This Thanksgiving, ditch the stress of grocery stores and address your shopping with a shop-small approach. We’re encouraging you to elevate your feast by sourcing everything locally in Pittsburgh. The Steel City is a true cornucopia for creating a feast, teeming with farms, butchers, and bakeries ready to supply your holiday table with high-quality ingredients. Find yourself the perfect pasture-raised turkey, crisp organic vegetables, artisanal biscuits, breads, as well as show-stopping desserts (with options for every dietary need). Get ready to taste the difference of a meal rooted in our community and one that your family will truly savor.
Local Thanksgiving Ingredients Sourced from Pittsburgh Shops
The Turkey
Over at Strip District Meats, Hidden Hollow Turkey Farm from Elverson, PA provides all-natural, farm-raised turkeys. Even better, the list of choices for the focal point of your feast lets you customize your meal to your liking. Go classic with a Hidden Hollow Locally Raised Fresh Turkey or take things up a notch with a Turducken this year. You can also buy Smoked Turkey Drumsticks, Necks, Wings and Tails if you’re looking to avoid a whole turkey. If you have just a few people around the table, consider a duck from renowned PA source, Joe Jurgielewicz and Son. Their wares are stocked at Strip District Meats.
Feel like going the extra mile this year? Drive yourself out to Walnut Hill Farm in Sharpsville to buy your turkey right from the farm itself. North of the city, this farm owned by the Kovach family focuses on keeping an animal’s life as close to evolution norms as possible. This means their turkeys are meant to be pasture-cleaners. They even raise their turkeys under fruit trees to take advantage of fallen fruit as well as the insects that feed off of the trees. You can visit this family operation on Thursdays or Saturdays or contact them to arrange your own pick-up.
Fresh Vegetables
Farm to table is just better. Pittsburgh’s East End Food Co-op is as close as you’ll get to shopping every local farm in the area at once. This shop is chockfull of organic produce and specialty goods that make a one and done shop experience. Think of filling your feast with Brussels sprouts, asparagus, a green bean casserole made with the freshest of veggies, sweet corn, as well as decadent apples for your apple pie. Not to mention, the Co-op features weekly produce specials that ensure you get the best price possible.
Your local neighborhood grocery store comes in the form of Millvale Market. Here, quality matters and it shows. Shelves overflow with vibrant produce and local foods. Whether you’re picking up a bundle of winter greens to build out a beautiful salad or using their pumpkins to stuff your pumpkin pie, Millvale Market ensures you leave with the best ingredients you can possibly get.
Bread
The bread is one of our personal favorite parts of Thanksgiving. There’s nothing like buttering a roll, biscuit, or slice of freshly baked bread and then using it to sop up all the gravy that’s leftover. If you’re looking to add biscuits to your table, Wise County Biscuits carries three different types that you can defrost and bake at home. Choose from buttermilk biscuits, supper biscuits, or sweet potato supper biscuits. Plus, don’t forget to grab some of their Paul Family Farm Honey Butter, too.
Mancini’s Bakery is your spot for loaves of Italian bread with a crispy outside crust and fluffy center. Their varieties even include original Italian twist, rye, raisin, wheat, pumpernickel, and cranberry walnut if you’re looking for something a little different. You can also take home a bag of their homemade dinner rolls or thin and crunchy grissini for your appetizer spread.
Dessert
Pies and cookies are essential to ending your Thanksgiving meal but can be a hassle to make, especially depending on what type you’re making. Let Third Space Bakery take with their handmade pies and cakes that’ll leave all your guests wanting another slice. This year they’re baking up Bourbon-Pecan Pie, Maple Pumpkin Pie, and Cheddar-Sage Apple Pie. Not to mention their cakes are perfect for those with dietary needs such as a vegan Salted Maple Gingerbread Cake or gluten-free Flourless Cranberry Orange Almond Cake.
Prantl’s Bakery is home to cases of strudels, breads, brownies, cakes, cannolis, cheesecakes, pies, gobs, tortes, and more. While you could opt for their famous Almond Torte, we recommend also grabbing a platter of their cookies. Go simple with a Chocolate Chip or Sugar Cookie that everyone will love. Or, go a little wild this year and try their Pumpkin Spice Thumbprints, Hermit Cookies, Apricot Cookie Hamantaschen, or White Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies. Plus, their decorated sugar cookies with pilgrim, leaf, as well as turkey designs are too adorable to not grab one or two.
Story by Kylie Thomas
Photo Courtesy of Walnut Hill Farm
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