We've visited here twice now and bought a variety of treats. Service was memorable and warm the first time - for our second visit (this past week) they seemed deep into a project/discussion and not as hospitable. We went about our business sampling products and landed on the strawberry jam and whole grain mustard. The shop is located in the heart of downtown Saugatuck and a great place to check out if you want to take home a taste of Michigan and/or looking for crowd pleaser gifts. They offer everything from cocktail mixes and spaghetti sauce to seasonal jam and baking mixes. It's a delightful stop. read more

The peach cherry salsa is one of my favorite things and I make sure to stock up when visiting in the summer. Recent vibes were a little weird, hovering more as I wandered through the store and sampled the things that were out. read more

Don't purchase your jams or preserves from any other store in the region. American Spoon makes their own, so they are indeed the best! Be sure to sample some of the goodies so you can decide how many jars of this and that to buy! The owner of this family business is friendly and helpful. She's also a wealth of information and suggestions, helpful to us tourists. read more

American Spoon is a Michigan company that started in Petoskey. It's a little similar to Cherry Republic but with all different kinds of fruit and savory items. This location is small but mighty, with plenty of samples for everyone! They specialize in artisanal fruit preserves and condiments, so you can get just about any kind of fruit jam you can think of, as well as baking mixes, salsas, condiments, drink mixes, fruit compote toppings, spoon fruits, etc. There is a sample bar where you can try many different varieties of both savory and sweet items, which is fun. This also makes for quite a bit of waste as you use a new tiny plastic spoon for every sample. While we were at this location, they were demoing a recipe for pulled chicken with a smoky corn salsa. My boyfriend liked it so much that he bought a $10 jar. The prices here are pretty high for me (a person who doesn't ever really eat jam), but I suppose it's worth it for the quality of the product you get. The 9 oz jars of jam/preserves start at $10. A minor complaint -- I saw a bunch of nicely designed cards throughout the store with great photography and the name of the dish pictured. At first glance, I thought they were recipe cards to take home but realized they were just ads for the products and not at all useful as they didn't even include a link to their website to find the recipe! Silly. read more

I dip you dip we dip. Sorry ... Couldn't resist a little homage to the Freak Nasty classic, as it always plays in my head whenever I have dip, which is all the freaking time because I'm a sauce-aholic. If you like jams and preserves, salsas and barbecue sauces, and caramel and chocolate toppings, this place will be heaven to you. I adore that you can sample everything, and they even occasionally have prepared dishes available to sample featuring some of their great ingredients. They had a pretzel and raspberry pudding out to try on my recent visit and it was amazeballs. They've also recently added a chilled white fish dip to their available offerings. A local who was picking some up at the store last time I was in said she swears by it. It is a really nice touch that they will provide you with a bag of ice cubes to keep it chilled for your trip home. read more

See all

The best jam and preserves on the planet. Loss of star for service on Monday. Staff very disinterested in sampling jams and salsas. Went back on Tuesday had a different staff completely and super helpful sampling all the salsas. Ended up buying 4 jams and 2 salsas. read more

Jam jam and more jam! What could be wrong about that??? American Spoon used to have a location in Ann Arbor. That one is long gone so now this one is the closest one to me. That means that whenever I go you better believe I take advantage of the tasting station to get my fix. So many jams! So many fruit curds! Fruit butter! Spoon fruit! Ahh! Seriously, I'm like Joey in that episode of Friends when Monica starts making jam, eating it nonstop. "Remember when your mom would send you to the movies with a jar of jam and a spoon?" My mom never did that but I could be into it. Especially if the jam was from American Spoon. They also carry loads of other sauces and specialties like grilling sauces, salsas, maple syrup, and more, all made from Michigan grown produce. YUM. Dried fruits and other snacks are also on display. I love their dried cherries. For a refreshing snack when you're in the shop they also have delicious fruit gelatos for your enjoyment. It's tough to choose which jam to take home but because of the price I usually only limit myself to one or two jars at most. I make my own jam at home throughout the summer (strawberry,raspberry and blueberry varieties) so I'll usually go with something like a peach, apricot, or cherry. Something I don't make myself. Occasionally I come across a jar of their stuff at reduced cost at a TJ Maxx or Marshall's in the area and I'm reallllll happy. But for the good, fresh stuff, this is the place to be. read more

American Spoon - From http://www.spoon.com/ - Specialty Food Near Me - Saugatuck, Michigan

For someone who loves throwing together a cheese plate, I was instantly drawn to the Portobello Mushroom Relish. Besides the fact it's so good you can just eat it from the jar.. you can put some on crackers, a spoonful with your eggs or even on top of a steak! The gentleman working this day was friendly and let everyone in the shop know whatever isn't on the tasting table, he can get anything you want to taste opened up. At the counter, I picked up a bag of chocolate covered cherries as well :) read more

As a part-time resident of the Saugatuck-Douglas area, I frequent American Spoon often. Many other reviewers have provided information on the products that are available (marmalades, salsas, jam, conserves, preserves, etc.) - so most people know what they are looking at. I have not read any reviews of their staff. The staff if so astoundingly knowledgeable about their products - even the younger staff. I guarantee you that if you asked the 20-something staffer at the desk what a conserve or "butter" is, they would be able to explain it fully. The store is cute and clean. They have jars of their products available for tasting, and if you don't see something you want to taste, they'll open one for you!! I have read a few comments about the cost of the product....I fully believe you are getting what you pay form if you wanted Smuckers then just go buy it at the local grocery store. I have always been able to locate the price of a product quickly (it's usually on the bottom of the jar), and if you happen to not see a price sticker, just open your mouth and ask the aforementioned staff. This store is open seasonally - they close after December and reopen in March (I think near the end of March). read more

American Spoon's pineapple barbeque sauce is freakin awesome. I could eat it on anything, and practically have. They have a large variety of other tasty treats, all lined up for sampling. They do run a few bucks on the high side, but they are well worth it. Stay away from their gelato - way too sweet. read more

What a surprise to meet Jim, the Owner of American Spoon in Saugatuck, who is from La Grange, Il. our home town. Please go in and visit him and his team. We will be back to visit next year! Always have loved American Spoon and even more so now. Tom & Debbie Dreffein read more

Amazing place. Tons of samples and great variety. Deb helped us out and gave us tips about the town and what to explore as well as helping us with our purchase. read more

Delicious, albeit expensive selection of sauces, salsas, marinades, and jams, all utilizing Michigan fruit. Great place to graze after trying some wine at the Tabor Hill tasting room down the street. read more

I love this store and its products, but they get a huge demerit for discontinuing their fabulous gelato. As it was explained to me, it sounded like a corporate-accounting-driven decision, with too little consideration for giving customers what they want. So it wasn't the store's hottest item, was hard to ship and handle, etc.: Boo hoo. I can understand the business-driven logic but don't have to like it. read more

One of my favorite places to go in Saugatuck! I first got hooked on American Spoon during a visit to Traverse City and was pleasantly surprised to find this location! All of the foods are delicious & I love that they promote Michigan flavors and foods. Go for the jams, sauces, and salsas. I even liked the gelato that this location offers. Minus 1 star for their high prices. You can find their jams cheaper at Whole foods or local stores. read more

NO MORE GELATO : (!!!!!!! We drove 21/2 hours for gelato and we had a shopping list of 6 additional jars of products that we planned to purchase and they no longer carry the gelato at this location. We left and purchased our other things at other stores non-American Spoon Fruit products that were just as good and less money!! read more

What a great concept this place is with not only great jams/jellies but delicious cooking sauces and salsas. The gelato (the only in town in a sea of ice cream spots) is great and made locally by Palazzolos in neighboring Douglas. read more

My 90 yearl old mother and my 3 sisters and I went to Saugatuck for the weekend. The gelato was great so I was told. Steve asked my mother what her favorite flavor is and he made Pistachio for her for the next day. We went to the store 3 times that weekend. I could not have any because I am on Atkins diet. He was so nice and gave me a small cup free of blueberries. It helped me so much. I really wanted to cheat and he helped me so much. Thank you again!!! read more

be careful. in last week and nothing has a price on it anymore. bought four jars and it was $40. it might pay to ask prices if that concerns you. there were flavors that you also had to ask to try. they keep them in the cooler but they were quite willing to dig them out of the bottom. Lots of new flavors/items. ie:caramel sauce; apple onion jam unusual and fantastic. read more

I learned of this business while watching an episode of American's Test Kitchen, where one of its products won a taste comparison. So I decided to check out the web site and see what they have available. Many of the preserves looked/read like they were delicious, so I indulged myself and started ordering. $70 later I had bought 9 different types of preserves. Two days after that, they arrived; 30 minutes after that I started opening. I agree the products were wonderful, but I noticed something about two of them that made me look closer. First of all I love Marmalade. Always have, and will try any new brand I can find. I also love apricots, so I bought two jars of A/S Apricot Orange Marmalade and the Apricot Spoon Fruit. They don't give the stuff away. but it was very good. It was also very similar. So much so, that I compared them side by side on a plate and realized the products were identical. Not just close, but identical. There was no taste of orange in the marmalade, and it had the same color, consistency, taste and texture as the Apricot spoon fruit. I examined both jars. Different labels and different best buy dates on the back of the jars, but and identical product in both. Maybe somebody on the line goofed and mis-labeled the jars. So, I took photos of the jars and the product and emailed them to the two email addresses they list on the web site: hello@spoon.com and help@ spoon.com. Days go by and nobody responds. Nothing. Zip. Nada. You'd think somebody would jump on that and want to clarify the issue, but nope. Thing is, I wasn't angry. I was just curious. I just made an observation and wondered out loud to them what might the solution be. Evidently, I either struck a nerve or sent them scurrying to their attorneys and they are circling the wagons, which is really very strange, when you consider I ordered more stuff from them. So out of curiosity, I looked up the domain on ICANN-WHOIS and found the email of the owner listed as a point of contact for the domain provider, and I forwarded the email along to him. Lo and Behold (you remember Lo and Behold... they were a comedy act in the late 70's... but I digress), no reply came from him either. I guess if you have anything that gets classified as a complaint, they ignore it and move on. That's fine. They can move on, and so will I. To another company. Nobody's jams, jellies or preserves at that good. read more