At Price Chopper and Market 32, we know one thing – making sure we have the best quality foods in our own brands brings value and enjoyment to our customers and communities. In business over 80 years, we also know that working with our local agricultural producers is a great way to deliver on that promise, and our PICS long process, naturally aged, award winning cheddar is a great example.   Did you know – the most popular cheese in America is cheddar? This spring, with friends from the American Dairy Association Northeast, I visited the cheese makers that create this wonderful cheese, and saw firsthand how hard they work to make it. We partner with Great Lakes Cheese Company, located in Adams, NY, in the heart of New York dairy country. They have been here over 40 years, and are committed to the New York North Country, so much so that they doubled production capacity in 2009. Experts that have crafted their process over time, they make several types here – mild, sharp, and extra sharp New York cheddar cheese to name a few. They also process the whey portion as part of sustainability efforts and for new product ingredient markets.   John Jennings, Plant Manager for over 40 years, and Nathan Pistner, Assistant Plant Manager, were proud to show us the inner workings of this modern facility, and most proud of their 122 employees. There is a lot of workmanship in this cheese – over 300 years of combined expertise on first shift alone!   By the numbers, they receive 2,500,000 pounds of high quality milk from local dairy farms like Murcrest Farms per day, which becomes over 87 million pounds of cheese per year. (Cheese heaven?!) The farms they work with must meet high standards for cow care. Like the farms, this is a 24- hour, 365 days per year operation – cows don’t take any days off. They use natural ingredients, and move the cheese through the process using air, to protect the curd integrity and texture. These steps ensure a premium, reliable, delicious cheese on your table every time! The tour showed us all of the work and time that goes into making this cheddar – there are quality tests built into every step, and they continue throughout the entire year of aging. Once they have the cheese in production, and process the whey, they turn the remaining liquid back into clean water that helps keep the plant clean – another sustainability process they are very committed to. Tradition and technology are part of making sure they are serving their own communities and partners well. You will be sure to enjoy these wonderful cheddars, as a great snack, or as part of a new recipe – check out the links below for some delicious ideas! https://www.pricechopper.com/recipes/7865/Jalapeno-Cheddar-Cheese-Corn-Muffins https://www.pricechopper.com/recipes/14338/Mini-Apple-Pies-with-Cheddar https://www.pricechopper.com/recipes/10988/Cheddar-Stuffed-Mini-Meatloaves-with-Chipotle-Glaze  – this would be a great stuffed burger, too! — Ellie Wilson, MS, RDN Senior Nutritionist   Submitted by our home.grown. friends at Cabot Creamery Farmers are a dedicated group. For generations they have staked their livelihood to working the land and feeding America. For us at Cabot Creamery Co-operative, that tradition began in 1919 when a group of 94 farmers came together to bring their excess milk to new markets in a way they could as individual farmers. That spirit of hard work and cooperation remains at the core of Cabot nearly 100 years later.  The cooperative now includes 1,200 family farms spread across New York and New England. These farmers live in your local community. They serve on school boards and volunteer fire departments. They work 365 days a year to deliver the highest quality milk to our creameries, which in turn is made into award winning cheese and dairy products.  Just this year Cabot Sharp Cheddar and Cabot Greek Yogurt took home ‘Best in Class’ at the World Championship Cheese Contest in Wisconsin. Price Chopper and Market 32 are also dedicated to bringing local products to local communities. In conjunction with their Homegrown Flavors program, the farmer-owners of the Cabot Creamery Co-operative have had the chance to visit their local store and sample their cheese and dairy products. These in-store interactions are valuable. They provide the farmer a chance to meet folks in their community and provide shoppers with an opportunity to try Cabot products and meet the people behind them. As a cooperative, our farmers truly own the business and any profit made goes back to the farm. When you buy Cabot products, you are supporting local farms and their ability to farm into the next generation. The farms that make up Cabot vary in size and location throughout the Northeast, but at the core of each one is family. Whether it’s the Ziehm family of Tiashoke Farm in Cambridge, New York or the Tully family of Tully Farm in Dunstable, Massachusetts, each farm is connected to their local community. They are committed to producing high quality milk and are proud of the Cabot products that are made using that same milk. If you’re in a Price Chopper Market 32 and see Cabot handing out samples, be sure to stop by, say hello to your local farmer and try some of our award-winning cheddar cheese! Visit our home.grown. web page for more information on our local growers and producers. Ellie Wilson, MS, RDN We are savoring summer at Price Chopper and Market 32, and continuing to celebrate July’s summer entertaining season with an amazing array of cheese! Our Big Cheese, Chris Boyle, is an explorer extraordinaire, and his passion brings you everything you need to build a delicious summer cheese adventure. We carry local, artisan, domestic and imported cheeses from around the corner and around the world. Explore with us, and discover a world of flavor and fun! There are some basics to the anatomy of a cheese board. Generally, you should choose about 5 -7 different cheeses, and accompany them with something sweet, savory, and crunchy. Some tips, tricks and twists to merit oohs and ahhs from your partygoers:

1. Know your guests – are they into basics or excited to try new things? If you have a mix, plan on some favorites like aged New York cheddar, and something different like Red Apple Sriracha Cheddar.
2. Consider a theme – all cow’s milk cheeses, or cheese from Italy, or cheese that starts with the letter “B” – it is fun and inspiring.
3. Choose a range of textures and flavors – textures from soft to hard, and flavors from mild to intense. This is where the store cheese monger can be a great resource.
4. Savories – charcuterie like prosciutto lends a salty-sweet element; olives or cornichons add a light vinegar kick to cleanse the palate.
5. Sweets – dried fruit, fruit paste or preserve, fresh fruit like grapes or sweet cherries (in season!) are easy and their jewel colors decorate your cheese board. You can take it up a notch by roasting or grilling fruits – roasted grapes on the vine are easy, delicious and dramatic. Honeycomb is another sweet idea.
6. Bread and crackers – Slice baguettes up just before your guests arrive. Or, drizzle with a good olive oil, and toast on a cookie sheet. Crackers are as diverse as cheese – look for multigrain types with seeds like sesame or flax, to bring in a nutty flavor that also has some nutrition benefits.
7. Speaking of nuts – they are another way to put crunch on the board. Marcona almonds, toasted walnuts or pecans bring texture and taste.
8. Cut cheeses ahead of time – use a wire cutter for soft cheeses like blue and brie, and a sharp knife for harder cheeses. Avoid cubing – they do not sit well on crackers or bread.
9. Finally – summer food safety. Cheese should be served at room temperature, BUT -summer’s warm temperatures can impact the time you keep cheese out – experts recommend about a two hour time frame. If you see a sheen on the cheese, it is starting to lose fat and flavor. I love the ice filled trays that can be placed under plates and boards – consider using one to balance temperature on very warm days.

Savor summer, and say CHEESE!!!! Written By: Ellie Wilson, MS, RD  Senior Nutritionist, Price Chopper Supermarkets Italy has passionate food traditions, many of them specific to a region and originating centuries ago. Such is the case with San Pellegrino mineral water – obtained from a natural spring in the town of San Pellegrino, the naturally effervescent mineral water has been bottled by residents for over 600 years. In 1899, that morphed into a business to bottle and distribute the water, which is the same company today. Time marched on, and flavors were added to the natural soda, beginning in 1932 with orange juice (Aranciata orangeade). The flavors expanded the line over the years, including the very popular grapefruit and blood orange varieties. In between a juice and a soda, they are great refreshers, a nice surprise in cocktails, and can be a way to offer children something special to drink at holidays. Cheese is a world of heritage, flavor and tradition in Italy. We have some truly premium Italian cheeses such as Sottocenere, a sheep’s milk cheese that follows a Venetian preservation tradition of aging under ash. Slivers of black truffles are embedded through Sottocenere, and the ash is mixed with spices, such as nutmeg, cloves, anise, and cinnamon, which subtly convey their flavors as well. You can also enjoy Pecorino Ginepro, a hard artisan cheese with a fruity/salty/savory flavor that comes from the juniper berries and balsamic vinegar it is submerged in while aging. The cheese is white with a burgundy rind, a beautiful and delicious addition to your table.  Taralli crackers will remind you of a cross between a bagel and a pretzel. It can be sweet or savory, and comes in different sizes. Serve them all together on a tray with fresh grapes, olives, and dried apricots or cherries – a lovely tapas sampling of Mediterranean flavors. Make everything special when you share premium Butter of Parma – easy to swap into any recipe, it can elevate any meal. Then, gelato, traditional Italian ice cream, crowns our celebration of Italian foods with a wonderful finish. Lower fat than American ice cream, it is slow churned, denser and has a more intense flavor. The balance of sugar and water in gelato ensures it never completely freezes – it is meant to have a creamy texture between hard frozen and soft serve ice creams. Gelato comes in a wonderful variety of unique flavors. Enjoy it year-round as a treat that can truly transport you – Vive Italia! Written By: Ellie Wilson, MS, RDN Senior Nutritionist One of the great aspects of my job here at Price Chopper is being able to participate in the growing efforts of food companies reaching out to dietitians so they can share information about their mission, quality and health of their products.  As we all become more interested in nutrition and food origins (yay!), helping to bring their stories to our shoppers is a great opportunity to share love of food and health. So, in late May, with community dietitian Christa Valentine, I drove up to meet with a group of supermarket dietitians from the Northeast, and our gracious hostess, Sara Wing, RD, Director of Health and Community Programs for Cabot. We began with a tour of the Cabot Creamery in Cabot, VT.  This is the original site of the cooperative that was started there in 1919 by 94 farmers.  They produced more milk than they could handle and wanted to make butter and ship it south to more urban areas.  The cost to join? Five dollars per cow, and a cord of wood to fuel the boiler. In 1930, they started to make cheese. Our group got the “insider” tour of the original building, the Cabot town creamery, built in 1893 and modernized over the years.  It is so sustainable that after they make the cheese and process the whey, they can actually rescue the water and purify it, then clean the pipes in the plant.  Talk about being really green in Vermont! With their holistic attention to detail and process, they create wonderful varieties of cheese. As a dietitian, I really like the light cheeses, some of the very few in the market that bring together lower fat with melt-ability, (is that a real word?), which helps ensure people who are managing a health concern that requires attention to fat content, have viable, tasty and enjoyable choices.  Cheese is gluten free naturally, and harder cheeses are naturally lactose free as well. We then had a cheese grading class with their cheese grader, native VT born and dairy-farm raised Craig Gile, and I fell into deep like with a variety I had not had before, Alpine Cheddar from their Farmers Legacy line.  Swiss-Parmesan-cheddar-delicious-versatile-and hide in my purse-able. (I didn’t hide it really, I asked before I adopted the bar we passed around to review the packaging. Really.) We then wound our way through the Vermont hills to the Richardson Family Farm in Woodstock, VT.  This fourth generation family farm was named Vermont Dairy Farm of the Year for producing high quality milk from their beautiful, doe-eyed Jersey cows.  Jersey cows produce milk with a very high butterfat content.  They graciously shared their farm with us, as well as coffee and a lovely apple crisp, and answered our questions about how they care for their “girls”.  Children are part of the family team, too!  Best of all, they are staunch Price Chopper shoppers, sharing back with me how much they like their local store (shout out to #123 Barre, VT!), which brings me full circle. This was a really relevant experience and helped me increase my knowledge about the quality and range of dairy items Cabot produces (cheese, butter, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, whey, and more.)  I hope you explore their great products, found in our dairy and specialty cheese cases at your local Price Chopper. Tell us your favorite flavor of Cabot cheese for the chance to win a Cabot Farmers Legacy Cheddar gift pack!  Leave your comment below to be entered and we’ll select one winner on Monday, June 30th! Written by Jane N. Golub Director In-Store Marketing Programs

GREEN GIANT BAKED SWEET POTATO FRIES & BAKED VEGGIE PUFFS

You already love Green Giant Veggie Chips and now there are two delicious new options in the Snack Aisle – New Green Giant Baked Sweet Potato Fries and Baked Veggie Puffs! These are not your typical snacks – Green Giant Sweet Potato Fries are made with real corn and sweet potatoes and contain 60% less fat than potato chips. Green Giant Baked Veggie Puffs have a great Cheddar taste and 43 Puffs total only 140 calories! Be sure to pick up Green Giant Baked Sweet Potato Fries and Baked Veggie Puffs in the Snack Aisle today.  Your taste buds will thank you.

SARGENTO TASTINGS

Sargento is introducing the everyday, anytime specialty snack, new Sargento “Tastings”! Tastings are smaller-sized specialty cheeses that are perfect for everyday snacking.  Sargento’s trusted cheese experts have selected eight extraordinary cheeses that range from familiar favorites to new adventures. These include:  Aged Wisconsin Cheddar, Aged Vermont White Cheddar, Fiesta Pepper Jack, Bruschetta Jack, Creamy Havarti, Medium Asiago, New Zealander and Parmentino. Explore all eight great tasting items that are available in the Dairy case.  Learn more about these eight varieties and discover pairing suggestions at:       www.sargento.com/tastings Written by Jane N. Golub Director In-Store Marketing Programs

BEECH NUT BEST 

                Introducing Beech-Nut Real Food for Babies, inspired by homemade.  It’s true – just real, whole fruits and vegetables are inside their new jars.  And nothing else.  Because everyone deserves real good.  Especially babies. What is real food to Beech-Nut?  Real food is real.  You know it when you see it, smell it, touch it.  Real food is honest.  It never hides under fancy words or confusing labels.  Real food is bold.  It’s never shy about what it is or pretends to be something it’s not.  Real food is delicious.  It makes your whole body smile because it tastes so good.  Real food is for everyone.  Of any size, big or small. Beech-Nut’s new flavors were inspired by homemade.  Their new just honeycrisp apples are the perfect balance of sweet and tart flavors, that crave-ably crunchy texture.  Beech-Nut wouldn’t change a thing about them, so they didn’t! This is not baby food.  This is real food for babies.  Look for Beech-Nut Best in the Baby aisle.

SARGENTO SHREDDED CHEESE

                Sargento Shredded Cheeses are shredded from real, natural cheese with freshness you can see and taste in every bite. Sargento Shredded Cheeses feature a variety of flavors that taste like they were just shredded off a block of cheese.  With a wide variety of flavors to choose from, Sargento Shredded Cheese can top off a homemade pizza with Traditional Cut Mozzarella or enjoy a fresh salad sprinkled with Reduced Fat Mild Cheddar.  Let Sargento Shredded Cheeses inspire your next meal by visiting www.sargento.com/recipes Find Sargento Shredded Cheese in the Dairy Department.