a community-owned market
Downeast Ciders are one of the Co-op’s most popular hard ciders, in part because they are unfiltered. Arriving this week is their Winter Blend seasonal, just in time for our first snowfall.
Downeast Cider’s Winter Blend is an interesting recipe with toasted oak chips, cinnamon bark, nutmeg, and a little extra kick to help you forget that you have to go back out and finish shoveling.
Pick some up today at the Co-op to help you get through another New England Winter.
Have you ever shopped in our bulk department? If you’ve never been before it can seem a little intimidating, but it’s actually very easy….. and fun!
Shopping in bulk is a great way to save money on items that you use regularly. In our bulk bins you’ll find pantry staples like fair trade coffee, loose leaf tea, spices, whole grains, pasta, flour, beans, baking ingredients, and nuts, as well as specialty items like gluten free flours, medicinal herbs, and fair trade chocolate. You can even buy liquids like soap, local honey, vinegar, and oil! Each item has its own unique PLU Number that you write on your container so our cashiers can identify the item and ring it up properly.
So you know what you want to buy, but what should you put it in? For your convenience we have plenty of containers, jars, and bags on hand, which is useful if you’re just getting started. You can also bring and re-use your own containers which prevents waste from ending up in the landfill. Just ask a friendly bulk associate for help labeling the tare weight of your container, and then fill it up!
Right now is an especially good time to stop by the bulk department because we are having our annual Bulk-O-Rama Sale through November 14th. So come check out our bulk department and say hello!
As our evenings get darker earlier, our selection of beers at the Co-op gets darker too. The stouts and porters start popping up in a wider variety of flavors and brands. One of my favorites is Bell’s Arabicadabra (pun intended). A little brewers’ magic in the Bell’s Brewery transforms locally roasted Arabica beans and a variety of specialty malts into a creamy, intense coffee stout. Enjoy before it disappears.
Arabicadabra is brewed with a cold coffee extract made at the brewery using a combination of fair trade, organic Nicaraguan coffee beans and Sumatra coffee beans. Lactose is also used for creaminess (those with dairy allergies or sensitivities should take note). It was inspired by Milchkaffe, another specialty Bell’s beer.
Check out this and other great new dark beers from Bell’s Brewery in the warm beer section at the Littleton Food Co-op. -Ed
Ingredients
Directions
1. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat
2. Add cubed turnip and cook until just tender – 5 minutes
3. Add minced garlic and cook until it starts to brown – 2 minutes
4. Add cream to turnip, bring to simmer and cook until tender -10 minutes
5. Add parmesan cheese, green onion and seasonings – cook 1-2 minutes
*use the chicken stock to thin the mixture if needed
Serves Four
Ingredients
Directions
1. Pick through lentils and remove and debris, rinse thoroughly in a colander
2. Place lentils in a pot with enough water to cover (usually 3 cups to 1 cup of lentils)
3. Bring to boil and quickly lower heat to simmer, partially covered, until lentils are thick and tender – 15-30 minutes
4. While lentils are cooking, heat oil in a skillet and add vegetables and cook until barely tender – 7 minutes
5. Stir in curry powder, ginger and garlic and simmer a few more minutes
6. Add vegetables and soy sauce to lentils. Toss together, adjust seasonings and cook to blend flavors for another few minutes.
*can be served as a hearty side dish or as a meal with some rice or topped with a fried egg
Ingredients
Directions
1. Whisk together milk, pumpkin, vanilla and spices in a bowl
2. Whisk in chia seeds
3. Allow to chill in refrigerator for a couple hours or overnight
* To prevent the seeds from forming clumps, it helps to give the
pudding a second stir after the first 15 minutes in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
Directions
1. Shred the Brussels sprouts using a mandolin, food processor or sharp knife
2. In a large bowl, toss the sprouts with the other 3 ingredients
3. Whisk the lemon juice with olive oil and salt and pepper
4. Dress the salad with the dressing and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
Serves Four
La Riojana Cooperative olive farmers harvest organic olives that will soon be cold-pressed into olive oil.
Olive oil is a key part of what makes the Mediterranean diet good for your health, but when you buy La Riojana fair trade organic olive oil, your purchase also benefits the health of an entire community. Fair trade certification empowers members of La Riojana Cooperative in Argentina to invest in community projects, like the building of a new healthcare center in their local village of Tilimuqui.
Food co-ops like ours are proud to partner with La Riojana Cooperative, the largest certified fair trade wine and olive oil cooperative in Argentina, to bring our customers a meaningful choice when it comes to everyday healthy cooking staples like olive oil. Just like a food co-op, La Riojana is a company built by the community to benefit the community. Over 500 family farmers and winemakers collaborate to produce wines and olive oils to rival those from the Mediterranean. You can find their olive oil in food co-ops across the country, many also carry their fair trade, organic wines too.
Fair trade certification is the factor that significantly sets La Riojana apart from its South American peers in the olive oil and wine industry. Fair trade standards ensure fair prices and a living wage for farmers, establish safe working conditions, protect human rights and provide for community development projects. Since their certification in 2006, La Riojana has completed 36 community development projects, including establishing a local water facility to provide fresh running water, and the construction of the community’s first secondary school for kids age 13-18. Most recently, they’ve turned their attention on improving local access to healthcare.
Availability of healthcare is central to a community’s ability to grow and flourish. La Riojana’s clinic project will offer medical care for over 10,000 people in the region and includes the purchase of the region’s first ambulance. In addition to providing general medical care and outpatient services, the new health center will offer maternity care and services for babies and young children. It will also be a dedicated research and treatment facility for regional endemic diseases, in partnership with the local university, Universidad de Chilecito.
This article originally appeared on the Co+op, stronger together website.
Halloween is just around the corner and the Co-op always tries to get in that Haunted spirit. In that vein, one of our favorite breweries, Allagash, has come out with a Haunted House Porter, darker than any ghoulish soul could imagine. Doomed by a love of pitch-black Porters and their Allagash House Beer, they summoned the recipe for Haunted House. Roasted Barley and Blackprinz malt curse this beer with a gravely dark hue. Hopped with Crystal, Chinook, and Saaz hops, this beer ends with a ghost of coffee-flavored bitterness and hauntingly complex malty palate. Is it a coincidence that the ABV is 6.66%? I think not. So get in that Halloween Spirit and pick up a 4 pack of Allagash Haunted House at the Co-op today.
White stouts are something we’re seeing more and more of in the beer world. Instead of lots of dark roasted malts, Left Hand Brewing White Russian Nitro Stout (that’s a mouthful!) gets its creaminess from oats and lactose. Then they add a little coffee and vanilla, and you’ve got dessert in a glass!
If you like White Russians and Milk Stouts, this is a must try. This brew has 8.9% alcohol so it will give you that warm feeling we all need on a chilly fall evening, too.
This is brand new to the Co-op and it is one of Left Hand’s seasonal offerings, so make sure you get some before it goes into hibernation.
October is Fair Trade Month at the Littleton Food Co-op and around the world. Here at the store, we are encouraging all shoppers to consider making a fair trade purchase this month. Many of your long-time favorite brands, such as Annie’s, Kashi, HiBall Energy, Larabar, Honest Tea, Taza Chocolate, and more have fair trade certified products. Other brands, like Equal Exchange and Tony’s Chocolonely, were started with the ideas behind fair trade firmly woven into their business plan. Even some well known national brands have started making progress towards joining the fair trade movement. Producer support is very important, but an equally important ingredient in the success of fair trade is you, the consumers.
Fair Trade is the idea that all members involved in a food system are treated equitably. A company can put a fair trade symbol on their product(s) after being certified by one of many independent trade organizations. There are two popular requirements that third party verifiers require.
The first is that all producers are paid a fair price for their contributions. This is especially prevalent in the coffee industry, where the price of coffee has been steadily declining for years, meaning farmers have a low and unpredictable income. In fair trade situations, farmers are paid a fair trade premium for their products, which creates a guaranteed income and frees up money for things like electricity, running water and education.
The other requirement is not using slave labor or child labor. Slave labor and child is a major issue in the chocolate industry with the harvesting of cacao. In order for farmers to meet the extremely high cacao demands, and for families to earn extra income, children are often forced to do the dangerous harvest work. Children and adults can also be tied to hard labor because of debt, creating situations referred to as modern day slavery.
Along with a number of other requirements, organizations who want to be certified fair trade must pay a fair trade premium and not use child labor or slave labor. These inhumane conditions have been around since these industries began. The large-scale fair trade movement picked-up at the turn of the century, but has still not become “the norm.”
However, what has come from the fair trade movement so far is more consumer awareness of foods’ value chains and the emergence of new companies who have started making advancements in ending such poor conditions. We still have a long way to go to complete fair trade, though. Third-party certificates have too many loopholes and transparency won’t solve such complex issues as modern slavery, but raising awareness of the issue is the first step in improving our global food systems.
As shoppers at the Littleton Food Co-op, you have the power to show your support through your spending. We hope you take advantage of your power this October in honor of Fair Trade Month, and continue to shop with a purpose through the rest of the year.
Eating at home together as a family at least once a week has a positive impact on the health and well being of children (and grownups, and probably your pets, too…. everyone’s family is different!). This September we’re celebrating National Family Meals Month, a nationwide event promoting the benefits sitting down together and sharing a meal.
It seems like a simple thing, but we all know how tough it can be to make dinner happen when life is super busy. Everyone has different schedules, it’s daunting to figure out what to cook and get all the ingredients, and sometimes you’re all on weird diets or someone at the table is a picky eater (we’re not naming names).
But hey, we can help! The folks here at the co-op can totally help you figure out easy meal solutions in just about every aisle of the store. We’ve got recipes. We’ve got local, healthy, organic, fair trade, non-gmo, gluten free, and vegan ingredients – whatever you like! We can help you figure out how to cook on a budget. We can help you make a huge batch of something so you have plenty of leftovers. We can help you plan a brunch, or a picnic, or high tea, or tapas! We can help you make something gourmet. We can help you pick out a beverage and dessert to go with it. We can point you to the organic frozen tv dinners….. which are pretty tasty, actually. And we have ready-made hot specials in our deli you can just grab and take home, which is pretty awesome and convenient.
So plan a night this week to sit down at the table and eat together! Life’s too short to miss out on sitting down to eat good food with the people you love, and it makes a big difference. See you at the co-op!
In our last week of Eat (and drink) Local Month, I’m reviewing Bluet Charmat from Maine. Made entirely from Wild Maine Blueberries, Bluet Charmat is vinted in Jefferson, Maine. Thoreau called wild blueberries “bluets” and wrote of their “innocent ambrosial taste, as if made of the ether itself”. Bluet wild blueberry sparkling wine captures summer in Maine with the purity of a single ingredient: native Maine wild blueberries. Using the Charmat Method (the same method that produces Prosecco) Bluet is brightly and bubbly with vivid fresh berry aroma. A chilled glass of Bluet makes a fine dry apéritif on its own, but also as the foundation of a sparkling cocktail, Bluet has an affinity for a variety of ingredients. Try Bluet with a splash of triple sec over crushed ice and a sprig of mint, or give it an old-fashioned treatment with rye whiskey, simple syrup and bitters. If you can get your hands on some mead, pour over ice, squash a lemon and float Bluet on top for a perfect peak-of-summer drink.This is truly a Northern New England original, now available at the Littleton Food Co-op.
Read more about Bluet Charmat here.
https://downeast.com/out-of-the-blue-bluet/
