting and tweaking along the way to get the perfect balance in each batch. To make their Fig & Black Tea Preserves, Clare and Matt steep dried Mission figs in an Indonesian black tea that they source from Upton Tea Importers. The liquor from the rehydrated figs combined with tea creates a syrup that is used to make the preserves. It works on a cheese plate, served with anything smokey and creamy and also tastes delicious spooned over ice cream.
Beehive Cheese Company’s TeaHive — The creamery at the Beehive Cheese Company, in Uintah, Utah, sits at the mouth of Weber Canyon in a valley between the forested Wasatch Mountains. Beehive owners (and brothers-inlaw) Tim Welsh and Pat Ford use only first-class-grade whole milk from Jersey cows at Ogden’s Wadeland South Dairy. The 350-acre dairy is located near the salty marshes, ponds and mudflats of the mineral-loaded Great Salt Lake. The nutrient-rich soil feeds the lush alfalfa that the cows love to eat, resulting in a delicious milk that tastes of its unique terroir. Tim and Pat call their new TeaHive a “feel good” cheese. Rubbed with a blend of black tea and pure bergamot oil, this creamy Irishstyle cheddar has the rich fragrance of orange blossoms in spring. We can't get enough.