When you walk into the Spice House in Old Town with 10 pounds of pork belly strapped to your back, you're telegraphing to the employees what you need. What we were looking for was four ounces of sodium nitrate, aka "pink salt." more ›

Stopping by the Heartland Meats booth was a given while at Green City Market last weekend. The surprise came at another meat purveyor. Based in downstate Fairbury (just south of Kankakee), Tom and Amy Ifft of Twin Oaks Meats raise hormone-free pork. Additionally, the feed used to fatten their pigs contains no animal by-products or antibiotics. more ›