Our Ingredients & Sourcing

From grain to fruit to dairy, we work with ingredients worth talking about.

Every item we make begins with whole ingredients grown or produced with integrity, almost always locally or regionally, often by people we know. We bake with grains grown in the Northeast, fruit from our own farm and trusted friends, maple syrup and honey collected just up the road, and eggs and dairy from farms that share our standard of quality and care for animal welfare.

Our ingredient sourcing rests on simple principles. Look local first: We choose ingredients grown and made nearby so our choices support the community around us and reflect the flavors of the place we call home. Filter by flavor: We determine which ingredients make it into our bakery based on taste. If an ingredient doesn’t taste great, we don’t use it, no matter how well it checks other boxes. Build trust not transactions: We prioritize creating long-term relationships with farmers who see their work as craft, because we believe that partnership and accountability sustain quality over time. Choose care over compromise: We only use ingredients produced in ways that respect both people and ecological health. If an ingredient cannot be sourced responsibly, we don’t use it.

Below is an explanation of what our principles look like in practice across the ingredients we use every day.

Grains

Flour is the backbone of bakery work, so we consider ourselves very fortunate to work with flavorful, fresh, and nutritious flours grown and milled by people who care as much about their work as we care about ours. All of the flours we work with are 100% whole grain, custom-milled for us every two weeks by Elmendorf Baking Supplies in Massachusetts, and made completely from grains grown within the Northeast. Because the flours we use are freshly ground in a single pass on a granite stone mill, they retain all of the nutrition inherent in the grain while also giving our products nutty, toasty, and savory flavor notes that are entirely unlike the bitter or acrid flavors you may associate with industrially-produced whole wheat flour or whole wheat products.

Our oats and some wheat come from Granite Grains farm in Amherst, New Hampshire. Additional wheat varietals are grown at Gianforte Farm in upstate New York and Buck Farm in Maine. Corn is sourced from Granite Grains and from Harry Here Farm in Rhode Island. Spelt comes from Peter and Hanna Martens Farm in upstate New York, and rye from Oechsner Farm, also in New York. Most of these farms use regenerative or organic practices, and all are run by families whose hard work is evident in the quality of the grains they grow.

Fruits, Vegetables, & Herbs

Fruits, vegetables, and herbs help give our baking its sense of seasonality. On our farm in Dunbarton, we grow apples, rhubarb, raspberries, black raspberries, blueberries, greens, tomatoes, and herbs. We supplement those harvests with a wide range of local produce from trusted friends and neighbors such as Apple Twist Farm in Dunbarton, Lavoies Farm in Hollis, Harb Farm in Derry, and a number of other talented, small-scale local farmers. When fruit is at its best, we preserve it into jams, syrups, apple butter, and more, so that we have delicious, flavorful accents to use in the colder months. We also use dried and freeze-dried fruit, not as a substitute for fresh, but because it works better in certain applications. We currently source dried and freeze-dried products through a wholesaler, but we hope to find a local processor who is able to provide them in the quantity and quality we need.

We are committed to showcasing the incredible range of flavors grown in the region where we live. This means we use and celebrate the in-season fruits, vegetables, and herbs that are (or at least can be) grown here in the Northeast. For this reason, you will not find ingredients like coconut, pistachios, ube, or tropical fruits in our baking. At Christmas, however, we make an exception to this rule for citrus, to honor Michael’s personal, cultural, and emotional connection to his grandfather’s citrus grove in Florida.

Dairy & Eggs

Dairy and eggs are essential to the richness and flavor of our baked goods and we are incredibly grateful to our suppliers for the care and responsibility they show towards their animals. We source milk and cream from Huckins Farm in New Hampton, New Hampshire, and use that dairy to make buttermilk and crème fraîche ourselves. Yogurt and cheeses come from Abbot Hill Creamery in Wilton. We still use a national brand of sour cream, though we’re actively seeking a local option that meets our standards. For butter, we choose Plugrá, a European-style butter produced in the U.S. by Dairy Farmers of America. Eggs are supplied by Rolfe Farm in Gilmanton for most of the year, with winter supplemented by other local farms.

Sugar, Honey, & Maple Syrup

Sweeteners may seem simple, but our choices add character and flavor to our baking. Our primary sweetener is certified organic cane sugar, a choice that gives products a warmer, fuller flavor than highly refined white sugar because of its higher molasses, mineral, and trace nutrient content. We still use conventional brown sugar in some recipes, though with care.

Honey and maple syrup play an important role in our baking due to their unique and distinctive flavors. Honey from CR Bees, just up the road from us, brings floral notes that change with the season, while maple syrup from Kearsarge Gore Farm in Warner carries the rich, woodsy character of traditional New England sugaring. These ingredients add irreplaceable complexity, heritage, and sense of place to our baked goods.

Cocoa & Chocolate

Cocoa and chocolate are central ingredients in most bakeries, but the global cacao industry has long relied on exploitative practices, including forced child labor. The reality of how cacao is grown and harvested means we cannot ethically use mass-market chocolate. Instead, we work with Loon Chocolate, a bean-to-bar maker in Manchester, New Hampshire, that sources single-origin, organic beans through ethical partnerships built on fairness and transparency. Loon's chocolate is crafted by hand here in New Hampshire and carries notes of fruit, spice, and earthiness that add both integrity and flavor to our baking. We source our cocoa through our partnership with Loon to ensure that it meets our ethical standards.

Nuts & Seeds

Most of our nuts and seeds are purchased through a wholesale supplier, but we focus on varieties that can grow in New England—walnuts, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, and pumpkin seeds—rather than relying on crops like almonds or pecans, which cannot be grown here. When local chestnuts are available, we use them. We see ourselves as intermediaries between growers and consumers, and we want to help create demand for more regionally grown nuts and seeds in the future. Using only nuts and seeds that can grow in the Northeast helps us prepare our menu so that when local farmers are ready to invest in agricultural projects growing and processing these crops, they know there is a market waiting for them. While butter is our primary fat for baking, when we use oil, it is sunflower oil produced locally at Sunfox Farm in Concord, New Hampshire.

Extracts & Flavorings

We use extracts and flavorings sparingly, leaning instead on craft spirits, herbs, and flowers that carry the character of New England. Spirits come from Flag Hill Distillery in Lee, Tamworth Distilling in Tamworth, and Three of Strong Spirits in Portland, Maine. Dried herbs and flowers are sourced from our farm or from other local farms whenever possible. When local flowers aren’t available, we choose only varieties that grow in our climate and can eventually be cultivated on our own farm. We rarely use vanilla, because the pastry industry’s intense, constant demand for vanilla has been linked to widespread deforestation, exploitative labor practices, and violent conflict in the regions where it is grown.

We do not use any artificial flavorings or any artificial colors.

240 Stark Hwy North, Dunbarton, NH 03046

AskTheBakers@EdensTableFarm.com

603-774-1811