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This is the time of year we all strive to eat healthy--a desire that gets renewed each year after our overindulgence during the holidays. Whether it is a food item, like Rancho Gordo beans, great heart healthy olive oils from California or spices to enhance your dishes or tools to make things easier like the kale and herb Stripper , the Fagor LUX Multicooker to make healthy meals in minutes or the best juicer we have found (which is great for making quick vegetable broths as well!) ; we have the stuff that will make it easier to help you stick to your plan.
Kale can get a bad rap, but there is no denying its health benefits. Our favorite variety is the Lacinato variety, sometimes called “Dinosaur Kale.” When juicing kale we recommend adding some lemon into the mix for two reasons: the vitamin C in citrus actually helps your body absorb the iron in the kale better, plus it hides that “green” and slight bitter flavor some people don’t like. When eating kale raw, we like to put a little olive oil and a small pinch of salt on it and then give it a little massage. This helps break down the fibers (you will see a noticeable difference in volume after a few minutes!) which makes the kale less chewy as well as a bit easier to digest. Oh, and did we mention the kale stripper?
If you are just trying to cut back, the number one source of high sodium is processed food, so cooking fresh will drastically reduce your intake. When cooking, salt can play an important function even beyond taste. If you season with salt as you cook it will get into the food, will help break down fibers and draw out moisture allowing other flavors to go in. When you cook with salt you actually use LESS than when shaking it on at the table. And the food will taste better. If you are trying to use no salt at all, then we recommend adding a dash of something acidic like vinegar or lemon juice or use an ancient salt substitute, sumac. Sumac is the dried berry of the sumac tree (no, the berry is not poisonous!) and has been used for centuries in place of salt on food because salt was very expensive. (Roman soldiers were paid in bags of salt, giving us the word “salary.”) Sumac actually hits the same receptors on the tongue as salt and its slightly tart flavor helps heighten the taste of food.
2016 was a rewarding year for us, to say the least. In the spring our Half Moon Bay location was named “Best Homegoods Store” in the Bay Area in a readers poll and our Santa Cruz store received a similar honor as “Best Kitchenware Store” in The Good Times Santa Cruz. Our Half Moon Bay cooking classes were touted as one of the 5 Best Bay Area Cooking Classes. In February one of our products (the Chamba Comal) was featured in the Front Burner column of the New York Times!
The frosting on the cake was when our company as a whole was named the national “Retailer of the Year” Gourmet Retailer Magazine and concurrently the U.S. entrant in the international Global Innovator Award (gia).
Rather than rest on our laurels, we will strive to be even better and continue to be the best stores we can and keep improving and innovating in 2017. Thank you to all our customers for your support. You are why we do what we do.
Oxo Spiralizer. The essential “play with your food” tool, we sold more than two a day throughout the year. $14.95 
SCI Nylon Pan Scraper. What can you buy in a fancy kitchenware store for less than a buck? And, yes, they really work. $0.50 
Rabitos Chocolate Stuffed Figs. Pure Decadent Bliss! Decadent brandy fudge stuffed dried figs dipped in chocolate. Imported from Cáceres, Spain. Our customers couldn’t seem to get enough of them. $19.95 (box of 9) 
Kuhn Rikon Original Swiss Peeler. Best $5 bucks you can spend. Choose your color or collect the whole set! $4.95 
Dream Farm Tools. Colorful, fun and functional, the tools from this Australian company solve everyday kitchen problems with clever, original designs. Our customers caught onto this right away and we could hardly keep them in stock. 
Chef’n Kale and Herb Stripper. Sales of this took off as the demand for kale exploded. Works great for removing the stems from kale or smaller herbs like rosemary. Invite a stripper to your next party! $7.95 
Chamba Comal. We couldn’t keep up with demand after this versatile piece was featured in a New York Times article. Great for heating tortillas and grilling vegies. $34.95 
Lekue Popcorn Popper. Make healthy popcorn in just a few minutes with this microwave popper. Made in Spain. $19.95 
Norpro Mini Whisk. Just the thing when you’re beating only a couple of eggs. $0.79 
Kuhn-Rikon Paring Knife. A sheath, non-stick surface, inexpensive—great for picnics. $9.95
This month’s Facebook giveaway is a Chamba 6 Qt. Soup Pot (SS4), the perfect vessel for healthy soups, beans and whole grains. To enter, just go to one of our Facebook pages for Half Moon Bay or Santa Cruz and follow the instructions for the giveaway post. Tag a friend in your post and if you win, your friend wins one, too!
