Thursday, May 31, 2007

New Items Available in the Freezer Case!!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please check out these new items we're trying out in the freezer case.

And as always, you can provide feedback and ideas for new items in the product suggestion book at the Coop's entrance.

New Items in a Coop Freezer Case Near You:

Jolie Ravioli—all natural cheese ravioli in totally fun shapes

Goya Banana Leaves

Lifestream Flax Plus Waffles (cold pressed)

Alvarado Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

Cheese of the Week: Tuma Persa

Now on offer in the Park Slope Food Coop's Cheese Case:

Tuma Persa

Extremely rare/Limited production!!! Unknown to the USA until recently!

It is made by only one producer (Salvatore Passalaqua) in the hills near Palermo, Sicily, who began making this cheese after he found an ancient recipe.

This cow¹s milk cheese has a very complex flavor profile.

Although very tasty, it is never salty.

It is earthy and fragrant & has a genuine rustic appearance !

It has a unique, pleasant "peppery" finish !

Kevin O'Sullivan, Receiving Coordinator in charge of Juices and Household Items, Speaks:

Some new products that we've added:

Volcano Organic Juices From Italy:
Blood Orange Juice Organic
Tangerine Juice Organic


Both a little tart…

Earth's Best Organic Juice Packs:
Apple, Strawberry Pear, and Apple Peach Banana flavors


Ginger People's Ginger Smoother Drink.

Laundry Detergent:
We made room for another shelf, so we were able to add a few varieties that members have been asking for.

Seventh Generation High Efficiency Liquid Laundry Detergent, Lavender Scent
Seventh Generation Laundry Power


Planet Liquid Laundry Detergent

We also added a few items from Biokleen, which is a new company for the Coop, but has a good reputation (and pretty packaging):

Biokleen Laundry Powder (50 Loads)
Biokleen Oxygen Bleach Powder
Biokleen Bac Out Enzyme Spray


Last but not least, we added another shelf in aisle 3 to add more choices of oil, specifically Olive Oil. Many of these will rotate. Some may become PSFC staples, but keep an eye out and try some of the new oils on offer.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Recall of Maranatha sesame tahini

Maranatha is recalling its sesame tahini because of the possibility of it being contaminated with Salmonella. The press release of May 26 stated that there have been no confirmed cases of illness to date.

The Coop only sells Maranatha raw sesame tahini, 16 oz size. If you have purchased this product, you may return it for a refund.

For further information call: 1-800-883-8312

New Compact Fluorescent Bulbs For Sale

Park Slope Food Coop shoppers looking for compact fluorescent bulbs can look at the rows of hanging bulbs above the yogurt case.

Some new compact fluorscents have come in recently:

A 15-watt compact fluorescent bulb shaped like a regular 60-watt household bulb with equivalent luminosity. Price: $4.78 each.

A 9-watt compact fluorescent bulb shaped like a regular 40-watt but a little bigger. The 9-watt compact fluorescent gives off light equivalent to a regular 40-watt bulb. Price: $4.54 each.

We will also be carrying 4-bulb packs of mini spiral compact fluorescents that will be retailing for $7.85 each.

We've got other compact fluorescent bulbs on order with our suppliers, and as they come in, you'll be able to find them hanging above the yogurt case.

Beef Kebabs

Svmer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Growe_sed and blowe_med
And spring__e wde nu,
Sing cuccu!

We may not have any cuccu in the poultry case, but over in the mammal case, the wintery beef stew meat has blossomed into summery beef kebabs, ready for the grill.

This lean beef—cut from the round primal—needs a good acidic marinade. Try giving it a 3-hour bath in fresh lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil enlivened with sliced onion and garlic, chopped parsley and oregano. Skewer, alternating the marinated beef with chunks of onion, cremini mushrooms and colorful slices of sweet pepper, and grill over a hot fire for 2-3 minutes per side for medium-rare, brushing occasionally with reserved marinade.

Monday, May 28, 2007

Pig Sale!!

Available now in the freezer:

Smoked Ham
Ham Steaks
Irish Bacon


Were $6.00/lb.,

Now: $2.99/lb.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

New Local Organic Items in Produce This Week, Plus Other PSFC Produce Tidbits:

Coming into the Coop from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania:

Romaine Lettuce
Green Leaf Lettuce*
Collards*
Kale*
Dandelion Greens
Baby Arugula
Bunch Spinach


...

Coming in from Hudson Valley Farms Hepworth Farms and Lucky Dog Farm:

Baby Arugula
Baby Spinach
Baby Gailan (Chinese Broccoli)
Baby Lettuces
Cilantro*



*some but not all of these items are local; we're still also receiving some from beyond the range of local produce at the Coop.
...

Organic Sugar Snap Peas:

5/24 from Mexico
5/25 from Pennsylvania

...

Current Watermelon Rating from the Head Watermelon Taster of the PSFC Produce Department:

9.1 out of 10

...

And fresh in today from California: Organic Apricots

...

Current Organic 1 Pound Strawberry Sales Velocity: 480 1 pound packages per day.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Produce News—New and Incoming Items as of Thursday, May 17

We have a steady supply of Local Ramps (wild leeks) coming from Fingerlakes Organic Growers up in the Fingerlakes region and Lucky Dog Farm in the Hudson Valley.

The Coop's first Apriums came in this week—a cross between an apricot and a plum. Unlike the pluot, the aprium is more like an apricot.

Wild Fiddleheads began on Wednesday, May 16.

Local Organic Bunch Spinach will be arriving on Friday, May 18.

Local Loose Baby Spinach and Local Loose Baby Arugula will both be coming in on Saturday, May 19.

Local Produce Once Again Highlighted In Green on the Produce Aisle Menus

Hanging at either end of Aisle One, you can look up and find large print-outs of the daily produce menu. Every item available in the produce aisle that day will appear on these menus. If you can't seem to locate something you're looking for, these large lists are the best first place to look to see if what you're hoping to find is currently in stock.

Now that the weather is warming up and local farms are starting to send their bounty our way, we're resuming the practice of highlighting all local produce offerings in green on the large produce menus. Every item on these lists that appears highlighted in green comes from within 500 miles of the Coop.

We update these lists every day during the week, so you can rely on them when you want to know what the Coop is currently carrying in the world of produce.

New Cheeses Now Available

Fourme D'Ambert

Even self-professed haters of blue fall for this gentle, voluptuous, curdy beauty. Critics call it Saga for Grownups, but the good stuff is miraculous: rich, thick, liberally pocked cylinders of blue beneath a smooth, firm rind smelling of cave. Milky yet complex, leathery and earthy, it has none of the fierce residual pepper of better-known Roquefort. Go light and sweet, with thin slices of pear and a Tawny Port.

Tomme Crayeuse

This chalky tomme could be just another Tomme de Savoie-wannabe. Produced in Savoie, it's got that dank, mold-dappled rind and the same mountain-fed cow milk, but two stages of aging catapult it into mushroomy epiphany. First, it lounges in the sauna, warm and saturated with humidity to loosen the flesh into marshmallow cream. Then, a visit to a cooler but equally moist cave teases out those earthy, lactic inclinations, preserving an inner core of milky crumble. The final wheel is pure mushroom butter with a rind smattered with gorgeous powdery yellow mold, the result of cellulose in the cows' diet. A spicy red Syrah could deflect the intense richness of flavor.

Bleu de Gex

Blue de Gex today is still produced in the small mountain dairies that employ the traditional methods that have been handed down from the 14th century. It is produced only from the Montbeliardes or Pie rouge de l’Est cows which graze on these mountains. Although the smell is faint, this cheese is characterized by its nutty taste. The rind is very fine and yellowish. The ivory white dough has evenly distributed green- blue veins. The pate is creamy, almost crumbly when touched.

Salers De Buron

Untouched for centuries, this authentic recipe is made only from the Salers cows that graze in the Cantal pastures at more than 930 meters above sea level. The diversity of the flora and many aromatic plants in the area give a specific taste to both the cheese and the milk. Production is difficult and requires all the skill of the few fromagers that are able to make it. Raw milk that has been aged 10 months in the “Salers” or tiny stone huts that dot the mountains of Cantal make this compact dry cheese unique among all French cheeses.

Cantal Entre Deux

A more industrial production makes Cantal less unique than Salers, but still an excellent example of a pressed curd raw milk cheese. Believed to be 2 or 3000 years old and quoted in many roman writings, Cantal has changed little but is no longer used as currency in the south of France.

Sechon de Pays

Really dense in your mouth with richly tangy finish - Try it. You will love it.

Maroilles Quart

Said to have been created by monks in the 10th century, Maroilles is a powerful cheese. A sweet taste lingers in the mouth as the golden pate leaves an oily residue.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Cornichons, Garlic and Green Olives Mix Discontinued Due to MSG

Hello Cooperators,

It's a sad day in the Olive Case.

For the past few weeks, we've been carrying a mix of Cornichons, Garlic and Green Olives. Judging by the astronomical sales figures, many PSFC shoppers have been partaking of this mix.

This morning, we discovered that the Cornichons, Garlic and Green Olives mix contains MSG.

MSG is an additive that the Coop chooses not to carry. The Coop adheres to the Center for Science in the Public Interest's guide to food additives. You can find this list in full at: -Click here for more info-

We do our best to insure that every product on the shelves contains no ingredients advised against on the CSPI's additives list. There are a few exceptions that the General Meeting has voted for—items like sugar, salt and caffeine, for example. Historically, the Coop has consistently avoided items containing MSG. On the rare occasion when an item containing MSG has made it through our inspection radar, we have immediately ceased carrying the offending item once the discrepancy is discovered.

The Coop will not carry the Cornichons, Garlic and Green Olives mix until we are able to find a version of the mix that does not contain MSG.

New Offerings in the Meat Department

We've got a new supplier of naturally raised, antibiotic-free pork: Aberdeen Hill Farm.

They're providing us with lots of surprises in addition to the pork chops, roasts and cuts that we actually order.

Look in the meat case at the back of the Coop for:

Hot Dogs (beef & pork)
Ham Hocks
Irish Bacon
Canadian Bacon
Hot Italian Sausage
Kebabs
Neck Bones
and Lard (at $2.99/.lb, look for the sign)


...

Also, for those of you interested in the latest on Dine's Farm, we're still waiting for them to get federal approval for their processing plant for mammalian meat. We're able to get their chickens, but we have to wait for them to get through this approval process before we can carry products from their cows and pigs.