NEW: Local Sunflower Oil

New to our shelves this week is a locally produced sunflower oil!

Our local and organic sunflower oil has a rich and nutty flavor that tastes fantastic in salads. Also, it works great for low-temperature cooking and light stir frying. Josh (the farmer) loves to use it in baking as it imparts that wonderful nuttiness into breads and muffins.

They harvest the sunflowers in mid-October, clean the seed and then send it off to be cold expeller-pressed and bottled. The pressing is a low-heat process that results in a more full flavored and nutrient dense oil.

Uncle Pete's Mustard

New to our packaged grocery shelves!

Uncle Pete sold a few cases of Mustard at the International Fall Festival a few weeks ago. One of our worker/owners gave it a try and we made a connection. Now we've got it in our store! Here's an excerpt of a description from Stephanie March at MspMag over in Minnesota:

...First the Feel-Good: Uncle Pete's is locally made by a family in which, at one time, there was an actual Uncle Pete. According to the jar: Uncle Pete was born in 1875 in Silver Lake, MN as a child of Polish Emigrants. He was known for his sense of humor and excellent mustard making skills.The kids now making his mustard are a Facebook savvy third generation working from a Rice, MN farm just north of St. Cloud.

Now for the Feel-So-Bad-It's-So Good: That stuff is wicked hot.

The first dip of the pretzel gave me the sweet and tangy side, almost a bit fruity on the back. The second dip rather hit me in the nasal passage with a Skidoosh! that was almost wasabi clean in nature while still carrying the mustard flavor. I hate using the word piquant, but there it is...

Only $3.99 a jar. Try some today!

go NATIVE

Tanka Bars

GLUTEN-FREE * NITRATES-FREE * MSG-FREE * HORMONE-FREE

Made from tart-sweet cranberries and prairie-raised buffalo, the Tanka Bar is a delicious real food bar with a smoky, slightly-sweet flavor.

100% Natural and only 70-calories, Tanka Bars are the perfect food for anyone who's on the go -- outdoor enthusiasts, students, busy moms, athletes, and pow-wow dancers. Gluten-free, hormone-free and low-fat, the Tanka Bars are deliciously perfect for every diet lifestyle.

You can keep it Traditional or spice it up with our new Tanka Bar SPICY PEPPER BLEND, featuring an awesome four-pepper blend with just the right kick from habanero, jalapeno, and red and black pepper!

Also in stock: Tanka Bites & Tanka Wild sticks - both in regular and SPICY!

But they aren't local! You're right. They come from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. They are made from simple, all natural ingredients and support a lifestyle and landscape we strive for. These are fair trade, direct from the source. We also sell locally raised buffalo, elk and beef jerky processed by Crescent Meats - they have different ingredients and pricing - so you make the choice!

* These products brought to you by customer request. Many requests, in fact. In order to keep prices reasonable and product fresh we want to order cases and cases of product at a time, and regularly. Your requests give us the confidence to invest in new products, share them with the community, and support local and regional farmers. This is what cooperation is all about! Thanks!

Wisconsin Made Salsas, Dips and Marinades!

A customer stopped in the other day and mentioned she had bought some great mushroom

salsa from a Farmers Market in Chicago. She thought it was from Wisconsin. That was enough to get me going...

Fresh to our packaged grocery shelves are a variety of products from River Valley Kitchens in Southern Wisconsin. Their specialty is growing mushrooms, so we'll first suggest the Garlic Pickled Mushrooms, Portabella Salsa, and Portabella Wasabi Steak Sauce. Also from their kitchen we've got the Key Lime Mango Salsa, Roasted Pineapple Salsa, Olive Bruschetta and a great Artichoke Dip.

We'll never stop scouring the state and region looking for unique, quality affordable products for your pantry!

fair trade SALE

We are proud to sell products from Equal Exchange, they help us keep the JUST in just local food. As in justice, for the farmers and workers that bring us tea & chocolates from around the world. To celebrate this relationship, and highlight our commitment at Just Local Food to global organic and fair trade practices, we're offering their full line of products at 20% off this month. Chocolate bars that were fairly priced at $3.99 are now only $3.19. Stock up and save!

"Fair Trade requires farmers to organize themselves democratically and to promote participation and transparency. At Equal Exchange, we hold ourselves, as U.S. business people, to those same principles." - Lynsey Miller, Worker-owner since 4-7-03

* Please use this sale as an opportunity to try their amazing "pyramid teas" in the square boxes, you won't regret it!

local is SWEET!

We're blessed to have a climate in Western Wisconsin that supports the growth of maple trees. These beautiful, productive trees don't grow just anywhere. We have a high concentration of Maple Bushes in our area producing high quality maple syrup. I'm mighty pleased to work with the Watkins/Oberli family up near Barron, the Dahm's near Boyd and the horse-drivin' friends and neighbors of Mahlon Shetler near Taylor - these are the folks that bring us real maple syrup.

As the snow melts and the potholes grow gargantuan, the Maple trees are also growing - as buds start to appear, the new leaves get hungry. Amazing physiological forces take control and pump sap, full of nutrients, from the roots down below up into the branches. When the weather is just right (warm during the day, below freezing at night), you can put a little spigot through the bark and these trees will share some of that nutritious sap. Boil it down and you've got a serious need for pancakes.

Over the next few weeks, our friends will be busy in the sugarbush collecting sap. Then they will carefully and laboriously boil the sap down into sweet, delicious maple syrup. Take a careful look as you wander the countryside and even the city, you'll see the buckets and bags hanging on maple trees, a sure sign of spring and the local harvests to come.

In Stock:
Dahm's Grade A Maple Syrup in quarts, pints and half pints.
Dahm's Handmade Maple Candy
Watkins/Oberli Grade A Maple Syrup in quarts
Shetler Family Maple Syrup in quarts

The Shetler's near Taylor have another sweet use for their maple syrup boiling shack: sorghum. We now carry high quality handmade sweet sorghum molasses in quart jars from the Shetler's. Mahlon brought sorghum seed with him when their family moved here from Ohio. Over the past few years he has experimented with these seeds, growing seasons and soil types to find the best sorghum possible. After extending their growing season by growing seedlings and carefully putting them out in the field by hand, the family cuts the stalks then hooks the horses up to a hundred-year old turnstyle sorghum press to extract the juice. The juice is brought over to the maple shack and boiled down. We had a hard time getting the sorghum from their farm to the store - it's too far by horse. So we've hooked up with one of the Shetler's "English" friends to complete the connection. We only have a few bottles from the first case left, and I anticipate two more cases in the next week or so, assuming they don't get too busy in the sugarbush with this great weather we've been having.

Shetler Sweet Sorghum Molasses: reusable quart jar, only $6.99

crackers

Have you tried Potter's Crackers?

They are the perfect local cracker for everyday and for that special party!

I called down to the Potter's cracker shed in Madison just before Christmas to place an order for us, and the freshly baked crackers are already here. Now that's fresh: baked, packed and shipped to order. And until someone more local than Madison (they gets their flour from a mill just south of here, and other ingredients from nearby places!) gets crackin', these are our local cracker. And you've been to Madison, it's not too far, and it's a pretty awesome town.

We've increased our selection along with the bakery - here's what we have: Garlic and baby onion, six seed, toasted sesame, caraway rye, washington island flax, hazelnut graham, cranberry graham, cranberry wild rice, sweet potato onion and classic white. Hand-bagged 4oz size.

Wondering what to do with a cracker like this? Check out their pairings page. We have most of the cheeses they recommend, right across the aisle from the crackers!

New Pasta Mixes and other packaged items

Just Local Food is now carrying Ecco La Pasta from Madison!

We have:
Ecco Egg Pasta Flour
Ecco Whole Wheat Pasta Flour
Ecco Potato Gnocchi Flour
Semolina Pizza Crust Mix
All Retailing at $3.99 each!

"Ecco La Pasta is where hands, eyes, and appetite all meet to create a true Italian experience.

Only the finest ingredients are used to create our specialty flour, a premier blend that's easy to work with by hand and perfect to use with any home pasta machine. Hand-made gnocchi, using our Ecco La Pasta gnocchi flour, consistently makes perfectly light, toothsome pillows of potato. Just like Grandma used to make from scratch... without the mess." - from the Ecco La Pasta website

Also new in packaged:

Local Gluten Free Waffle Mix - Blending Naturally original and apple cinnamon. $5.49 each made in Mondovi.

Obsession Chocolates homemade cinnamon and chocolate marshmallows. 4pk for $5. or 1 milk chocolate covered cinnamon marshmallow or 1 dark chocolate covered chocolate marshmallow for $2. each. Great in Hot Cocoa!

Great River Milling Company in Fountain City WI. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour $9.39 for 5lbs. Unbleached Bread Flour $8.19 for 5lbs and Buttermilk Pancake mix $5.49 for 2lbs.

tortilla chips UPDATE!

REJOICE!

I spoke with Doug Hilgendorf at Whole Grain Milling on Monday. Their yellow and blue tortilla chips are tentatively back in production, and we expect a truckload of yellows to arrive this Friday... yes, yes, YES!

the old news:
We are very sorry to report that Whole Grain Milling Company has temporarily discontinued their amazingly delicious tortilla chips As many of you know, Doug and Lin Hilgendorf (and family!) have been growing organic blue and yellow corn on their farm and having tortilla chips freshly made from that corn every few weeks. They have informed us that the chip factory they were having their chips made at is not currently making chips for them. This news was abrupt and is unexplained. We are all devastated by the news. Doug and Lin are working hard to find a solution, and to bring the chips back as soon as possible. Sadly, there is no replacement for these incredibly delicious and addictive bags of awesomeness. The grocery department is ordering a variety of tortilla chips from other companies in the meantime, but looks forwardto the day when we can once again sell WGM tortilla chips.

New Products

New in Packaged grocery:

Amish Naturals egg noodles
Erewhon Gluten Free Brown Rice Cereal
Organic India Tulsi Pomegranate tea
Garbanzo bean flour (dedicated to the "bean lady")
Strawberry Kefir, Vanilla Kefir, Plain Kefir
Environkidz crispy rice berry bars
Triple berry cereal bars
Cute little tins of baking powder
K-toos gluten free sandwich cookies (making a reappearance)
Lundberg organic cinnamon toast rice cakes (also making a reappearance)
Late July cheese sandwich crackers in a box  (we also carry the snack size bags)

In the freezer:
Palermo's "hearth italia" organic pizzas made in Wisconsin

From the Malt Beverage department:
Two varieties from Northwoods Brewpub from right here in Eau Claire:
-Lil' Bandit Brown Ale (silver metal winner at the Great American Beer Festival)
-Floppin' Crappie English Mild Ale

Will have more Furthermore beers in again by next week:
-Makeweight (only three cases!)
-Proper
-Three Feet Deep
(-possibly Fatty Boombalaty)

Three new ones from Viking:
-Mørketid (The Norwegian name for midwinter polar darkness), a German Schwartz beer
(black beer) - seasonal
-Invader Doppel Bock - seasonal
-Mjød, a Honey Brackett; the 1st brewed in the US. It is like a Mead - a honey wine
with malt.  available in 22oz. bottles

nuts!

Can you believe how widespread this salmonella contaminated peanut butter recall is? CRAZY!

We've been staying on top of it at the store. As you can imagine, we've been mostly unaffected by the recall. Our peanut butters come from our fellow worker-owned cooperative, East Wind in Missouri (read their recall statement). Pictured right is an East Wind community member "tubbing" some nut butter. Their full line of peanut butter is totally safe and unaffected by the recall. We also have a few jars of Kettle peanut butter, also unaffected.

We have some peanut butter sandwich crackers from Late July, they source their peanuts here and have safe product.

In fact, the only product we've had to pull is the Nutz over Chooclate Luna Bar. Please contact Clif directly if you have one of these products dated 28OCT08 to 31DEC09 at home. See their recall webpage, read the company statement and letter from their owners.

yellow chips

We are now back in fruitful supply of Whole Grain Milling Co. organic yellow corn chips. We apologize for any symptoms of withdrawal you may have experienced during our outage of these delicious chips, our best selling grocery product. If you haven't tried these tortilla chips, please treat yourself to a bag next time you're in the store, or add a bag (or three) to your home delivery order. In addition to being outright delicious, they are also perfectly nutritious. WGM Yellow chips are made from specially chosen organic yellow corn grown carefully on the Hilgendorf's farm in Southern Minnesota. Made fresh on a regular basis and brought directly to us, we're proud to sell thousands of bags of these chips every year!

Other favorites in stock: Beaver Creek Ranch spinach cured bacon. Farmer to Farmer french roast. Cultural Revolution yogurts. Viking Brewery JuleOl. Watkins Oberli Grade A Maple Syrup quarts.

you asked for it!

Thanks so much for sharing your hopes and dreams for the store with us. In the past month, in addition to moving our store to a great new location, we've been able to respond to many of your requests. The products below are now on our store shelves as a direct result of your comments. Please keep them coming!

So, here's what we have on hand, thanks to you: flour tortillas, mints, tarts, gum, garam masala, peanut butter puffins, powdered milk, buttermilk powder, kashi cereal, ginger chews, nutritional yeast, trash bags, low sodium soaps, baby products, cranberries and even a bike rack! Also, due to lots of requests, we have quite a few gluten free products like snacks, cookies, pasta, crackers, chips, bread, muffins, brownies, chicken nuggets and coming soon - locally produced "cause you're special" gluten free mixes!

Now on to our featured item this week:

just tomatoes

In the quest for simple, clean and supremely healthy snacks we have found nothing to compare to the just tomatoes line of fruits, berries and veggies. On a special shelf you will find these incredibly kid friendly edibles. While not produced locally, these pass through our food policy pretty easily. They are unique, produced by an innovative small family business, we work directly with them, and the ingredients are ridiculously simple.

local and regional energy bars

Low on energy? Don't have time for a full meal? Looking for a great snack for you or your kids? We've got you covered!

Go Macro

In our never-ending quest for high quality products made close to Eau Claire, we've stuck onto two companies here in Wisconsin. Go Macro is a small business in Viola, the heart of organic agriculture.

MacroTreats are macrobiotic desserts and snacks, including a variety of nutritious bars and healthy cookies which are irresistibly delicious. MacroTreats use high fiber, macrobiotic ingredients and contain slow burning, complex carbohydrates. In addition to being vegan, our products do not have any refined sugars or artificial sweeteners. Instead, MacroTreats use organic ingredients, whenever possible, and are grain sweetened with brown rice syrup, which retains nutrients. They contain no preservatives, synthetic additives, hydrogenated oil, refined flour, or artificial flavors/coloring. We carefully prepare MacroTreats to preserve maximum nutritional content and enhance flavor. Above all, MacroTreats are positively delicious!

Oskri

Oskri is another company in Wisconsin that makes their own delicious and simple treats. We carry a variety of coconut bars and sesame bars from them. We're also finding out customers really like the Jalow bars, and I'm including info on them below so you get an idea of what they are all about!

Cranberry Almond Jalow Bar

Ingredients: Chicory Root Extract, Almonds, Cranberries, Rice Crisp, Amaranth, Buck Wheat.

Features: Gluten Free, Lactose Free, Vegan, Kosher, Halal.

Product Description:

Jalow Bars are designed for those who want to limit their sugar intake, they are low in sugar (3 or 4 grams per bar), low in carbs and low in Calories. Such properties make them suitable for diabetics, they are delicious bars made with kids in mind.

The Jalow bars are made with the finest ingredients, with no additives, preservatives or artificial sweeteners. Chicory Root Extract is used as a binder but also increases the fiber content for each bar.

honey

straight from the farm:

The subject of raw honey could be and has been debated forever. However, we at Honey Hill Apiary would like to make the following statement for you, our customers, about our views on this issue.

We feel that the only true raw honey comes directly from the hive in the form of comb honey. USDA, which is responsible for classifying honey, does not acknowledge the term “raw honey” nor do they put it into any classification. Any honey you see in a jar has been processed in some way. Honey does not have to have bits of wax and various particles floating in it to be healthy for you. All of our honey is produced in Wisconsin. Our honey is warmed to a low temperature, strained (not pressure filtered), and packed into containers. That’s it! We add nothing to our honey, nor do we take anything away from it. All the nutrients are still in every jar of Honey Hill’s honey. Again we feel the only raw honey is comb honey, and we will not attempt to mislead our customers into thinking that they are getting anything other than what the label represents. Thank you for trying our honey and if you ever have any questions, we will always be here. Just give us a call or email.

• All pure honey will granulate in time. Most of the types of honey that are produced in this area will granulate shortly after extraction. One week to one month.
• To turn granulated honey back into liquid honey it must be heated to about 130 degree F. No way around it as that is about the melting point of honey.
• Raw: In its natural condition; not changes by art, manufacture, etc. Not processed, edited. All liquid honey has been removed from its wax comb, which is a change or process.
• Our honey is gravity strained through a cloth, not pressure filtered.
  

regional and local products new to the shelves

We have a few new additions to our now twice a week Co-op Partners produce order. Each new item has a story, and since they all come via Co-op (aka the Wedge) they have something special about them...

Mrs. Clarks, a company that was actually Mrs. Clark, is now an Ag Cooperative in Iowa. We have their plain Mayonnaise.

French Nuggets are tasty, good for you and made in the Cities. We have almond and peanut. These are hearty, delicious chocolates that aren't too sweet - I call them vitamins, they do your body good!

SunButter - an alternative to peanut butter, and produced in a truly peanut-free facility. We carry their certified organic variety, made from delicious organic sunflower seeds.

new on the shelves...

We are proud to be working with a new worker-owned distributor of regional and organic foods that is offering a good selection of products and regular, consistent delivery. As you know, most of our products come straight from the farm or producer. But we need to work with a "middleman" to get decent prices on great food like Eden safe canned beans and dangerous snacks like Kettle chips (the ones we carry are made in Wisconsin!). Although we have access to literally tens of thousands of products through our new distributor, our worker owners are scrutinizing the fine details of each product and brand to see how they filter through our food policy.

In our first delivery this week we've mostly restocked some basics like the Eden canned beans referenced above, turbinado sugar, ketchup, tamari, peanut butter, crackers and more. As we familiarize ourselves with our new partners we'll be passing along special deals and will be happy to place special orders to meet your needs.

Ahhh, Safe Cans

Direct from the Eden Website:

Are Eden Beans packed in cans with enamel lining that contains bisphenol-A?

No. Eden Organic Beans are packed in steel cans coated with a baked on oleoresinous (a natural mixture of an oil and a resin extracted from various plants, such as pine or balsam fir) c-enamel lining, that does not contain bisphenol-A. These cans cost 14% more than the industry standard cans, which do contain bisphenol-A.


One question we get a lot is "why does organic food cost more". Well, now you know why you might be spending a few more pennies on organic canned beans at our store. These are not the cheapest "organic" beans they can import from China, these are regionally grown beans, handled carefully, cooked properly, and put in a can that won't contaminate or poison the food. There isn't really a comparison!

new in packaged goods

We're exploring new suppliers, and deeper relationships with existing local and regional suppliers. These products come in through Vern's Cheese, a distributor that has been serving us reliably for some time. His route stops every two weeks, on Mondays. We'd be happy to place a special order for you as well.

The products pictured here and described below are not the backbone of our business, but they are folding into our purpose in finding "as local as we can" and "as good as we can". There are no local farmers making organic pretzels in packages we can sell in our store; this is the best we can find, through businesses and co-ops we trust. Made in Wisconsin or Michigan. And these aren't "health food" either, necessarily. Nobody's perfect and we all like a pretzel or some cheap kraut now and then too...

East Shore Specialty Foods
Pretzels and dippin' mustards made in Wisconsin. When I called to ask about hydrogenated oils in their pretzels, the nice woman said "Oh we took those out a few years ago." The mustards are simple. If you have favorites you think we'd like to sell, let me know! (silver spring organic line mustards will be coming in soon)

Venus Crackers
We've got a lot of requests for crackers. Here's a shot, let us know what you think.

Flanagan's Kraut
Made in Wisconsin. A conventional product at a conventional price.

Mro-Cos Sex Olives
Garlic stuffed sicilian olives. Pretty good, not local or organic...

Berghoff Root Beer
Made in Wisconsin, one of the few root beers made with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

Blue Nectar Blueberry Lemonade
100% juice.

We also received some cranberry juice cocktails made in Wisconsin from Door County cherries, but I tossed them in the "clearance cart" right away because of the high high fructose corn syrup content, great cherries, not so great and overly sweet drink...

wild and native

Back in stock, from the White Earth reservation near Minnesota, are genuine wild rice (manoomin), hominy (mandaamin), and the rich and delightful refrigerated maple butter. Wild Rice is a native plant to our bioregion, and an excellent source of food for humans. We chose Wild Rice from Native Harvest because of their unique business model and their work on preserving wild rice. Unfortunately, truly native wild rice is being threatened by, among other things, genetically modified "wild" rice being imported to Wisconsin for processing and sale from paddies in California. Your purchase of Wild Rice from our store works in many good ways.

Your purchase directly supports:
1. native wild rice production on the White Earth Reservation.
2. your local cooperative that works to preserve farmland and native food sources.
3. organizations that are working to prevent GMO rice from contaminating native manoomin plots

And manoomin comes in the same shipment as Maple Butter, the pinnacle of simple local food pairings!

As far as hominy, dried corn kernels which have been hulled and degermed, try some in a soup with fresh veggies, a coon creek chicken back and some RP's egg linguini tossed in at the end. Skip the chicken and the hominy shines too!