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A showy variety of locally-grown daikon radish has recently arrived on our produce shelves! Purple Daikon radishes are easy to spot because of their pretty, lavender-colored exterior. When you slice these large tubular beauties into thin circles, you will notice an incredible, vibrant purple & white tie-dye design inside. However, purple daikon is not just another pretty radish, it has great flavor appeal too. They're very sweet and mild, without that spicy sharp bite you can expect from other varieties. Plus, they're super easy to peel using a paring knife or vegetable peeler. Try adding shredded daikon to your favorite coleslaw recipe, or pickle them. You can also just simply slice and and lay out on a tray, and serve with dipping hummus. Get creative with salads by adding them cubed or sliced to salads for a colorful presentation.  If you would like to make something on the exotic side, check out this Radish and Carrot Kimchi recipe from Co-op, Stronger

If you’ve been to Valley Natural Foods recently you may have noticed that we have removed yeast from our refrigerated bulk bin section due to lack of sales.  However, we still carry yeast for baking purpose in small, single-use packages of active dry yeast, and large, 1 pound packages of instant yeast. You can find these packages in our baking aisle (aisle 5) and above the bulk liquid containers in our bulk section. If you're looking for brewer's yeast you can find it in Aisle 6. Yeast has been used for more than 5,000 years for fermentation and bread leavening purposes. It wasn’t until recent years that yeast was identified as a living organism. Yeast is a single-celled fungi that is used today for fermentation, leavening bread, molding cheese and producing useful mold for antibiotics. So how does yeast work? Yeast cells,

Let’s Do… Organic Holiday baking can be a challenge when the entire family comes together. There are traditions, picky eaters, and special diets to consider.  Here at Valley Natural Foods we have a great selection of traditional and non-traditional baking items. A few new items have been added to the collection to fit your non-dairy baking needs. Non-dairy baking is now easier than ever with Let’s Do… Organic’s Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk and Heavy Coconut Cream. Let’s Do… Organic’s Coconut products contain no added preservatives, extenders or enhancers and only contain pure organic coconut. The coconut will add good fats and a rich nutty flavor to your holiday baking. For more information and recipe ideas visit: http://www.edwardandsons.com/index.itml  Navitas Naturals Cacao butter is back! Navitas Naturals takes ground cacao nibs from organic cacoa beans and cold presses them into a paste using low temperatures to ensure

Gut Shot Farmhouse Culture Gut Shot sounds scarier than you think; in fact it’s quite good for you! Gut Shot is a probiotic rich drink that is made from organic vegetables. The juice is pressed from fermented vegetables and full of live active cultures. With such a small serving size of 1-1/2 oz. you can add it to smoothies, use it as a salad dressing, or drink it plain. Gut Shot helps keep your gut happy and healthy and are organic, non-GMO, vegan and gluten-free. We now carry the following flavors of Gut Shot: Classic Ginger Beet Kimchi Gut Shot comes from the same makers of Farmhouse Culture Sauerkraut products that are also carried at Valley Natural Foods. If you like their sauerkraut go ahead and give Gut Shot a try. For more information and recipe visit: farmhouseculture.com.   Bone Broth Protein A trendy new “superfood” has made an

What’s the buzz on this new Humm Kombucha? If you haven’t tried the new line of Kombucha at Valley Natural Foods then you’re surely missing out. The founders of Humm Kombucha have been brewing for over 20 years and decided to make a business out of it in Oregon. So how do they brew Kombucha? They start with a sweet tea mixture and then add an organic culture known as SCOBY. Well what is SCOBY you ask? SCOBY is a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, but don’t be afraid of the bacteria because it’s actually good for you! The bacteria and yeast work together to ferment the sugars in the sweet tea to produce vitamins, enzymes, and probiotics which can help improve digestion along with other health benefits.After the SCOBY is added the mixture ferments anywhere from 7-30 days. After the fermentation

National Honey Month September is National Honey Month! And at Valley Natural Foods, we celebrate this historic, versatile and healthy ingredient by offering fresh, raw honey from a variety of local sources! Humans have been collecting and consuming honey for over 8000 years, and has been an important ingredient throughout history, from the days of the ancient Egyptians to the Roman Empire, up through the time of kings and queens of England and into the modern day. Honey’s long history is due in part to many of the health benefits that it provides. It can be applied externally to treat wounds and sores, taken internally to ease coughing and throat irritation, and some recent research even indicated that honey can help prevent cancer and heart disease. If you are interested in the health benefits of honey, see our Wellness Staff who can guide

Special Arrival on September 1st We're excited for Thursday's arrival of some very special peaches! Picked just this week and en route to our co-op right now is a one-time-only shipment of organically grown O'Henry Peaches from Barrett Orchards in Yakima, WA. Our meat and seafood manager, Jason Harstad and his wife Jenifer have been life-long friends with Tim and Sarah Johnson from the Barrett Family.  For seven years, they have enjoyed having direct access to purchase Barrett Orchard peaches annually. This year, Jason initiated a connection for our co-op to bring in these special peaches. If you're a peach lover, you don't want to miss visiting our demo kiosk, anytime between 11 am-1 pm on Thursday, September 1st, where you can taste O'Henry Peaches. While tasting, please let us know what you think! Your input matters to us - do we bring them back next season, or not? O'Henry Peaches will be offered for

With summer drawing to a close its time to start thinking about back to school shopping! What better way to celebrate a new school year than a Lunch Box Giveaway! On Thursday, September 1st, the first 12 customers to spend $100 will receive a lunchbox filled with samples of some of our favorite products! Take a walk around our store and look for tags on our favorite lunchbox fillers.  We have a great variety of products for different personal preferences and diets. Then stop by our housewares section for a great selection of containers and drink-ware that are durable, colorful and eco-friendly! Packing lunches for your kids and for yourself shouldn’t be stressful, it should be fun! Want to make packing lunch just a little bit easier? Here are some tips to help make packing lunches less stressful and time consuming: Purchase

Stroll through our produce department and you will find some new fresh faves – some returning for the season, some brand new to Valley Natural Foods – and all might not be quite what you expect!  Amaranth Greens Those into the ancient grains may recognize Amaranth seeds, but the leaves of the plant are also edible and are enjoyed around the world in countries like India, Indonesia and Malaysia. While Amaranth leaves have a slight bitterness to them when eaten raw in salads, they are most often used in cooked dishes such as stir fry and stews.  The red-colored greens are high in protein, iron and dietary fiber, among other amino acids such as Lysine.  Mini Red and Yellow watermelons Back in living color – red and yellow mini watermelons make their return to Valley! A perfect one-person size, the standard red and slightly-sweeter

The latest superstars to arrive on our produce shelves are these colorful and somewhat odd-shaped, exciting fruit varieties. Dragon Fruit This pointy, odd-looking, edible fruit of a cactus species is also known as Pitaya. The inside flesh will either be bright white or deep red, and both types have a similar texture to kiwi fruit, with very mild, subtle flavors. The thin leathery "dragon-like" skin is very easy to slice or peel off the soft, inner flesh. For a refreshing and exciting fruit salad idea, cube up some mango, pineapple and jicama; toss together in a bowl. Top the fruit mixture with slices of peeled dragon fruit to give your tasty tropical fruit salad a very subtle white or vivid red color pop. Star Fruit The mildly tart-tasting, multi-ridged greenish-yellow star fruit is popular throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, South America, Hawaii and Florida. Star fruit is completely ripe when the skin appears mostly yellow, with some brown spots