We love all things local, and one of our favorite sectors of local food is local beer. There are so many different brews, flavors, and styles, and so many stories to tell! That’s why we’ve embarked on an exciting home.grown. adventure: to bring you fresh craft beer stories each month from our Northeast region. Our region is home to some of the best craft breweries in world, and we’re telling their stories to our craft beer fanatics here on our blog.
Up next: Sloop Brewing Company!
Named after the boats that once moved people up and down the Hudson, Sloop Brewing Company came into fruition in 2011. Founded by Adam Watson and Justin Taylor in pursuit of new tastes and adventures, the duo got their start by selling beer at farmers markets across New York’s Hudson Valley. In 2014, they opened their first production facility in a Dutch post & beam barn in Elizaville, NY. Recently, Sloop followed up by opening a brand new 25,000 square foot facility in East Fishkill’s former IBM plant.
Sloop’s star player is their juicy, hazy, flagship Juice Bomb IPA. In this explosive brew, late hopping and low bitterness combine to bring about citrusy, juicy notes of American hops. An exciting blast of tropical leads the way, and a resin-y, more balanced flavor calms the drink down at the end. Juice Bomb is a must try for real hop lovers!
Interested in trying some Sloop brews?
Check out our in-store tasting schedule below to sample Sloop craft beer, take home some custom home.grown. & Sloop Brewing coasters and more.
Saturday 11/2, 11am – 2pm at our Wilton NY Market 32 Growler Station
Saturday 11/9, 11am – 2pm at our Bethlehem NY Price Chopper Growler Station
Saturday 11/16, 11am – 2pm at our Malta NY Price Chopper Growler Station
Saturday 11/23, 11am – 2pm at our Clifton Shopper’s World NY Market 32 Growler Station
Interested in visiting the brewery?
Make the most of everything Sloop Brewing Company has to offer! Visit sloopbrewing.com/ for taproom hours and menu, get info on brewery tours and more.
Brewery House Address: 755 East Dr. Suite #106, Hopewell Junction, NY 12533
Hot sauce junkies, heat connoisseurs and spiciness fanatics: We’re comin’ in hot with our next monthly feature!
Each month we’re bringing you fresh stories on a different sauce brand, sharing some flavor insights, stories behind the brands and more. Travel with us on an adventure consisting of varying degrees of heat each month!
November’s Feature: Hoff Sauce from Hoff and Pepper!
We all love hot sauce, but what about Hoff Sauce? Yes, Hoff Sauce. Created by Aaron Hoffman, a fiery foods fanatic, Hoff Sauce is designed to be an everyday hot sauce, used to add flavor and spunk to your favorite meals. Not only is it spicy, it’s also perfectly tangy, balanced, and flavorful, elevating any food to the next level.
Hoff and Pepper is based in Chattanooga, TN. Founded by Aaron “Hoff” Hoffman and Michelle “Pepper” Hoffman, the duo decided that the world needed to experience the skills of a sauce connoisseur such as Hoff. Since then, Hoff Sauce has gone on to win numerous awards, including multiple 1st place finishes at the annual NYC Hot Sauce Expo.
Turn up the heat with Hoff and Pepper this month, and tune in next month for our December Hot Sauce of the Month!
Sunday is the perfect time to take a break, slow down your busy schedule, and enjoy some well-deserved relaxation. Because of these classic characteristics, it seems fitting that International Sloth Day falls on a Sunday this year. Annually, October 20th is a day of appreciation for these sluggish tree dwellers and this year we are proud to be celebrating with the folks at Double H Ranch!
Sloths are known for hanging out in the trees of tropical rain forests. Their extremely low metabolic rate is the reason behind their remarkably slow lifestyle. In fact, they only move approximately 41 yards in a single day, as they spend 15-20 of their 24 hours sleeping. Despite their drowsy nature, sloths are actually skilled swimmers, using their long arms to successfully wade through the water. Don’t believe us? Check out the video below for proof.
On top of all this, sloths can be cute and are a great choice when deciding which stuffed animal toy to buy. We teamed up with our friends at Double H Ranch to offer these stuffed animal sloths for a great cause! Double H runs camps for children with life-threatening illnesses, working to make lasting memories and enrich lives. With their help, you can stop by your local Price Chopper/Market 32 and purchase a stuffed animal sloth for $10. $3 of each purchase will be donated to benefit the kids at Double H!
Enjoy International Sloth Day and be sure to love a sloth in support of Double H Ranch!
And here’s that swimming sloth we promised, courtesy of BBC America…
Excited to introduce you to TruBlend by FAGE!
No added sugar*? Tru.
No sweeteners? Tru.
100% natural ingredients? Tru.
Creamy and delicious? Tru.
Experience a delicious blended Greek yogurt with real fruit and no added sugar* or sweeteners. It’s TRU!
Your spoon will be thrilled. Made with 100% natural ingredients and Non-GMO Project Verified, you know TruBlend is going to be simply amazing if you know FAGE. FAGE yogurt is always made with milk from non-GMO fed cows. They take real fruits – like strawberries and blueberries and blend them with the creamy, low-fat Greek yogurt to create a perfectly balanced sweet taste without the added sugars or artificial sweeteners. Not to mention, TruBlend is packed with protein. You and your spoon have been waiting for this.
Whether you’re a busy mom or dashing from work to yoga class, TruBlend by FAGE is a perfectly portable, nutritious snack to power you through your day when you’re pressed for time.
So, say hello to TruBlend by FAGE – we’ve got your taste buds covered. Experience these new delicious flavors at your local Price Chopper | Market 32!
- TruBlend Vanilla: Simply delicious, memorable vanilla perfectly blended with creamy, low-fat yogurt.
- TruBlend Strawberry: Lusciously fresh strawberries perfectly blended with creamy, low-fat yogurt.
- TruBlend Blueberry: Bright, flavorful blueberries perfectly blended with creamy, low-fat yogurt.
*not a low calorie food
A Hole Lotta History: Beginnings of the Bagel
Bagels have become a staple breakfast food in the American diet. They’re perfect for an on-the-go start to your busy day. Despite its simplistic nature, the bagel has a larger role in history than you may expect.
We’ve been in the bagel business since 1932, but these guys trace back far before that. First brought to the United States by Jewish immigrants from Poland in the 19th century, bagels were popularized here in the Northeast, in New York City’s Lower East Side. Back then they were displayed on poles and strings, which is how the hole in the middle of the bagel originated.
“Beigel” is the Yiddish word for bagel, and it’s a popular theory that the bagel is a descendant of the German pretzel; another yeasted dough bread that is boiled then baked. The process of boiling then baking, keeps the bagels fresh longer, which for economically challenged folks was a necessity.
As Jewish people began to immigrate to North America from Europe, many settled in Toronto and Montreal, creating bagels in Canada that were slightly different from the New York style. Meanwhile, in New York, there were so many bagel makers that Local 33, a bagel-makers trade union, was formed in 1915.
Over time, bagels became more jazzed up. For this, we can credit the invention of cream cheese in the 1930s, followed by a Family Circle Magazine article which suggested that bagels with cream cheese and lox would serve as a good cocktail party appetizer.
Today at Price Chopper & Market 32, our bagels are one of the staples of our business. We’re excited to introduce our NEW bigger and better bagels! Freshly baked in-store, they’re crispy on the outside and pleasingly soft and chewy on the inside, and they’re on sale this week! View our ad to learn more.
National Thank A Farmer Day
At Price Chopper & Market 32, we’ve been supporting local farmers since our company founding in 1932. This includes partnering with all types of local farms, not just fruits and vegetables growers: greenhouses, dairy farms, maple farms, apiaries, tree farms and more. We feel that supporting Northeast farmers is the anchor of our home.grown. commitment to supporting all things local here in our region.
Today, on National Farmer’s Day, also known as National Thank A Farmer Day, we’d like to take a moment to thank all of our local farm partners. Their passion and hard work every day allows us to provide you with the freshest ingredients and products each time you come to our store. Without these farming partners, our commitment to local would be impossible to achieve.
In honor of National Farmer’s Day we wanted to shout out a few of our many farming partners!
Turek Farms in Kings Ferry, NY is a family operated grower and shipper of fresh vegetables. Turek’s commitment to food safety is inspiring, going through detailed in-field inspections, hand-picking produce, and going to a third party to ensure food safety measures are met.
Casertano’s Greenhouse in Cheshire, CT has been a leader in the wholesale greenhouse business for over forty years. Supplying a variety of products from perennials, perennial starter plugs, annuals, and ground covers.
Mapleland Farms is a pure New York maple syrup producer in Salem, NY. In 2015 Mapleland Farms LLC purchased 350+ acres of land, and today they tap over 900 trees!
Champlain Valley Apiaries is a 3rd generation Middlebury, Vermont family owned business. Founded in 1931 by innovative beekeeper Charles Mraz, they have been producing delicious Vermont honey for over 85 years.
Located in Warren, MA, Breezeland Orchards has been owned and operated by the Tuttle family since 1896, five generations! Through their practice of low ecological impact farming they enjoy reduced pesticide use, ensuring their products are safer and higher quality.
The McNamara family has been farming the banks of the Connecticut River in Plainfield, NH at McNamara Dairy since 1950. Today, there are three generations that live and work on the farm together, providing excellent care for the animals, producing high-quality products and being stewards of the land.
Thank you to these and all of our local farmers who work every day to provide high-quality, local products. We appreciate you and Happy National Farmer’s Day!
An Apple A Day Keeps The Athlete Okay!
Written by our home.grown. friends at the New York Apple Association
You know apples are healthy and nutritious. You may not know that they can also help athletes go further by improving endurance.
A study at the Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan took 18 healthy volunteers who either received Applephenon [a polyphenol extract from unripe apples], or a placebo of vitamin C. All the subjects were then took part in two fatigue-inducing workload trials on a bicycle ergometer for two hours. 30 minutes after the start of the tests – and 30 minutes before the conclusion – the participants also performed non-workload trials at maximum velocity for 10 seconds.
The tests found that maximum velocity was higher in the group that received Applephenon prior to the test than for those who received the placebo. This led to the conclusion that Applephenon replicates antioxidant activity, reducing physical fatigue.
And that’s just the beginning of the advantages. Watch NYAA Consulting Dietitian Linda Quinn and learn more about the Nutritional Benefits of Apples for Athletes in just 90 seconds!
It’s home.grown. Hard Squash Season!
When it comes to autumn, no food represents the season like the colorful rinds and stout shapes of squash. We’re proud to source our hard squashes from local farmers here in the Northeast each fall. Kinderhook Creek Farm in Stephentown, NY and Hoover’s Produce in Port Trevorton, PA plant hard squash seeds in the spring and ship their harvest to us in early September.
Beyond butternut, a common winter squash, expand your palate this season with some of these lesser-known but equally flavorful squash varieties.
Spaghetti
When roasted, the flesh inside this pale, oval-shaped squash separates into creamy, tender strands that resemble spaghetti. Spaghetti squash is mild tasting, so accent it with bold sauces or seasonings. It’s also the perfect low-carb substitute any way you sauce it, as well as the ideal substitute for rice noodles in Asian-style noodle bowls.
Delicata
Delicata squash is ridged, earthy-tasting and has a creamy consistency. This squash’s thin, edible skin allows it to be cooked more quickly than other varieties. Sliced into scalloped rings or half-moons, delicata is excellent steamed, sautéed with olive oil and herbs, or added to simmering soups and stews.
Sweet Dumpling
Typically baked or roasted with the skin on, sweet dumpling squash has smooth textures and appear mini in size. They make an excellent addition to green salads, grain bowls, and soups or puréed and added to mashed potatoes for a boost in flavor and nutrients.
Acorn
With a shape resembling an acorn, this squash has an orange-colored flesh with a delicious, mildly nutty taste. Look for varieties with a dull, green rind for the tenderest flesh. Acorn squash is great baked with the center scooped out and stuffed with a savory filling like rice pilaf or soup.
Italian Tonight?
As the weather cools down and you begin to feel a chill in the air, a home-cooked Italian meal is the perfect way to warm up. When it comes to Italian we certainly aren’t picky, whether it be starting from scratch cooking sauce all day, or opening your favorite jar of sauce, we have all of your necessities. We love all types of Italian meals and we’re excited to spend time celebrating this delicious cuisine with you!
Looking for some ideas for Italian inspiration? Start by bringing home big Italian flavor with Contadina® Tomato products and new Contadina® Pizzettas! For 100 years, Contadina has produced tomatoes that hold the standard of Italy, using fresh vine-ripened tomatoes that are grown with care.
Fresh from the sun-kissed fields of Italy, Mutti tomatoes are Italy’s #1 brand for a reason. Many years ago, Mutti decided to focus all of their efforts on tomatoes, rather than having many different good products, they have now have one excellent product. With a true respect for the tomatoes and nature in their fields, Mutti has thrived in bringing the highest-quality tomatoes from their land to your kitchen table.
Casaro Cheesemakers are true artisans, handcrafting the highest quality Italian specialty cheeses since 1929. Enjoy Casaro’s 1lb Fresh Mozzarella produced locally in our hometown of Schenectady, NY. Casaro in Italian translates to “cheesemaker” and the name is fitting given the expert quality you can taste in every bite. From Casaro’s creamy Fresh mozzarella to their aged Parmesan and Romano, you’ll be cheesin’ for more.
Finally, when preparing your Italian feast you can’t forget the ABC’s of Pasta! Appearance, a good amber color shows quality, rather than reddish, grayish, or whitish hues. Bite, good pasta should cook “al dente,” meaning “to the tooth.” This means pasta should be firm when it’s ready to be eaten. Clarity, pasta made with the best quality durum wheat should not release much starch into the water. Check to make sure the cooking water is clear, rather than cloudy. And doesn’t break, pasta made with the highest quality durum wheat should not, break, stick, or clump during cooking. Now you know your ABC’s…of pasta!
Enjoy a delicious Italian meal during the cooler weather. There’s nothing like a good home-cooked meal to warm your spirits. For whichever meal you decide to try Price Chopper/Market 32 is your one stop shop for everything Italian. Come see us!
What Makes A Noodle A Noodle?
It’s National Noodle Day and we’ve set out to answer one very complicated question, what makes a noodle a noodle? The answer is more complicated than you may expect. However, the story of how a simple noodle grew into such great variety, becoming the base of an endless amount of our favorite dishes today is extraordinary.
It’s highly debated whether noodles were first invented in China or Italy. Many scientists and food historians say both, and due to lack of evidence, it’s pointless to argue otherwise. In 2005, Chinese scientists discovered a 4000-year-old bowl of pasta at an archaeological site in Lajia, China. Noodle enthusiasts everywhere were jumping for joy, as it seemed to be the earliest example of a noodle in history. Scientists believe that the noodles were made of two kinds of millet, which are similar to the wheat grains that Chinese noodles and European pasta are made from today. However, scientists said it was not enough to confidently credit China with inventing the noodle.
On a quest for some answers, American food writer Jen Lin-Liu set out on a six-month trip in 2010-2011, researching noodles from Beijing to Rome, traveling along the Silk Road. She determined that noodles were documented in China earlier than anywhere in the western world. In China the earliest documentation appeared around 300-200 BC, while in the west early documentation came around 500-600 AD. Len-Liu says because of this the Chinese probably were the first to eat noodles, but that doesn’t mean they “invented” the noodle, or the pasta we enjoy today.
Barbara Santich, a professor at the University of Adelaide backs Lin-Liu, claiming there is a lack of historical evidence as to who can officially claim the noodle. She also says that Chinese noodles were made with soft wheat back then, so there is no way they could have begun making the dried pasta we enjoy today. Therefore, she adds, “Chinese noodles did not develop into what is now known as Mediterranean pasta, and pasta did not make its way from China to Italy.”
According to Santich, European pasta dates back to Greek literature, from the word “itri” or “itria” meaning a flour and water dough that’s rolled into thin sheets and cut into strips. Noting that Syria was at one time a Greek colony, these mentions transferred to Arabic. Also, the Arabs conquered Sicily and southern Italy, so it’s possible the Arabs brought pasta to Italy, exported it around Europe, and that exportation led to the various styles we have today, such as macaroni, tortellini, and ravioli.
This all becomes fuzzy because of the vagueness of the word “noodle.” A “noodle” is defined as a long, stringy substance, but the word was evolved by the western world, making it seem synonymous, or closely related to the word “pasta.” So, long story short, Asians have been eating noodles, that probably first came from China, for many, many years, while Europeans enjoy pasta that was developed in the western world many, many years ago.
At Price Chopper & Market 32, we’re big fans of noodles and pasta, including our NEW Market 32 premium fresh pastas. We offer four great varieties including Four Cheese Tortelloni, featured in this delicious recipe for Sheet-Pan Butternut Squash, Bacon, & Brussels Sprouts Tortelloni. Pick up a package at your local store!
Source: https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2016/07/29/who-invented-noodle-italy-or-china