Chocolate Tasting & Lecture: Original Beans – Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Calling all chocolate connoisseurs!
Join us for a lecture and chocolate tasting with Harald Sorst of Original Beans on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 7:00pm at the Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex, 10387 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530 (510) 526-5150.
There is not a charge for this event.
There will be a lecture and visual presentation, a Q&A session and tasting of samples.
Learn about sourcing, processing and quality!
Chocolate Tasting: Auro Chocolate – 7pm, Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Calling all chocolate connoisseurs!
Join us for a lecture and chocolate tasting of Auro Chocolate on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 with a presentation at 7:00pm at the Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex, 10387 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530 (510) 526-5150. There is not a charge for this event.
Auro Chocolate is an internationally awarded tree-to-bar chocolate brand that promotes sustainability by working directly with local farmers to create fine Filipino cacao beans, ingredients and retail products with unique and bold tropical flavors.
The lecture will include a tasting of samples.
Learn about sourcing, processing and quality!
Chocolate Tasting: Auro Chocolate – 7pm, Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Calling all chocolate connoisseurs!
Join us for a lecture and chocolate tasting of Auro Chocolate on Tuesday, August 13, 2024 with a presentation at 7:00pm at the Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex, 10387 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530 (510) 526-5150. There is not a charge for this event.
Auro Chocolate is an internationally awarded tree-to-bar chocolate brand that promotes sustainability by working directly with local farmers to create fine Filipino cacao beans, ingredients and retail products with unique and bold tropical flavors.
The lecture will include a tasting of samples.
Learn about sourcing, processing and quality!
Far West Cider – Get to Know Your Farmer
The family founded Far West Cider in 2016, making and blending their product in a former Naval ammunition warehouse in Richland on the east side of San Francisco Bay. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)
Every cider that Far West Cider creates is a product of their fourth-generation family farm in San Joaquin County, California. All of their apples and sometimes other fruit (hello cherries, pluots, & citrus) are harvested, and pressed into juice on their 100 year old ranch. That juice is then cared for throughout fermentation, cellaring, and bottling at their cidery on the waterfront in the city of Richmond CA. Their ciders are available for purchase in The Annex and at The Berkeley Natural Grocery Store
“One California fruit farm is doing everything it can to keep it in the family.
To make room for all three siblings of the fourth generation, Chinchiolo Family Farms has diversified business outlets with a cidery, U-pick orchard and stalls at some of the state’s best-known farm markets to capitalize on the San Francisco Bay Area’s locally sourced ethos.”
Check out this article from Good Fruit Grower Magazine to learn more.
Organic Open Pint Strawberries
Farmer Profile – Esteban Martinez
Have you tried the open pint strawberries recently? We’re sourcing them from Esteban Martinez of JW Farms and they are really, no REALLY, great tasting!
Farmer Esteban Martinez grows organic strawberries on 21 acres in coastal Monterey County. He’s been farming for 20 years and in 2017 purchased the land where he currently farms. The rolling hills and sandy soils make the landscape prone to erosion particularly during heavy rains.
To mitigate this erosion, improve soil health and increase biodiversity on his farm, Esteban has successfully planted a hedgerow along two edges of one 14- acre field including natives like ceanothus, coffeeberry, coyote brush and toyon. Esteban is working to extend the hedgerow and incorporate edible trees like mulberry and elderberry. The perennial hedgerows contribute to soil health by covering the surface of the soil, reducing wind and water erosion, and establishing deep roots that promote water infiltration and carbon storage.
As an ambitious and strategic farmer, Esteban is working to establish a farmer cooperative with other regional growers.
You will often see their packed strawberries in pressed card containers. Remember, you don’t have to take the plastic open pint baskets if you don’t want to and honestly your strawberries will arrive home in better condition if you do. You could bring your own container and leave the plastic basket behind or return the clean basket on your next visit and we’ll take care of repurposing it.
Enjoy!
March is Fairtrade Banana Month
Choosing Fairtrade makes a difference!
In March we are featuring Fairtrade Bananas for $0.99/lb
Photo courtesy of Equal Exchange
- Fairtrade banana producers are paid a Fairtrade Minimum Price that acts as a safety net against falling prices. This price varies by region, factoring in local conditions and aiming to cover the average costs of sustainable production.
- Plantation workers and small-scale banana farmers also receive a Fairtrade Premium – an extra sum of money that farmers and workers invest in business or community projects of their choice. Banana workers have often used the Premium to improve their housing, build schools and clinics, or offer other benefits they see a need for.
- The Fairtrade Standards are designed to improve employment conditions and protect the rights of workers in the large plantations where the majority of export bananas are grown. In recent years Fairtrade has undertaken pioneering work to define and progress toward living wages for banana workers.
- For smallholder farms, Fairtrade supports these banana growers to improve their income and their bargaining position in banana supply chains that are often dominated by larger entities.
Photo courtesy of Equal Exchange
Season: Bananas are grown in tropical areas and can produce nearly year-round, so seasonality is not particularly relevant to the fruit. Bananas are not grown in California.
Flavor: The flavor changes as they ripen. Green bananas are more starchy, very firm and less sweet. As they ripen the taste has been described as having melon, pineapple, candy and clove flavor notes. Yellow bananas have higher sugar concentrations and therefore taste sweeter. Finally, when the peel has become brown, the banana contains notes which are reminiscent of vanilla, honey and rum and the texture is very soft.
Storage: Ripen green bananas on the counter. You can also store them on the counter – but note that they will continue to ripen, and sometimes quickly, depending on how warm it is. If they are too green for you then put them in a plastic bag with an apple to help ripen them.
You can also use bananas’ ethylene gas to your advantage: to ripen a hard avocado overnight, stick it in a paper bag with a ripe banana. The banana’s ethylene gas will work its magic on the avocado, making it perfectly ripe and ready for your next batch of guacamole.
How to use: The most common way to eat bananas is of course, out of hand. But they’re also used for a variety of sweet and savory dishes. Very ripe bananas are perfect for baking in dishes such as Banana Bread.
Bananas freeze beautifully — just peel them and stick them in a zip-top bag for use in smoothies or banana ice cream. If you’re going to freeze them, go one step further and make chocolate covered bananas for an instant dessert.
Nutrition: Bananas are really, really good for you! One medium-sized banana will give you about 12 percent of your daily fiber needs, plus lots of Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, potassium and manganese. Bananas even have a bit of protein, iron and calcium.
Our stores only carry organic produce!
Peach Shake Recipe from Frog Hollow Farms
Cool down with this quick recipe to use up those almost to the end of the season 
!
Ingredients:
2 peaches, with seed and skin, removed
2 cups of quality vanilla ice cream
1/3 cup of whole milk
Thank you Frog Hollow Farms!
Organic Peaches from Frog Hollow Farms
Season: Now! A sweet and fragrant peach that’s ripe enough to drip juice down your chin is one of the ultimate joys of summer! Frog Hollow Farms grows over nineteen varieties of organic yellow peaches. How many will you try this year?
Flavor: White peaches tend to be sweeter than yellow ones. Yellow peaches have a bit more acid. Depending on the variety the flesh may be firm or soft, the flesh may cling to the pit (cling-stone) or separate easily (cling-free and free-stone). Frog Hollow hand picks and hand packs their peaches and we are so lucky to be situated close to their operations.
Storage: When buying peaches, choose fruits that smell sweet. They should have a creamy, yellow, or yellow-orange color and unwrinkled skin. Avoid green skin or bruising.
Once picked, mature peaches do continue to ripen and soften. If you must store them then let them breath, don’t stack them and keep them dry. Too many ripe peaches on hand? Consider washing, slicing and freezing them.
How to use: Fresh – whole, juice dripping down your chin! In a mixed fruit salad or combine with berries and blue cheese and serve in little gem lettuce cups as an appetizer. I like using firm peaches to bake in pies or galettes and for grilling.
Nutrition: Peaches are a rich source of carbohydrates, fiber, and natural sugars with little fat or protein. Peaches provide vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, and B vitamins.
Women’s History Month: Veritable Vegetable
We are celebrating Women’s History Month by calling attention to some of our local vendors that are women owned!
Veritable Vegetable
CEO: Mary Jane Evans
Chief Administrative Officer: Shira Tanner
Director of Purchasing: Bu Nygrens
Director of Sales: Karen Salinger
Meet Veritable Vegetable, a women-owned and led organic produce distribution company based in San Francisco, California. Established in 1974, they source and deliver the freshest and highest quality produce, with unmatched service to our stores several times a week.
Powered by a zero-emission green fleet and driven by purpose, they put their values in action to build a sustainable and equitable food system.
Veritable Vegetable supports organic farmers, increases access to fresh produce, and strengthens diverse communities. Their unique, values-driven business model encourages political change, impacts food policy, and demonstrates a radically different approach to distributing organic produce.
Sustainable and regenerative systems increase energy and resources and are life-affirming. Veritable Vegetable envisions our environment, our economy, and our communities as sustainable systems.
As a women-led business, they take a forward-thinking and innovative approach to solving complex problems. They create a fair and dynamic workplace through cooperative and collaborative leadership. Veritable Vegetable deeply values the people who make up their community of staff, growers, customers, and community partners; collective labor is fundamental to the organic trade.
Leadership by Women
Veritable Vegetable knows raising women up raises all people. As a women-led business, they apply a systems-thinking approach to solving complex problems. Collaboration, cooperation and deep listening are critical. They are committed to sharing their resources and knowledge, creating an inclusive workplace, and modeling effective women’s leadership.
- 45% of staff are women; Veritable Vegetable offers unlimited opportunities for women
- Robust training program & professional development for all staff; promote from within
- Long-term reciprocal relationships, in business & beyond
- Participatory working groups & task forces to address workplace challenges
- Share best practices with national networks
“We strive for excellence in our work, transparency in our relationships, and integrity through our actions.” – Veritable Vegetable
We love what they do!
We’ve put together raffle baskets that feature this great women owned business along with several others. Stop by the Berkeley or El Cerrito Stores to enter.
Thank you Veritable Vegetable!