Get Green

Celebrate sustainability by shopping at these local Hamptons spots

This year, embrace the “going green” ethos by shopping at local stores that promote local food and ingredients. From farm stands to bakeries to fishmongers, you can do your environmental part by staying close to home. Long Island is rich with options when it comes to local representation. Here are the best East End stores selling local goods. 

Peterson’s Fish Market
This new kid in town is owned and operated by local fishermen Wesley Peterson and Doug Davidson. Peterson, a fourth-generation Montauker, grew up fishing in the Montauk Harbor waters. Davidson has spent the past decade working on some of Montauk’s most recognizable commercial fishing vessels. The store carries locally sourced fish, some meats, and a handful of prepared foods, as well as cool condiments and a slim selection of produce. It’s definitely this year’s go-to for fish on the East End. 

Balsam Farms 
This Amagansett farm stand carries more than just local produce. It’s also home to a rich selection of locally crafted prepared foods, from Holy Schmitt’s horseradish to Mecox Bay Dairy cheese to Villa Italian Specialties handmade mozzarella to local pies, breads, and even potato chips. Eggs come from East Hampton’s nearby Iacono Farms and meats are raised in East Hampton, too, at Acabonac Farms. 

Amber Waves Market & Café
This sprawling Amagansett market features produce from Amber Waves Farm, of course, but it also features everything from East End wine to cheese to preserved goods. The farm grows grains, too, like winter wheat, hulless oats, flint corn, and popcorn, and you can buy the grains whole or processed as flour. The café, which operates in season, serves up food that highlights the farm’s bounty. Like Balsam Farms and Green Thumb Organic Farm, Amber Waves also operates a popular CSA, which is an even better way to get a dose of local flavor. 

Green Thumb Organic Farm
In addition to their farm-grown CSA, Green Thumb also sells a host of local products, like pies from the North Fork’s Junda’s Pastry Crust & Crumbs, cheese from Catapano Dairy Farm and Mecox Bay Dairy, coffee from Shirley’s Tend Coffee, soap from Southampton Soap Co., and cookies from Tate’s. Beekeeper Mary Wolz tends to her bees on Green Thumb’s certified organic land, so her local honey is also available, along with canned and bottled goods made by Green Thumb and highlighting seasonal produce (think jams, jellies, and sauces). 

Hen of the Woods Market
In April, mushroom purveyor Jonathan Bernard opened his new specialty market in the space next to La Parmigiana in Southampton Village. The magnificent space carries painstakingly sourced local produce, seafood, his own mushrooms, and a curated selection of goods that are available at few other outposts. In addition to items grown on Long Island, Bernard represents a few other nearby regions. Delicate ramps, the wild onion that grows in areas like New York’s Hudson Valley, made an appearance in the refrigerator case in early spring.