Independently owned, organic grocery store. Our Annex serves prepared foods and offers a selection of wine and beer. Our florists are here to help you with fresh local cuts and dried bouquets.
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!
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.
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.
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.
“We strive for excellence in our work, transparency in our relationships, and integrity through our actions.” – Veritable Vegetable
We love what they do!
Beeler’s Pork is a sponsor of our 40th Anniversary and there is a coupon in every raffle tote for some of their Hickory Smoked Uncured Bacon.
For six generations, the Beeler family has been raising the bar for pork production. In 1846, their great-great-grandpa Fred emigrated from Germany and settled in Madison County, Iowa. The work he did set the high standards for years to come.
Today, the Beeler family still owns the original family farm that started it all. They stick to the simple, humane, and natural way of raising pork, just like Grandpa Fred. Because when your goal is to deliver the very best, wholesome pork products to family tables, it’s best to keep the business as a family affair.
Quite possibly the best tasting uncured bacon on the planet! Looking for a bacon that is not only delicious, but is also made from antibiotic free, Non-GMO fed pigs and ingredients? Try Beeler’s Pure Pork Non-GMO Hickory smoked uncured bacon!
Ingredients: Pork, water, sea salt, turbinado sugar, celery powder.
Thank You Beeler’s!
Marin Cheese Company is a distributor that brings us specialty cheeses. They are one of our 40th Anniversary sponsors and in every raffle tote there is a coupon for organic Montchevre Goat Cheese redeemable in our stores.
The Montchevre goat cheese they have donated is from Wisconsin. Milk is their primary ingredient and they care deeply about the way it is produced. High quality dairy products begin with high quality milk from healthy and well cared-for animals. Montchevre is committed to supporting initiatives and programs that promote communication, awareness and training opportunities for dairy production welfare issues. They offer organic goat cheese logs in plain and garlic/herb.
Their hens are carefree and pasture-raised. They explore, play games of chicken, and never have to cross the road. Best of all, they lay darn delicious eggs.
Mexico happens to be Pachamama’s coffee of the month, and since September marks the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we thought sharing this blog would be helpful, informative, and provide a new perspective about coffee’s wonderful, labor-love journey from seed to cup.
We present Pachamama’s latest Blog, Journey to the Origin. Their Creative Director, Rosa, recounts her discovery of coffee’s incredible journey from seed to cup while visiting one of Pachamama’s owner cooperatives: La Union Regionnal Cooperative, in Veracruz, Mexico.
We hope you find the time to read about her experience. It’s a short read that demonstrates how Pachamama Coffee is one of the most sustainable coffees the Natural Grocery can offer our customers. It is available in our El Cerrito Store.
Burroughs Family Farms – Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
We recently started selling Burroughs Family Farms organic, non-GMO, cold-pressed extra-virgin organic olive oil [aka EVOO]. This exemplary family-owned farm, situated in the Sierra foothills below Yosemite, is one of our favorite regional producers. We already source quality pastured eggs, organic cheese, and almonds from their property. Â The Burroughs Family Olive Oil is a blend of Arbeqina, Arbosana and Gretchenina olives (originally from Spain). The oil has a pleasant fruitiness with hints of grassy undertones. It is very versatile and may be used in sauces, salad dressings, as a topping to bread and for low heat cooking.
Here is what Burroughs Family Farms says about their oil:
Our olives are first cold-pressed at temperatures that do not exceed 80 degrees F. This protects the polyphenols, antioxidants, and vitamins that give the oil its nutritional value and its aroma and flavor.
Why extra-virgin olive oil?
- EVOO is known to contain stronger concentrations of phytonutrients (especially polyphenols) that have well-known anti-inflammatory properties
- EVOO supports blood vessels not only by providing antioxidants like vitamin E and beta-carotene, but also also providing unique molecules like HT that actually work at a genetic level to help the cellular walls of the blood vessels remain strong.
- Cholesterol lowering and blood pressure lowering benefits of monounsaturated oil (olive oil contains 75%)
High quality extra virgin olive oil has a smoke point of around 405ºF (191ºC), making it ideal for lower temperature cooking such as light sautés and non-cooked uses such as dressing salads and dipping bread. Such uses protect the nutritional value and beneficial qualities of the oil.
Why California Olive Oil?
As with wine, it has taken years for people to discover that some of the world’s finest olive oils are produced in California. Our family owned and operated farms rest on the rolling hills near Yosemite National Park, where the combination of the moderate Mediterranean climate with good soils and water grows some of the world’s finest quality olives.
Buying California olive oils vs. imports supports our farm economy, and California olive oils have a lower carbon-footprint because their shipping distance is much shorter than that of imports.
Conservation on our farms
Ours is not the easiest way to grow olives, but we think it’s best for our land and for our family who lives and works here. From organic production to state-of-the-art irrigation systems, we do whatever we can to protect air, soil, and water from herbicides, pesticides, petrochemical nitrogen fertilizers, and genetically-modified organisms. All that, plus our hedgerows of native plants support the health of native species and bees who have the most important job – the pollination of the olive flowers.
We do it for the future of our farms. For you, it’s deliciousness and more.
Burroughs Family Olive Oil is certified annually by the California Olive Oil Council (COOC). Year after year it’s labeled “extra-virgin” by the council. To get the seal the oil is lab tested and 
undergoes a critical analysis by an expert panel. The trained sensory panel (think of these people as the sommeliers of olive oil) ensure that the oil is free of defects in flavor or odor. In the U.S., many oils are labeled “extra-virgin” but do not undergo any such testing.
