Roses

These blooms are the tried and true favorite when Valentine’s Day rolls around. (From romantic love to friendship, different colored roses symbolize different things. Mixing colors is the perfect way to customize your message or simply create a vivid bouquet!)

Tulips

Mix and match in large bunches, or keep it simple and sleek. With their bold colors, sweet charm and low price, tulips are a great way to shake things up! (They represent true love.)

Gerbera Daisies (aka Gerber Daisies)

With big, bright blooms, Gerbera daisies are a great complement when mixed with other flowers or are charming on their own. (These cheery blooms represent innocence and purity.)

Mixed Bouquets

We always have a wide assortment of sizes, designs, and colors available for mixed bouquets, an easy vase-ready gift. Choose a ready-made bouquet or have one custom-made! (By mixing up the flowers, you can mix up the message and really keep your valentine on their toes!)

Potted Orchids — Not every flower has to go in a vase. With their graceful shapes and delicate blooms, these gorgeous plants are sure to please for months to come. (Orchids are said to represent love, strength and beauty.)

When shopping for roses, Gerbera daisies and mixed bouquets, look for the Whole Trade® Guarantee, our label that indicates that the flowers were grown with a commitment to ethical trade, the environment and the highest quality. Think of these as “blooms with benefits” or “roses without the thorns” or “flowers with powers”. Okay flower metaphors aside, buying Whole Trade products supports positive change in the developing countries where the products are sourced. Additionally, one percent of Whole Trade flower retail sales go to the Whole Planet Foundation to help fight poverty in developing countries. Giving Whole Trade flowers is sending a pretty strong message, don’t you think?

What will your flower choice reveal this Valentine’s Day?

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Our first day in Quito was an amazing introduction to a place, a culture, and a people unlike any other. The sheer geography at over ten thousand feet in the tumultuous Andes mountain range atop the equator gave the city a powerful and immense character. The region stretches across enormous valleys with drop-off cliffs, rivers and active volcanoes throughout. The land is green and dotted with concrete and cinderblock houses.

We were hosted by the Ecuadorian Fair Trade Association, a group of seven farms, all primarily focused on roses. We buy from six of the seven as a company and we are the only major grocery retailer in the states who purchases flowers directly from these farms. Roses are the heart and soul of Ecuador floral production, yet we learned that only nine of the 700 farms there are fair trade certified, highlighting the importance of broadening the marketplace for these roses, to increase production and ultimately put more dollars into the local community.

We traveled to two different farms, Agrocoex and Hoja Verde, both precariously located at the base of active volcanoes in a dense, green farmland with streams and waterways interlaced throughout. We spent our time inside their greenhouses and production facilities, as well as traveling to see the benefits of their community programs firsthand. Through their efforts they have initiated numerous projects, including education scholarships, home loans, school improvements, dental services, community computer centers, music education, laundry services and more.

Fair Trade Certification can be demanding on a business, both financially and operationally. The requirements are extremely detailed and the audits can take a large amount of time away from a normal work day, even if the farm only sells 25% of its flowers as certified. However, it became clear that in the world of Fair Trade flowers, social responsibility and worker empowerment are intimately intertwined with corporate philosophy across all layers of the business. The managers of these farms do not elect to be certified for the ambition of building new business, they do it because it is a core tenant of their belief system, it defines their vision for the company and it is the right thing to do.

On both farms the workers are organized as cooperative corporations, complete with president and secretary. There is no compensation for these roles, but they lead the group in shaping their community support while learning invaluable business skills in leadership, accounting and public speaking. The entire workforce meets as a general assembly multiple times per year to vote on proposed projects, with a simple majority needed to put a proposal in motion.

I would be deeply remiss if I did not also spend some time describing the beauty of these roses and the efficient, dynamic agricultural practices in use at all stages of growing, harvesting and production. In place on these farms were impressive irrigation systems, natural pest control methods, like spiders, and innovative rack systems for sorting and arranging the flowers. The blooms themselves were enormous, strong and breathtaking, expressing the care exerted at every step along their way into the shipping boxes that will eventually arrive at our stores.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to meet our growers firsthand and to witness the benefits of our Whole Trade program. Responsibility in global purchasing is a complicated subject, yet seeing the benefit of an affordable home loan to a struggling family or a quality education to a disadvantaged youth is a simple truth.

Since 2008, our Whole Trade floral program has put more than .3 million into community projects through the 10% premium. We have the ability to transform trade by voting with our dollars, and the impact can be substantial. My hope is that we can raise awareness for the importance of Whole Trade flowers and that we can all be a little more connected to the impact our purchases have on those at the other end of the supply chain.

I encourage you to add some color to your home on your next shopping trip and feel good about not only the beautiful blooms on your kitchen counter, but the families and communities of the growers who benefit from your choices.  And don’t forget this Valentine’s Day to share your love with flowers that make a difference, and tell us what supporting ethical trade means to you. Thanks for joining me.

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“To do meaningful work in the place I love – it makes it easy to get up in the morning,” Meteo explained. He and his brother, Andy, bought Jasper Hill farms in 1998 – previously the farm had been abandoned for 30 years. To learn the trade, Mateo worked with farmstead cheese makers in the USA, England, France and Spain, and he took the techniques and recipes he learned back to Jasper Hill. While the brothers were milking their own Ayershire cows to make cheese for Jasper Hill, they realized they might be able to help local farmers do the same thing.

Vermont has seen a drastic reduction in viable dairy farms in past years — the price farmers get for their milk barely pays overhead and production costs. The Kehlers saw that they could create a network of dairy farmers and cheese makers in their small Vermont community, which would renew industry and create jobs for the region. So, in 2008 they opened the Cellars at Jasper Hill where they age, market and ship cheeses made by local farmers along with their Jasper Hill cheeses. It’s a great way to add value to local milk.

Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, an English-style cheddar that’s available nationwide, is made by Cabot and aged at Jasper Hill. The cheddar is rich and deeply flavored – benefitting from many months of ripening in the Cave. The “Cabot Cave,” one of five cellars at the farm, is stacked endlessly high with rounds of the clothbound cheddar. This partnership with Cabot means steady business for the Cellars and acts as an anchor project. By aging the Cabot Clothbound at Jasper Hill, Cabot ends up with a distinctive, artisanal cheese served by the likes of Thomas Keller at The French Laundry.

We toured the other four caves, 35% full at this point, and saw an array of cheeses at varying stages of ripeness. The thing I find compelling about Jasper Hill is that they are constantly looking for ways to work within their environment to create and improve a symbiotic business model. Recently, Rachel Dutton, a Harvard microbiologist, visited the cellars to explore microbial communities in the Jasper Hill Caves. Artisanal cheese only begins with milk, lending most of its character to the microbial species that use the cheese like a blank canvas. Dutton is helping to determine which bacteria are specific to Jasper Hill, creating a “fingerprint” that will help them understand and fully utilize the “terroir” in their caves.

Each batch of cheese has a chart attached, graphing a PH reference curve and compositional targets – almost like the DNA of the cheese. The Kehler brothers are working with an astrophysicist to build an application to create and understand these charts more easily. You may not find these technologically advanced and calculated methods being used in the centuries old caves abroad, but unlike French affineurs, says Kehler, “We just don’t have 500 years to figure this out.”

The innovation at Jasper Hill doesn’t end with cheese. They’re working on a “Green Machine” project, which will use production waste to fuel their operation. Manure from their cows will be screw pressed and used for compost, as well as methane to heat a greenhouse on the property, and to heat hot water for the building — creating an estimated savings of over ,000. The greenhouse is expected to play a part in a wellness program for employees, which might include a CSA and a yoga studio to stretch out tired backs and arms from lots of heavy lifting and turning. Even the leftover whey from the cheese gets fed to pigs on the farm; once a year, every Jasper Hill employee who wants a pig receives one butchered any way they want.

As we talk about the future of Jasper Hill, Mateo says, “That’s the exciting part…the really exciting stuff is dreaming about what’s next.” Have you tried cheese from Jasper Hill or a cheese like Cabot Clothbound Cheddar that is aged in the Cellars? We’d love to hear what you think.

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Not only are all of the myriad forms of chocolate indescribably decadent and aromatic, the darker versions are also good for us! Here’s what I mean:

• Dark chocolate is packed with high-quality polyphenol antioxidants that may promote overall cardiovascular health.
• Cocoa beans include flavonoids (like those found in tea and red wine), which support healthy cholesterol levels and act as antioxidants.
• Chocolate delivers stearic acid, a unique fatty acid thought to be neutral for cholesterol levels.

Here’s a peek at the many glorious forms of chocolate:

• Cocoa Powder is the result when cocoa solids are removed from the chocolate liquor, pressed into a cake and then ground into a fine powder. We use cocoa powder in our recipe for warming Mexican Hot Cocoa.
• Unsweetened Chocolate is also known as baking chocolate, and it’s about 55% cocoa butter and 45% cocoa solids; the tempting aroma is hard to resist, but one bite makes for a bitter lesson – pure chocolate without anything added is NOT sweet at all. Baking Chocolate is the first ingredient in this perfect-for-your-Valentine Bittersweet Chocolate Tart with Raspberries.
• Bittersweet Chocolate contains at least 35% chocolate liquor. The higher the percentage, the darker and more bitter the chocolate. Bittersweet Chocolate Chips are wonderful in cookies like these Chunky Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Fleur de Sel. But if you are looking for a truly romantic bittersweet chocolate experience, look no further than this Flourless Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze.
• Dark or Semi-Sweet Chocolate (my favorite) usually contains 15% to 35% chocolate liquor. It is mildly sweet and somewhat bitter. Here is a great recipe for Chocolate Dipped Marcona Almond Biscotti and here is an amazing Dark Chocolate and Coconut Dessert Sauce.
• Milk Chocolate is likely the favorite of most Americans.  Some of the chocolate liquor is replaced with milk and/or milk solids to make sweet, mild, smooth chocolate. You will love this recipe for Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta with Blood Oranges.

To keep chocolate fresh, wrap it tightly, preferably in its original wrapping, and store it in a dry place at about 65°F to 70°F. Since it easily absorbs odors, be sure to store it away from any strong-smelling items.  Properly stored, most chocolate will keep for more than a year, and dark chocolate will keep even longer.

Remember that cocoa butter melts at just below 98.6° F, the body’s average temperature. This is exactly why the best place to melt chocolate is directly in your mouth! But since that’s not practical or acceptable for chocolate recipes, you’ll want to avoid scorching by gently melting at 115°F or less.  You can do this in two ways:

1. Double Boiler Method: Put chopped chocolate into a double boiler or heatproof mixing bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water and stirring gently until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. (Make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the boiling water or the chocolate may burn.)
2. Microwave Method: Heat chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl at half power, stopping to stir gently every 30 seconds, until completely melted and smooth.

As the chocolate melts, be sure to watch for signs that it may be “seizing” or turning grainy. This happens when moisture, such as a splash of water or a bit of steam, gets into the chocolate after it’s already begun to melt. Some recipes call for melting chocolate along with liquid such as milk. That’s okay, as long as the liquid is added at the beginning.

If you’ve been wondering about white chocolate, it does resembles chocolate and certainly smells like it, but because it’s made of cocoa butter, milk solids, sugar and vanilla and does not contain chocolate liquor, it’s not really chocolate at all.

For more information, here’s our Guide to Chocolate.

Are you celebrating this Valentine’s Day with a chocolate romance? Got a favorite way to indulge with chocolate? Let me know!

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Here’s the deal. Right now, and until supplies last, with a Whole Foods Market gift card purchase of 0 or more (whether you purchase one 0 gift card, five gift cards or any other combination), you’ll receive a free The Perfect Sip gift box to treat yourself.**

The Perfect Sip contains three thoughtfully selected bags of whole beans from Allegro® Coffee. Besides being great beans, these roasts also help coffee-growing communities thrive. Here’s how:

• Allegro® African Blend: These beans are sourced from African coffee co-ops that are recognized as Good for All by the Jane Goodall Institute. The Jane Goodall Institute seeks to contribute to the preservation of great apes and their habitats by combining conservation with sustainable livelihoods in local communities.
• Allegro® Costa Rican Dota: This coffee is grown in a high mountain valley region of Costa Rica, of which 87% is a forest preserve. Our nonprofit partner, EARTH University, is dedicated to education in the agricultural sciences and natural resources in order to contribute to sustainable development in the tropics.
• Allegro® Rainforest Blend: This coffee is grown on Rainforest Alliance-certified farms in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Rainforest Alliance farms meet standards for environmental protection, social equity and economic viability.

The Perfect Sip as well as our Snack Express gift boxes are also available to order online, so you can send a treat to your loved ones across the miles. Waking up to a really nice cup of coffee, now that’s a thoughtful Valentine’s gift and a sweet way to treat yourself.

** Receive a free The Perfect Sip gift box with every gift card purchase of 0 or more. Online, new cards only (does not apply to gift card reloads). Offer is only available in the US, while supplies last. Free gift box will be shipped to the billing address of gift card purchaser.

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If you’re fishing around for information on the seafood we sell, rest assured we’re navigating toward fully sustainable seafood departments. Our farmed seafood is raised responsibly, and we offer seafood from fisheries that are certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). We’ve also implemented a color-coded rating program that provides you with sustainability status information for all wild-caught seafood not certified by the MSC. This way, you can make fully informed choices.
 
After making your selection at the counter, try one of these simple suggestions at home:

• Season fish fillets with marinade or a spice rub and broil or bake at 450°F for about 10 minutes per inch of thickness. Serve with a squeeze of lemon alongside a salad and whole grains.

• Grill seafood steaks or fillets. If over ½” thick, turn the fish halfway through cooking, using the 10-minutes-per-inch rule. Pair grilled seafood with the bright flavor of salsa (you can find freshly­–prepared salsa in the produce department).

• Shrimp and large cubes of firm fish are perfect for kabobs. Place on skewers with quick-cooking fruits or veggies. Serve over wild rice.

• Small or thin fillets are well suited to pan sautéing. Heat a bit of marinade or oil in a heavy skillet and add the fish. Remove when it flakes easily and add some chopped greens or spinach to the pan along with a splash of vinegar or white wine for a quick side to serve with the fish.

• Simmer fillets or steaks in a bit of broth or seasoned liquid (try a blend of orange juice, soy sauce, ginger and garlic) and cook while covered. No need to turn, but do baste occasionally.

• Shrimp, scallops and diced fish fillets contribute depth of flavor to broths and soups without breaking the bank. Add seafood toward the end of cooking.

In addition, here are 10 of our favorite seafood dishes for fast delicious meals:





When you don’t even have time for simple dishes like those, try our new frozen prepared seafood entrées available in our US stores. You simply thaw the pre-marinated, seasoned or stuffed seafood (either overnight or while you are away during the day), cook and served with your favorite side.

What’s your go-to seafood dish for an easy and tasty meal?

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There are many effective ways to support a healthy heart through simple dietary and lifestyle choices. Listen to this encore podcast presentation and learn about the link between inflammation and plant-based nutrition from one of the doctors who former President Bill Clinton credits with regaining his health. Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. is an internationally known former surgeon, researcher and clinician at the Cleveland Clinic, and author of the book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn’s clinical research and book on preventing heart disease is centered around smart eating for a healthy heart:

• Protection against heart disease through plant-based nutrition has been the foundation of his research and clinical practice strategy for over 25 years.
• He has consistently found in patients severely ill with advanced coronary artery disease that the results of using plant-based nutrition are prompt, powerful and enduring.
• The foundation of this plant-based diet includes a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods like vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains, while avoiding animal products and processed oils.
• Additionally, he adds 1000 I.U. of vitamin D3 and 1,000 mcg of vitamin B12 daily to ensure adequacy of these nutrients.

Chronic inflammation has been shown to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease:

• Coronary artery disease develops from progressive injury to the delicate inner lining of our blood vessels known as the endothelial cells.  When healthy, these cells produce copious amounts of nitric oxide.
• Nitric oxide protects our blood vessels by: maintaining a smooth blood flow to prevent cellular elements from becoming sticky; providing more blood to muscle and other body systems requiring it; inhibiting the development of inflammation in the vessel wall; and preventing the formation of vessel blockages or plaque.
• The western diet of processed oils, dairy, meat, fish and poultry progressively destroys our endothelial cells’ capacity to produce nitric oxide, thus leading to a loss of vascular protection.
• Without nitric oxide, a sticky LDL cholesterol molecule enters beneath the endothelial lining initiating an inflammatory cascade of events culminating in plaque formation and blockage with occasional plaque rupture causing a heart attack.

Dietary and lifestyle choices help support a healthy heart:

• Consume a plant-based diet and avoid processed oils, dairy, animal, fish and poultry products.
• Choose rolled oats for breakfast that are filled with polyphenolic compounds and also copious amounts of green leafy vegetables, which can help restore endothelial function.
• Exercise is important to incorporate, such as regular walking, biking, swimming, running and resistance training.
• Whether it is with family or friends, find the joy of interpersonal relationships.

Visit our Whole Body site to download this month’s featured Be Good to Your Whole Body pocket guide and more.

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Our journey began in Bogota, Colombia, home of one of our largest Whole Trade® growers, Elite Flowers. Despite working for Whole Foods Market, a mission-driven company with a commitment to supporting all of our stakeholders, it can be easy to discount the powerful positive impact a company can have on its workers, their families and the greater community in which they live. Yet we were lucky enough to see that impact in action with a brief glimpse into the community of Elite Flowers, their Foundation and their Worker’s Fund. Through it all I was inspired, impressed and dutifully full on delicious food (if you are ever in Bogota, you absolutely must try Ajiaco soup!). Elite is a large company with over 4,000 employees and the work they do is changing lives on a daily basis, both inside and out of the greenhouse walls.

The Elite Foundation was initially created to improve the lives of the employees’ children, who were largely left at home to be raised by the older children. The goal was to provide quality education, nutrition and expression through art and community. When we established our Whole Trade relationship with the farm, the foundation became the natural recipient for the 10% premium we pay over the cost of the flowers (pre-shipping) that goes directly into important community programs. As those dollars rolled in, Elite was able to expand their overall services and directly fund 150 new children in the program. But to truly understand the importance and impact of these dollars, we needed to see it in person.

Our first stop was the Chappala School, a nursery and pre-school, supporting children under the age of five who would otherwise be left at home. The school offers a full service program of transportation, healthy meals, art and education, as well as nursery services for their youngest members. The site itself was beautiful and engaging, an expansive property located along a river that was the childhood home of the owner of Elite. The Foundation is coordinated by Mario and Maria Eugenia, people filled with warmth and compassion, who actively convey their dedication in supporting the workers’ families.

Our next stop is Chicala, offering education for students age 5-10. Again, I was impressed to see the beauty of the facility and vegetable gardens as well as the quality and scope of the academic and artistic education. We were lucky enough to catch part of one of their performances, and the children were fantastic!

The Foundation also supports community programs for youth, both those with disabilities, such as the hearing impaired, and prominent at-risk groups like teenage girls. These programs empower the youth with a sense of community and the opportunity to create their own future, whether it is in college, trade or art.

Working in tandem with the Foundation is the Worker’s Fund, a collective supporting the workers in numerous financial ways, including assistance with purchasing a home. This is a program where Whole Trade has also had significant involvement. To date, our customers are directly responsible for helping 77 families buy their first home, many of them with challenging circumstances, such as being single parents or dealing with medical conditions. The sense of pride and accomplishment in these families was overwhelmingly heartfelt, and they eagerly invited us into their homes to share their achievement.

We left Colombia tired yet inspired by what we had seen. Next stop is Quito, Ecuador, where we’ll journey into the high altitude terrain of the Andes mountains to see some of the biggest and boldest roses ever. In the meantime, leave a comment below by Valentine’s Day telling us how flowers made a day better for you or someone you care about and we’ll donate a dollar for every comment to the Elite Flower Foundation as our way of sharing the love.

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Availability and limits may vary by region, so you can contact your store for details. While supplies last. Most of our stores do not provide rain checks for sales like this.

*Due to supply issues, Arizona stores will have organic valencia oranges for the same price, 79 cents per pound, so you won’t miss out on this organic citrus deal!

Navel oranges are delicious from the inside out — from their juice to their zest — and they also make fabulous snacks or lunch additions when eaten out of hand. Best of all, the navel oranges available for our one day sale are organic so you can enjoy them knowing that they were grown in adherence to organic standards!

Here are some ways to enjoy every bit of sweetness from the organic navel oranges on sale today:

Use the sweet, tasty sections of navel oranges to add juicy bursts to recipes:

• Swordfish with Zucchini and Orange
• Beet Salad with Oranges and Romaine
• Orange and Avocado Salad
• Orange and Clove Greek Yogurt Tea Cake
• Coconut Ambrosia
• Festive Jicama Salad

Squeeze juice from the oranges for cocktails, vinaigrettes and more:

• Spiced Iced Tea Punch
• Bok Choy with Carrots and Sesame-Orange Dressing
• Chipotle-Orange Black Beans
• Romantic Rice Bowl
• Yucatan-Style Braised Pork
• Grilled Vegetables with Couscous, Feta and Orange-Balsamic Vinaigrette

Add orange zest to bring citrus zing to pretty much anything:

• Orange Gremolata
• Baked French Toast with Pine Nuts and Apples
• Cranberry and Goji Berry Chutney
• Warm Winter Greens Salad
• Candied Walnuts with Dark Chocolate and Orange Zest
• Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cupcakes with Orange Cream Icing
• Candied Orange Peels

From salads to snacks to desserts, the organic navel oranges from today’s sale can be incorporated into just about any meal. Stop by our stores to pick up your organic navel oranges for 79 cents per pound today and share your favorite recipe ideas with us!

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Small choices you make every day can make a world of difference. This Valentine’s Day, why not look for gifts that give back and really spread the love? Our Whole Trade® Guarantee ensures fair prices are paid for products, better wages and working conditions, and sound environmental practices. When you choose Whole Trade products, you not only show your loved ones that you care, you also use your buying power to create new economic opportunities for workers in the developing world.

These Whole Trade items are perfect for your Valentine… (Whole Trade) guaranteed:

• Change the world with Whole Trade chocolate. Eating or giving chocolate is a whole lot sweeter when you know it’s doing good.
• Beauty and body care with a conscience. Help your valentine feel great from head to toe with Whole Trade body care such as luxurious soaps, rich body lotions or sensuous massage oils.
• Love blossoms with bountiful, beautiful blooms. Pick bouquets or assemble your own lovely creation from our selection of gorgeous Whole Trade flowers like roses, Gerbera daisies and mixed bouquets.

This Valentine’s Day will you make a commitment to ethical trade, the environment and quality products?

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