By Sydney Williams
With each circular we send to you, we choose a local vendor to spotlight. Shopping local, farm to table and eating local are all contemporary mindsets. Thankfully our culture finally caught up with what is so very important and a big part of Pilgrims Market core. Winter is the most challenging time to reach a local farmer due to the weather. After brainstorming it dawned on us. Hey! We are a local vendor and probably one of the biggest in the Coeur d’Alene area. Between our deli, bakery, produce, meat and supplement department, we make over 400 items from scratch right here in house!
If you’ve ever shopped with us before the 10 am, you know that walking into Pilgrims is like floating into a carb lovers heaven. We smell like a bakery because we are! In fact, we use a very rare European steam-injected deck oven to prepare our artisan breads. Fancy, huh? Our team of eight bakers arrive around 4 am, pour their large cup of coffee as they measure, pour and mix all the ingredients to have everything out of the oven and in the bakery case by 10 am. In total, we make over 70 baked goods, including a minimum of 12 different artisan breads each day with rotating variety. We also have a case entirely designated to gluten free baked goods that don’t taste like cardboard.
Last but not least, our bakery creates the best tasting ice cream you’ll ever have which makes this department arguably the greatest in the store. Then 10:01 hits and our deli are a foodie’s paradise. Best part about the deli isn’t the convenience of quick and healthy food, but the fact that it’s all made from scratch. From soups to the salad bar, even the toppings and sauces we put on the grill items, we make it all here in house. Right behind supplements, we have a commercial sized kitchen (more like a football field sized kitchen if you ask me) where all the food magic happens. This is where Chef Joe leads his team in creating authentic and fresh foods that are rich in flavor and robust in nutrition. Our salad bar is a salad-lovers delight with in-house candied nuts, dried fruit, pickled and fermented veggies, grilled meats, bacon, fruit, cheeses, legumes dressings, croutons and did I mention bacon?
We have eight hot bar items daily that are priced the same as the salad bar so you can mix, match and combine into your personal slice of heaven. The display case is full of home-made salads and great entrée items like salmon patties, flank steak and Greek chicken breasts. Customers get into a down-right frenzy waiting for the meat department’s smoked chicken, turkey and salmon and is also known for amazing house-made sausages. Produce of course stocks its shelves with nearly 90% NW locally farmed organic produce in the summer months which is awesome but they are also known for their in-house specialties. That guacamole you make a special trip to come see us for?
Produce makes that from scratch! They chop the cilantro and onions, peel the garlic and only they know how many avocados they have to peel to produce that much guac. YUM! But that’s not all they do. They prepare so many fruits and vegetables to make eating healthy and cooking fresh easy for us. Thank you, Pilgrims Produce! Supplements gets in on the local vendor spotlight even. They’re starting to package and label a handful of high-quality essential oils to bring the cost down for our customers. And of course, we are perhaps most famous for our Cultured Mama line of fermented foods. Sauerkrauts, dips, jalapenos, carrot coins and now kraut brine for a shot of probiotic goodness or as a secret ingredient in home-made dressings and sauces. We are proud to be the local vendor spotlight and hope you enjoy all the yummy goodness we make here in house at Pilgrim’s Market!
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