Wheatsville Co-op Austin, TX

[Dan gillotte <dangillotte AT gmail.com>]

Hi friends!

Thanks to all who came out and
enjoyed our awesome Grand reOpening party this past weekend! What fun
we had! Did you stay all the way through the incredible band Pong's
rooftop performance! Here is some video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbg-9cgrZCQ&feature=player_embedded or http://tinyurl.com/ygbydm8

Remember that it's time to vote in the board election! You can do it on-line: http://wheatsville.coop/election/index.html

Owner Gathering coming soon!
Also, please plan on joining us for our very special Owner Gathering on
Thursday Oct. 22nd from 7-10pm right here in the large meeting room.
It's going to be our annual business meeting as well as a fun and focused
brainstorm about Wheatsville's future, why cooperatives matter and how
we can build on our Coop's success to make a difference in Austin --
and beyond! Enjoy Inspiration, Community and Hors d'Oeuvres.

Get on the special owner gathering e-mail list and rsvp for the party at rsvp AT wheatsville.com

Scroll down for:
Delicious deli
News from the Meat department

A message in a bottle from Cheese Island
Supplements specials
Fair Trade Grocery
Produce, produce, produce! 

From the Deli
The
arrival of fall has brought the Wheatsville Deli two brand new Fresh in
the Deli dishes that truly reflect the season. From Madison Market in
Seattle, WA we have an Autumn Root Vegetable Salad – a beautiful,
seasonal and high-end mix of oven-roasted butternut squash, sunchokes
and parsnips with olive oil, leeks and sage, tossed with julienned
celery root and frisee lettuce and dressed with a champagne
vinaigrette. And from the Seward Co-op & Deli in Minneapolis, MN,
we have a brand new dessert item for our hot bar: Apple Rosemary Bread
Pudding! This creamy bread pudding is sweetened with fresh apples and
spiked with dried cranberries. Fresh rosemary gives it depth and a
buttery, sugary cornmeal topping adds crispy goodness to this new baked
favorite. Dessert sound like too much? Just get a snack-size! It’s
worth it!
The Deli’s Smoothie of the Month is Peanut Butter Banana Dream – just
what Elvis would have ordered if he’d left Graceland once in a while!
Two great tastes that taste great together, bananas and PB are the
perfect combo of salty and sweet – all you need is a straw, so try one
today!
Also for October, we have a great Salsa of the Month – Guajillo con
Miel! This salsa blends dried ancho and guajillo chiles with sun-dried
tomatoes and local honey for a smoky-sweet sensation!
The
Deli also has some great Owner Specials going on this month! Lattes
from the Espresso Bar are on sale to keep you warm in the cooler
weather, as well as our Deli Counter’s infamous Italian Sandwich made
with two kinds of salami, ham and provolone, and our top-selling
Asian-inspired pasta salad, Ginger Tempeh Pasta, available in our
self-serve Grab’n’Go case!
Come on in and eat!
 
 
 
From Bryan, the Butcher
Did
you get a chance to come by for the Grand Re-opening?  I was very
excited for the owners of Wheatsville food coop to get the opportunity
to meet Paul Willis from Niman Ranch Pork. Having recently spent time
in Iowa getting to tour Paul Willis's operation and hearing him speak,
I was overjoyed to be sharing some of my experience with the owners,
workers, and general public. Thanks again to Paul for coming out for our grand re-opening!
 

Wheatsville is preparing and
stuffing our own sausages now. Made from the best Niman Ranch cuts and
mixed with natural and fresh spices and ingredients. This is a first
for Wheatsville and we’re very proud of the program. To promote our
great sausages we’re reducing the price .50 cents in the month of
October. Look for Sweet Italian, Hot Italian, Chorizo, and country
style breakfast sausage in the full service meat counter by the deli.
Sausages are regularly $7.99lb, but for October they’ll be $7.49lb.
These sausages come linked in natural casings and in bulk, not linked.
You can prepare these many different ways; grilled, pan fried, steamed,
baked, and crumbles can be pan fried. Come by and pick some up!
 
Oh yea and we have deals too!!
Niman Ranch Beef boneless ribeyes $14.99 lb, regular $16.99 lb.
Niman Ranch Beef top sirloin steaks $8.99 lb , regular $9.99 lb.
Niman Ranch Beef 85/15 ground sirloin $7.99 lb, regular $8.99 lb.

Applegate sliced pepperoni $5.49, regular $5.99.
 
 
From Greg, on Cheese Island
Have
I  got something special for you!!! I am bringing in 3 special cheeses
for your enjoyment. Let me start with the Local cheeses. I am bringing
in 2 new cheeses from Veldhuizen Farms. One is Stuart Veldhuizen’s take
on an Alpine cheese. “Green’s Creek Gruyere ages in their on-farm cave
for up to 9 months. The result is a semi-firm cheese with intense
flavor. While hitting key notes of the Swiss classic, this Gruyere has
a subtle nutty flavor all its own.”  Also coming in is Veldhuizen’s
Bosque Blue. “Much like a Stilton, Bosque is robust in flavor with a
creamy, yet crumbly, texture. It’s lovely straw-yellow coloring is
thanks to all the healthy grass that the Veldhuizens' free-ranging cows
get to munch on.”
 
Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend
the American Cheese Society’s Annual  Cheese Conference and was able to
try many of the thousands of cheeses shown at the conference. There
were Cheddars, Bries, Fetas, Chevre… oh  I could go on and on, but the
one cheese that I tasted and fell in love with was the Rogue River
Blue. 

This Blue cheese, from Rouge Creamery, not only took first in the
Cows milk Blue Category, but took best in show. I knew, after tasting
this cheese, that I wanted to bring it in so that you could experience
what I had experienced. Unfortunately, this cheese is a seasonal cheese
and I had to wait for it to come into season. Ooohhh what a long three
months it has been, but now, finally, it is on a plane and should be
here by Friday. 

So what is the Rogue River Blue that I speak
of? It is a seasonal raw milk Blue cheese from Rogue Creamery out of
Oregon. It is aged up to a year in rooms that simulate the conditions
of the caves used to age Roquefort. This allows the naturally occurring
molds to collect on the cheese and gives it a signature terroir.* Also
adding to the cheese’s terroir, the cheese is wrapped in grape leaves
collected from Carpenter Hills Vineyard that is located along the Rogue
River Valley and these grape leaves are macerated with Clear Hills Pear
Brandy. 

This cheese won't be cheap, but you work hard and you
deserve to treat yourself well. What a treat this cheese is!! So now
that cooler weather is prevailing buy you a piece of the Rogue River
Blue, a nice Concorde pear, a crusty baguette and a bottle of bubbly.
Go home open up all the windows so that fresh fall air fills your home,
turn down the lights, light some candles, put on some wonderful music
and enjoy the moment. Treat yourself Well!!
 
*Terroir a term
associated with wine. It is used to describe the flavors given to the
grape from the environment that it is grown. This environment would
include the soil, weatherconditions and water used to irrigate the
vinyards. So when someone refers to a cheese’s terroir they are
referring to flavors given to it from its surroundings, which would
include the naturally occurring molds from the area and the grass the
cows eat.
 

New! in Supplements
We have 2 new product
lines. First is Vibrant Health which offers Green Vibrance, Fields of
Greens, Green Calcium and Vibrant Cleanse lemonade diet. Next is Garden
of Life offering Primal Defense, Perfect Food Raw Organic Powder,
Vitamin Code Raw One for Men, Vitamin Code Raw One for Women, Vitamin
Code B-Complex, Vitamin Code Raw Calcium, Vitamin Code Raw Kombucha,
Perfect Cleanse Kit, Coconut Oil and 2 sizes of the Super Seed Powder.
Now on SALE! thru October is Flor Essence Liquid and Tea Blend for $28.99 each.

Back
by popular demand are the Shanti Imports coin purses, wallets, passport
bags and an assortment of beautiful bags and purses.

In The Grocery Aisle
 
Alter Eco Olive Oils:
October
is Fair Trade Month, and Wheatsville is taking part. We have many Fair
Trade products on sale right now including Alter Eco brand rice, quinoa
and Olive Oil. Alter Eco Olive Oil is the first Certified Organic, Fare
Trade, and Carbon Zero Certified extra virgin olive oil from Palestine.
These olive oils are made from Rumi and Nabali olives, both native to
Palestine. Alter Eco uses the best of these olives to make an oil with
perfectly balance flavor, aroma and acidity. Check them out at http://www.altereco-usa.com/main.php
Justin Merrifield, Grocery Buyer
 
Johnny's words from a Green Grocer 
Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables
It’s
that time again, our two weeks of Fall! To celebrate this rare event,
we have new crop American organic apples. Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji,
Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Jona Gold and Braeburns! We also have
an extra special treat—Texas grown Gala apples from Farwell, up in the
Panhandle. They are really great.
 
Pears are  also in season
right now and we have a nice selections of organic varieties. Currently
we are carrying Starkrimson, Red and Green Bartlets, Concorde and Bosc
varieties. Concorde pears are my personal favorite, eat them when they
are still crisp and they taste like candy.
 
We’ve got squash, lots of squash! Acorn, delicatta, pie pumpkin, sweet dumpling, kabocha, spaghetti and butternut. YUM!
 
Local Right Now
We
had a hard summer season around these parts with the drought and all.
Right now we are in between seasons, yet still have some good local
products for you. Currently, we are carrying some tomatoes from out in
Alpine, Texas black-eyed peas, Bella Verdi mircro greens and living
basil, Amador Farms bibb lettuce, McCall Creek golden zukes and patty
pan squash, persimmons from Lightsey Farms in Mexia, several mushroom
varieties from Kitchen Pride and the gala apples from Farwell.
 
New Products!
In addition to all these great local products, we have some new items as well.  
 
Kitchen Pride oyster mushrooms
Kitchen Pride packaged crimini, shitake and sliced crimini and white button mushrooms

Bella Verdi Mirco Greens (arugula, asian mix and broccoli
Bella Verdi Living Basil
Marinated Artichoke hearts
15lb bags of juicing carrots
Loose baby spinach and braising greens mix
Organic Girl Salads
Romaine Hearts
Tomatillos
Habeneros
Mung bean sprouts
Broccoli Sprouts
Pea Shoots
Earthbound Farms organic baby carrots snack-packs
Upland Cress (similar to water cress)
Red Bananas
Baby Bananas
 
Micro Greens

I want to take a  moment to talk about these flavorful little gems.
Unlike sprouts, mirco greens are grown either in soil or other mediums
that allow them to root. After the primary sets of leaves are fully
developed, micro greens are ready to be harvested. They have much more
flavor than sprouts and are used frequently as garnish in fine dining.
They are delicious on sandwiches, in salads or just by themselves. They
really pack a punch and can spruce up a dish. My favorite are the
arugula. Our micro greens from Bella Verdi Farms are grown locally
(Dripping Springs) and are available in our salad case near the
packaged mushrooms and sprouts. Give’em a try, I’d love to hear your
feedback about these delicious products.

Have a great week!

Dan Gillotte
Wheatsville GM and e-mail guy and Texas Apple enthusiast!