Taste of Oklahoma - Reasor's Foods

In 1963 Reasor's was born with a store in Tahlequah, Oklahoma by Larry Reasor. He had one fundamental idea, "Sell the customers items they want to buy, not what we want to sell them." This is a simple concept, but most retailers just never caught on to the idea of putting customers' needs first. Larry started an Oklahoma tradition back then, which continues today. In the spirit of customer service we know that our customers appreciate Local companies and we support as many as we can by buying local, so you can as well. Taste of Oklahoma is about honoring and celebrating those companies. Shop here to see an array of our local providers.

Blue Bell Creameries opened its doors on a hot summer day in 1907, in the small town of Brenham, Texas. It wasn’t until the 1980s that Blue Bell became available outside of Texas. In 1992, a production facility was opened in Broken Arrow. The Broken Arrow facility employs around 280 employees. Blue Bell produces half gallon, pint and 3 oz. cup items at its Oklahoma facility. It takes about 20,000 cows to produce enough milk for one day of production. All of the milk products and sugar are locally sourced from within about a 200-mile radius of the facility. Each product is distributed to supermarkets and food stores through a direct store delivery program. Direct store delivery means no one other than a Blue Bell employee handles the product from the time it is made until it reaches the grocery store. This is one of the ways that Blue Bell ensures consumers get that freshest possible ice cream.

Farrell Family Bread is a small family-owned artisan bakery that has been based in Tulsa for 20 years. All of their flours are untreated and unbleached, contain no preservatives, no artificial coloring, and no sweeteners. The dough is minimally mixed, and all loaves are 100% hand formed. Gentle hand shaping gives their loaves a more complex flavor than any other method. Slow, cool fermentation allows the dough to develop flavor naturally, without added sugars or flavoring agents. Next, their hearth oven produces a crispy and caramelized crust by injecting live steam during baking. Farrell Family Breads honors the traditions of the Egyptians by baking bread that combines ancient wisdom infused with a modern rustic flair.

Scissortail Farms — located in Tulsa County — is an aeroponic greenhouse that specializes in growing fresh salad greens and herbs year-round. Because their plants are grown using aeroponic methods, the chance of contamination by E coli through soil and manure is completely eliminated. The controlled environment of the green houses allow them to shelter the plants from external factors and minimize the need for harmful pesticides and herbicides. The water used to transfer nutrients to the plants is tightly controlled and monitored, resulting in produce that’s highly nutritious, safe and delicious.

The Schwab Meat Co. dream began in Sachsenhausen, West Germany with the company’s founder, George Peter Schwab (1866 – 1943). After landing at Ellis Island on July 20th, 1890 with several prized “old world” sausage recipes, Schwab set out to make his dream of bringing authentic German sausages to the United States a reality. In the decades to come, the Schwab family kept the business a tightly knit family operation with an emphasis on building customer relationships and making only the highest quality “old world” sausages. By the mid 1900s, Walter Schwab and his two sons (George and Jack) came to leadership for the company during an era of further growth for the family business.Today, Schwab's had 45 employee's and Jack’s sons (Scott and Larry) run the 100-year-old company with the help of their children – now fifth generation sausage makers in Oklahoma City. Just as the many generations before them, Scott, Larry and their children all strive to uphold the values set before them and produce only the highest quality, traditional, “old world” sausages and meat products.

Did you know there’s actually a Grandma associated with Grandma’s Pure Soap? Her name is Sue from Tulsa. In the beginning, Grandma and her husband were successful entrepreneurs, but were searching for a new product to sell. Grandma came up with the idea of making Grandma’s Lye Soap. Everybody laughed at the thought of lye soap, but that was until they used it. They soon realized this soap was unlike any other soap. It made their skin so soft, and they felt a totally different kind of clean. For soft skin and better complexion, Try Grandma’s Pure Soap, and feel the difference.

Mountain View is located in Stillwell, OK and has 24 employees. The art of making sausages is one of the oldest forms of cooking. At Mountain View, their family has been making sausages the old-fashioned way for over 40 years. Each one of their sausages is touched by hand to ensure both quality and taste.

The sausages are made with a simple formula of quality and love – first they start with beef and pork only – no mystery meat - and only the best. Then it is mixed with the perfect blend of spices to create bold, rich flavors signature of their Southern roots. They have a strong heritage of making sausages right here in Northeast Oklahoma going back 4 generations – they believe in the Oklahoma way of hard work, quality, and tradition.

Homesteading in the Oklahoma Land Run years, the J. Lloyd Ford family built their original log cabin in 1895. Preserved by his company, the landmark still stands today. The Mill he started in 1906 is a legacy to his insistence on quality products. He set the standards for Shawnee Mills, still operated by the third and fourth generations of Ford family millers in Shawnee, Ok. Despite significant growth over the years, the company has never lost track of its roots. The Food Division of Shawnee Milling creates a variety of flour, cornmeal, and baking mix products to meet the baking needs of our customers. Our special packaging capabilities allow us to offer a range of sizes from several ounces to bulk transport.

If there is a dessert dear to the hearts of Oklahomans, it's pecan pie. If there has been a pecan pie Oklahomans have been willing to travel for, it is Field's “World’s Best” Pecan Pie. It all started when two brothers, Lee and Julian Field, bought some land at the corner of Paul and Walnut in Pauls Valley, OK. It began as a filling station. In 1925, they opened a small restaurant that they called Field’s Tavern. Each morning, their wives, Hazelle and Zora cooked pastries in their homes for the restaurant. By 1953, the demand for pecan pies became so great that they added a bakery to the restaurant. People in other areas of Oklahoma began to ask for the pies, so the Field's bought a delivery truck. In 1962 they hired 30 people and bought a building that was converted to a plant where each day they produced 3,000 pies a day. They now make approximately 20,000 pies a day with two shifts of about 20 people per shift.

Daddy Hinkle’s is built upon and dedicated to the story of J. Frank Hinkle, otherwise known as Daddy Hinkle. The company’s history began with the dreams and the work of his grandchildren. It will continue with his great-grandchildren, and hopefully with his great-great-grandchildren and beyond. He began, like so many other men in the oil fields of Texas, and eventually began contract drilling for oil in Oklahoma. He would use every bit of his skills and an entrepreneurial spirit to build an Oil Drilling Company that would afford him the ability to give his family an upper middle class lifestyle. His story is that of a truly self-made man.

As an oilman, Daddy Hinkle entertained a lot of people in restaurants and especially at his lake home in Illinois. He loved a good T-Bone steak. His wife “doctored up” the steaks with a combination of garlic salt, tenderizer, celery salt, paprika, seasoned salt, pepper and everything else she could find in the kitchen cabinet. Whatever the combination of seasonings, the steaks proved to be irresistible to one and all of the parade of guests, family, and business associates that dined at Daddy Hinkle’s table throughout his lifetime. Today the marinades, seasonings, and rubs baring the name Daddy Hinkle’s are sold in an ever-increasing number of states throughout the USA.

The story of Bedré Fine Chocolate began over four decades ago. A small chocolatier operating out of the former Homer Elementary School near Ada, Oklahoma, Bedré Fine Chocolate was determined to make the highest quality chocolate. This attitude is exemplified by the name Bedré itself, which is a Norwegian word that simply means “better.”

Bedré Fine Chocolate remained a local staple, and in 2000, the Chickasaw Nation purchased the company and gave it new life in Davis, Ok. Building on a rich legacy and love of curating the bold and delicate flavors of chocolate, the Chickasaw Nation turned the small chocolatier into a nationally recognized luxury chocolate brand. Having upgraded their manufacturing facilities with state-of-the-art technology and practices, Bedré Fine Chocolate has set the standard for premium quality chocolate.

Milo’s was founded as a restaurant in 1946 by Milo and Bea Carlton after Milo returned from serving our country in World War II. Milo’s philosophy was simple: use high quality, natural ingredients, listen to your customers, and never sacrifice taste. This vision still guides us today as we source natural ingredients and never add colors or preservatives.

Milo’s is also a Platinum-Certified Zero Waste Manufacturer devoted to sustainable practices and the stewardship of local communities and the environment.