This is perhaps the most important part of the Sea Grant Week 2005 Web site, because here you'll find invaluable hints on how to act and sound like a Mainer—so no one will know you're from away!

Tip #5: Made in Maine

Besides lobster, which was featured in the first installment, blueberries are perhaps the second most famous Maine product. Wild blueberries are harvested from over 60,000 acres in southern and eastern Maine , with an annual value of $75 million. They are indeed wild; blueberry fields are maintained only by burning. These are not the fat, watery cultivated blueberries of more southerly states, but the tiny, dark fruit of woodland paths and rocky barrens. Their density of sweetness is the highlight of midsummer and the stuff of winter dreams. Learn more at http://www.wildblueberries.maine.edu/

(And don't forget the blueberry's crimson cousin; http://www.umaine.edu/umext/cranberries/)

Not all Maine products are wild. Potatoes are the largest agricultural commodity in Maine , the fifth largest potato producing state. 70,000 acres of potato varieties are harvested each fall in northern Maine . Around here, the only potato is the Maine potato (Ida-who?). http://www.mainepotatoes.com/

Other important northern Maine products are beans and broccoli.

Maine produces around 200,000 gallons of maple syrup per year. http://www.mainemapleproducers.com/

Maine 's rocky soils are ideal for tart, powerfully flavored apples such as the McIntosh. In 2000, Maine produced 39 million pounds of apples. http://www.maineapples.org/

The dairy industry is the largest segment of animal agriculture in Maine despite a steady decline in the number of dairy farms and dairy cows over the last quarter of a century. Hundreds of dairy farms in southern and western Maine produce over 16,000 pounds of milk per year.

The milk from cows—and sheep and goats—is used for artisanal cheeses. http://www.mainecheeseguild.org/

Maine also produces numerous libations to wash down all this wonderful food.

World-class and award-winning beers are made in Maine , and there are way too many brands to list here. Visit http://www.drinkmainebeer.com/ to learn about local brews and where to sample them. Breweries near the Samoset include Belfast Bay Brewing Co. (try the Lobster Ale—a classic red) and Andrew's Brewing in Lincolnville, and Rocky Bay Brewing Company in Rockland.

And yes, as everywhere now it seems, Maine produces some fine wines at several wineries throughout the state, including Cellardoor Winery which is in Lincolnville, just a few minutes from the Samoset. A little further up the road is the Winterport Winery, which specializes in fruit wines (blueberry, etc.) Others are Blacksmith Winery, Bartlett Estate Winery in Gouldsboro, and The Sows Ear in Brooksville.

Finally, no Maine product list would be complete without Moxie, beloved and behated soda of turn-of-the-century New England . Dr. Augustin Thompson of Union, Maine, first marketed Moxie as a patent medicine in 1876. Moxie became America 's most popular soft drink until it was eclipsed by Coca Cola in the 1920s. Moxie is still consumed and celebrated in Maine.

Click here for previous Things You Should Know Before Coming to Maine Tips
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