Connecticut

Cordy Kelly was a mom of competitive rowers in need of better snacks. She took matters into her own hands, making rolled oats, dried fruit, dark chocolate and other ingredients into delicious, gluten-free granola. Since then, Norwalk, Connecticut–based Kelly’s Four Plus has evolved from a post-row snack for her boys to a local business.

After a successful stint as an executive in the recording industry, Kerry Wood switched lanes and began to pour her passion into delicious dressings. Based in Westport, Connecticut, Kerry Wood Healthy Foods gluten-free dressings are made with olive oil as the only oil she uses.

Lifelong friends Nancy Jack and Jeffrey Busch teamed up to create an alternative to deet-based bug repellents. Their repellents use essential oils like peppermint, thyme oil and rosemary to deter mosquitos, ticks and biting flies.

Since 1930, Pell Family Farms has been growing sweet strawberries and raspberries on their land in Somers, Connecticut. Tracy, a fourth-generation Pell family farmer, grew up gardening with her mother and grandmother. Now, she continues their legacy by putting immense amounts of care and effort into every crop.

In a fall of 2008, childhood friends and cofounders Michel Boissy and Ryan Guimond’s thirst for a better cocktail mixer turned into RIPE — a business made over a shared passion for a good cocktail. Made in small batches with fresh juice, your usual cocktail mix is no match for squeezed, cold-pressed RIPE Bar Juice.

You have full permission to eat this cookie dough. Unbakeables, based in Weston, Connecticut, makes perfectly topped, ready-to-eat cookie dough. Made without egg but with creativity, family recipes and many loved flavors, the mom and daughter team behind Unbakeables is a force to be reckoned with — and their cookie dough is too.

In their peaceful, stonewall surrounded piece of natural beauty, 75 (and counting) herbs grow. Between the farm and their 1,000-square-foot greenhouse, Whole Harmony creates exquisite teas and liquid dietary supplements for the enjoyment and well-being of their local community and beyond.