Monday, May 30, 2005

Welcome back Soken sea vegetable salad and Soken sea vegetable and vegetable chip. Unfortunately we are no longer able to get the Soken ramens. The Soken products, imported from Japan, are not always in stock at our distributor and importer, UNFI. I have added several flavors of Koyo ramen.
Frozen treats—ice cream….

If you haven’t tried Julie’s organic ice cream—consider doing so. We’ve been selling it at a great price—cheaper than purchasing a single cone in Park Slope. Good flavors too: blackberry, caramel, choc, mint fudge, mocha java, strawberry and vanilla. Julie’s has an organic ice cream sandwich and both vanilla & chocolate ice cream bars. Unfortunately the bars & sandwiches have been out of stock. Let's Do Organics waffle cones have not been available.

Three new flavors of Haagen Dazs light ice cream: cherry truffle, mint chip and vanilla bean. Below is the breakdown of total calories, and grams of fat and sugar per serving—and remember, each pint contains four servings..

Lite vanilla: 7 gm fat
Sugar 26 gm
Cal 200
As compared to regular, full fat delicious Haagen Dazs “classic’ vanilla:
18gm of fat
Sugar 21
Calories: 270.

Also new is Haagen Dazs frozen yogurt:
Coffee: 2.5 gm of fat (pretty good)
Sugar: 20 gm
Calories; 200
Haagen vanilla frozen yogurt with raspberry sorbet.`
2.5 gm fat
24 sugar
170 cal (lowest in calories, but high in sugar)

Nutritional comparison with other vanilla ice creams we sell:
Ben & Jerry’s: 15 gm of fat
Sugar: 19 gm
Calories: 240
Ciao Bella’s gelato: 12 gm of fat
Sugars: 20 gm
Calories; 210
Julie’s organic ice cream: 14 gm of fat
18 gm of sugar
Calories: 220

Stonyfield’s frozen yogurt scores lowest in all categories:
Fat: 0
Sugar: 19 mg
Calories: 100

And if you don’t care about calories, Ben & Jerry’s has a new flavor: Half Baked Twister: vanilla and chocolate ice cream with pieces of chocolate brownies plus chocolate chip cookie dough.
Fat 14 gm
Cal 280
Sugar 26

New delicious Blue Moon sorberts from Vermont:: grapefruit campari, mango passion, peach melba and pear ginger.
0 fat
Sugar; 23 gms (varies slightly)
100 calories.

Palapa frozen fruit bars are replacing some of the Froz fruit bars. These bars are quite substantial with more fruit. Flavors: mango, Mexican papaya, pineapple, strawberry and watermelon. Again, zero fat, around 17 gm of sugar and 100 calories.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

lamb is back

Meat update from Jennie, the meat buyer. Lamb from upstate NY--North Country Meat-is back. Cuts include stew, kebobs, lamb steaks, shoulder roast, loin & rib chops, shanks, bone in legs. Jennie says the lamb sausages, both breakfast & sweet are so good. Lamb is delivered on Wednesdays.

Andy’s new organic sausages—very delicious. Flavors include hot, parsley & cheese; sweet, chorizo. They also have a bracciole.

Lakeville poultry. We are in the process of switching from Murray’s to Coleman poultry. Lakeville is comparable in price and quality is deemed to be better. Lakeville is the branded name of Coleman, and soon the name will change to Coleman poultry.

Primo Naturale hard salami without nitrites or nitrates is sold on the display shelves in the back of the store across from the meat cases. It is shelf stable until opened, and is a great choice for those picnics in the park, camping trips and backpacking. There are several flavors, with wine, plain or coated with pepper or herbs.

Dines Farms hot dogs made of beef & pork have that back to the 50’s flavor. Terrific grilled or broiled.

New West buffalo and ostrich meat has changed its packaging and label—they will no longer be boxed as patties. The ground buffalo will be sold in one pound packages under the name Tender Bison.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Whole grain pasta

Whole grain pastas

In today’s NY Times, Marion Burros writes about the improved whole grain pastas. She gives a thumb’s up to Bionaturae wholewheat pasta, of which we carry a good selection, and I’ll add the fettuccine, which she especially liked. My favorite cut is the wholewheat chiocciole. For the wheat-free, we carry Tinkyada’s brown rice pastas.
Soups: we’ve reorganized the soup shelves and added canned soups. New, very low sodium (under 75 mg of sodium/serving) soups are Health Valley organic black bean, lentil and vegetable. New, reduced sodium flavors of Amy’s organic soups are butternut squash, cream of tomato and lentil vegetable. Amy’s fire roasted southwestern vegetable and corn chowder (regular, i.e., high sodium) were also added. Most of these soups are also low in fat.

A 14.1 oz can of Amy’s soup is listed at two servings. One serving of Amy's reduced sodium lentil vegetable soup yields 340 mg of sodium; the whole can 680 mg. Amy’s regular lentil soup contains 590 mg of sodium; a whopping 1180 mg if you eat the entire can, which is likely. Progresso’s minestrone soup comes in a larger can, 19 oz. One serving at 7 oz yields 720 mg of sodium; 14 oz serving = 1440 mg and the entire can = almost 2,000 mg of sodium. So if you are on a salt-restricted diet, Health Valley no salt added soups are the way to go. However, some of the other soups may win on flavor.

Produce Tidbits 5.17.05

From Allen, new this week in the produce department: Local organic greens: organic baby arugula (very zesty), organic baby gai lan, which is also known as Chinese broccoli, organic baby tatsoi, and organic baby hon tsai tai. All very tender and edible raw. Also organic baby mixed lettuces. All of these, except for the arugula, are limited in supply from Amy Hepworth in Hudson Valley.

The first organic sugar baby watermelons arrived this week. A little too
big, too expensive, but excellent flavor and very good sugar. Expect better prices even as soon as Friday, as well as smaller sizes. Organic nectarines will start 5/18. The $2.22 price, is probably excellent for this early in the season, and is only possible because we are selling small-size fruit.

Organic celery returned this week. Shortages still exist, prices are still
high. Celery stalks are small, but have an excellent dark green color right
now (5/17). Hopefully we will continue to have access to not just supply at all, but from a premium quality grower as well.

The organic watercress season is ending in Florida and our local farmer has
lost her entire crop. We are trying a new watercress this week. It is
hydroponically grown and pesticide-free. The quality is outstanding and
flavor has a lot of zing.

We may experience shortages of some product from Florida this week. The truck that carried a great deal of product that we intended to get (grapefruit, oranges, zucchini, yellow squash, etc.) was destroyed with all of its contents in a crash. The driver wasn't injured.

Next week: Local organic asparagus from Hudson Valley and also from close to the Canadian border. Local organic rhubarb, and possibly local organic baby frissee, and local organic field cress.

Friday, May 13, 2005

New in the Freezer

New in the Freezer

It isn’t easy browsing the freezer—new products are difficult to spot. You might have missed some of the most recent additions:

Frozen vegetables: Cascadian organic "petite" whole green beans have been substituted for Cascadian green beans with almonds. I just microwaved a box—they are slender (not exactly haricot verte), but tender and tasty. They come in an 8 oz box, sold on shelf above the bagged vegetables.
Cascadian organic Chinese stir-fry—containing green beans, broccoli, carrots, onions, red pepper, mushrooms and bamboo shoots.
C&W pepper strips—not organic but a colorful mix of red, green and yellow pepper strips ready to throw into a stir fry with no waste. They are a bargain at under $2.00 for a pound.
Alexia organic sweet potato fries—a good way to bump up the nutritional value of the fries and add a little variety.
Cascadian organic peas remain our number one selling frozen vegetable—250 bags per week.

Frozen fruit and juices: Woodstock organic mango—chunks ready to throw in the blender for a smoothie.
Sambazon Acai—frozen juice concentrate with no added sugar and no caffeine. We have also added 16 oz Sambazon Amazon Cherry juice that is being sold out of the dairy case.

Gluten-free frozen:
Ian's Alergen-free Chicken Nuggets
Amy's Garden Lasagna (gluten-free rice pasta)
Amy's Rice Crust Cheese Pizza (gluten-free)
Nature's Hilight Brown Rice Pizza Crust (gluten-free)

Meat-substitutes frozen:
Gardenburger Riblets (BBQ)
Moringstar Farms Breakfast Strips (fake bacon)

South of the Border:
Buenatural Green Chili and Cheese Enchilada
Leona's Organic Corn Tortillas
Organic produce update

First organic greens of the year out of Hudson Valley from Hepworth Farms. This week baby braising greens and baby mustard. Next week baby arugula. All limited.

Chives and occasionally sorrel are coming from Finger Lakes Organic Growers Cooperative. Maryland has started with mint, spinach, collards and kale. Hoping for more next week. Pennslyvania organic spinach will probably start next week.

Last year's organic russet potato supplies will be exhausted a good 2 weeks
before this year's crop begins. New crop of red organic potatoes is very limited. We will carry new whites during the absence of russets. Also new crop yukons. All new organic potatoes will be limited, very expensive but beautiful.

Weather still horrible in California. Organic lacinato kale, kale, collards, spinach, chards, celery all limited and very expensive. Organic celery is almost
non-existent. The current excellent price and quality of orgnic strawberries
will probably end next week, due to rain