6 Native American Food Brands You Should Be Buying

It’s not easy to find Indigenous American foods where I live. I can’t walk down to my local Kroger-owned grocery store and score snacks and condiments from Native American food brands. But that’s not because they’re not out there. And that’s definitely not because they’re not worth seeking out. Native American food brands are making really exciting stuff—some of it rooted in Indigenous American food traditions, some of it new takes on other staples. And, luckily, there are some online stores that specialize in selling these Native American brands. 

I went on a bit of a shopping spree at Tocabe Indigenous Marketplace. Owned by the same folks who run a restaurant of the same name (Tocabe), which is located in Denver, Tocabe Marketplace offers a slew of Indigenous and Native American foods, from hot sauce to honey to tea to baking mixes. They even sell microwave meals based on Indigenous recipes. There’s a ton to explore and buy, but if you’re looking for a few brands to kick off your own, personal shopping spree, here are six Indigenous American food brands we at Sporked are really digging. 

Red Lake Nation Foods

Based out of Minnesota, Red Lake Nation makes a wide range of products including wild rice, tea, fish fry batter, and a ton of jams, jellies, and syrups. We tried the brand’s wild chokecherry syrup (chokecherries are a very bitter, tannic type of cherry native to the northern U.S. and Canada) and wild plum syrup, and both were great. They’re much more subtly flavored than the fruit syrups you often get, with nice spikes of acidity. I’m particularly excited to make some chokecherry cocktails with the chokecherry syrup.

RedCorn Native Foods

RedCorn Native Foods is all about fry bread. Fry bread, if you’re not familiar, is a traditional Native American flat bread that is typically fried in lard. And RedCorn (an Osage Country brand) produces fry bread mix. It’s super easy to make. You just add warm water, stir, let sit, roll out, cut, stretch, and fry. Now, easy as that is, I still managed to screw it up (I didn’t stretch it thin enough)—but the fry bread I made still tasted really good. It gets crispy on the outside and the inside is tender and soft like a biscuit. If you’ve never tried fry bread before, this is a great introduction and a really tasty alternative to other bready sides.  

Séka Hills

Owned by members of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, Séka Hills focuses on olive oil, wine, honey, vinegar, pickles, jerky, and nuts. Essentially, everything you need to make a lovely appertivo hour (except, maybe, some cheese and bread). We tried their garlic herb almonds and were really impressed. They’re super crunchy and the garlic is savory and mild—it doesn’t taste like powdered or fake garlic. But I’m dying to try their line-up of pickled asparagus (available in traditional, garlic, and spicy), and I’ll definitely be including some of the olive oil in our next olive oil taste test.

Sakari Farms

Operated by the Inupiaq tribe in Oregon, Sakari Farms produces hot sauces, jams, seasonings, salts, and herbs, as well as lotions, salves, and scrubs. And the farm also hosts cooking classes, food events, seed saving classes, and more. We tried the Fire Roasted hot sauce, which is seriously hot and seriously delicious, with lots of roasty, toasty flavor. It’s made with smoked jalapenos and roasted onion (fun!), and it doesn’t taste like any hot sauce we’ve had before. Next on my list: the brands Corn Prickle hot sauce and Curry Squash hot sauce.

Pemmican Patty

Pemmican Patty was founded by Patricia Mabin, a member of the Chippewa tribe. She’s been through it (read her story here) and has found new life celebrating the Native American food tradition of pemmican, a mix of dried meat (usually beef and bison), tallow, and berries. We tried two of her Bisonberry Blends: Blueberries & Sage and Cherries & Chipotle. Both bars are wonderfully chewy and savory. I particularly like the Cherries & Chipotle—that hint of smokiness from the chipotle really elevates the meat.

Navajo Mike’s

Navajo Mike’s makes fry bread mix, hot sauce, and barbecue sauce. Founded by a former chef of Navajo/Diné heritage, the company is based out of Tempe, Arizona, and focuses on Southwest flavors. We tried the Southwest Style Barbecue Sauce and were really into it. It’s sweet and black-peppery and just thick enough. It would totally rock on a bison burger. I’m currently eying the Sonoran Desert Drip (a hatch green chili hot sauce) and the Skoden Style Golden Barbecue Sauce.