NEW YORK -- "Let me tell you my story," said Pastor Chuck, as I made my way through the Summer Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center in New York City this past Sunday (it ran through Tuesday). I heard this phrase throughout the day, whenever I stopped at a producer's booth for more than a moment, if I reached for a sample, if I made eye contact.

Pastor Chuck's story was about his organic apple butter, applesauce and apple salsa. Prepared from Maine apples, sweetened or not, they're produced by this Episcopal priest wearing overalls and a cap. His dream: To make the best apple products. His motto: One taste and you will know the difference between good and evil (pastorchuckorchards.com).

Also wearing overalls was Jeff Koeze from Grand Rapids, Mich. His company makes Cream-Nut Natural Peanut Butter in smooth and crunchy varieties. The story behind the peanut butter, besides great flavor, is that it's hand-crafted just as it was in Koeze's grandfather's time. Find it at McGinnis Sisters.

The best accent at the show belonged to the woman at the Southern Absolutely Cajun Positively Delicious booth. Some of the best packaging too, like the Windex-style bottles of Spray Basters for barbecuing (southernbbqsauce.com).

More Louisiana folk were at the "Slap Ya Mama" booth. This spicily named Cajun seasoning blend comes in hot, regular (which is pretty hot) and a new white pepper blend invented for the owner's grandfather, who must avoid black pepper. There's a new Cajun pepper sauce, too (slapyamama.com).

Some of my favorite artisanal products were at the Italian distributor, Manicaretti, which also imports handcrafted pasta, sold at Pennsylvania Macaroni. I swooned over Pariani's hazelnut oil from the Piedmont region. Also delicious were spreads made from hand-gathered wild herbs and plants including hop sprouts, nasturtium and glacier chicory, an exotic type of radicchio. Made by Primitivizia.

On a condiment kick, I tried Raye's Mustard. Their mustard has been produced by four generations of Rayes in the only remaining stone-ground mustard mill in North America. Visit them in Eastport, Maine and get their flavor-packed Brown Ginger, Winter Garden and Down East Schooner Classic Yellow mustard at rayesmustard.com.

New at the Melissa's produce booth were Shishito chiles, a small, elongated green chile that's mild with a little burn. Good for grilling, said Robert Schueller as I devoured a juicy piece of black apricot. He's the Melissa's rep I always visit at this show. Also new are precooked black-eyed peas, due out in time for New Year's.

Ghost chiles are another Melissa's product coming out shortly. I'm not sure I can recommend them. These little bombs contain 1 million Scoville units, meaning they're incendiary.

Over at Vanns Spices, they've been smoking. Not just Smoked Paprika but Smoked Chardonnay Salt and Smoked Saigon Cinnamon, which would be lovely in a rub for duck or pork, and Smoked Rice for gumbo or jambalaya (vannsspices.com).

Michael Leviseur is still smoking at The Organic Smokehouse, a favorite from last year's show. Along with the amazing Elderflower Cured Gravadlax there is Hot Smoked Honey and Thyme Salmon, Smoked Parmesan and Smoked Butter. They smoke goat's milk for a chef who uses it to make a foam to float atop cold beet borsht.

The Organic Smokehouse also smokes water (water!) for a chef who uses it as a cooking liquid for lentils and rice, to add meatiness to vegetarian dishes. Also, you can freeze smoked water cubes to drop into a glass of single malt scotch, to bring out the smokiness?

Pennsylvania had a small presence at the show. Stephanie Santoso and her Southeast Asian-born mother operate Cupoladua Oven out of Franklin Park. Their cookies and clouds (savory, crunchy morsels) eschew refined sugar (using evaporated cane juice) and are gluten-free. Crisp and satisfying, the cookies come in chocolate cashew, espresso walnut and chai pistachio.

Another woman-owned, mother-daughter Pittsburgh-based business is 1-2-3 Gluten Free, making gluten-free cake, biscuit, roll, pancake and cookie mixes.

The company began when owner Kimberlee Ullner was diagnosed with celiac disease, meaning she couldn't tolerate gluten. She developed a biscuit recipe for a relative who also has celiac disease and was astounded at the favorable response. With her mother's support, she began a business.

Some mixes contain no sugar, allowing you to add a sweetener of choice. Recipes on the box provide clever variations. I sampled the Devilishly Decadent Brownies and found them yummy, dense and moist. Go to 123glutenfree.com.

We end with the sad state of my waistline. I'd heard of Robert Sendall, caterer, cookbook writer and chocolate maker, but never met him. Now that I've met his fantastic chocolate bark, Toffee Taboo, I'll never be the same. There are new flavors: Dark Chocolate Pecan, Dark Chocolate Hazelnut, Milk Chocolate Hazelnut. All fabulous (toffeetaboo.com).