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I can never seem to get enough vegetables and fruits down during the day, especially when I am working in the office. Regardless of the countless salads I pack up, I always find at the end of the day, I’ve eaten every bite of snack food around me and never left the desk. To combat this problem, I began to research juices with some added benefits, but without the hefty calories, and as low in sugar as I could get. And during my juice excursion, I found some luscious ones that fit the bill, many healthy doses of pomegranate, and a few that simply refreshed me. Here’re a few of my favorites.

Frutzzo introduces a bold new bottle shape and environmentally friendly packaging with its new organic juice range. Along with a stimulating new trademarked logo and tagline, “Fight Free Radicals™,” the antioxidant juice line blends pomegranate and nutrient-dense ingredients such as blueberries, raspberry and acai (a power fruit from the Brazilian Amazon) along with other flavors. The organic range includes 100 percent Pomegranate, Pomegranate Acai, Pomegranate Blueberry, Pomegranate Cherry, Pomegranate Passion Fruit and Pomegranate Raspberry. Its new cleverly designed bottle recently won the Glass Packaging Institute’s 2007 Clear Choice Award in the Organic Beverage Division. In keeping with its “green” theme, the award-winning bottle is also kind to the environment, utilizing recycled glass and metal caps that can be recycled. Each 12-oz. serving contains 32 grams of sugar and 140 calories. MSRP for the natural line is $2.79, and MSRP for the organic line is $3.69. For more information, call 866-378-8996 or visit www.frutzzo.com.

Kagome’s 100 percent all-natural fruit and vegetable juices, created in the Japanese tradition of harmony and respect for nature, have no sugar added, and no artificial flavors or preservatives. They are made from 100 percent juice blended from 50 percent fruit and 50 percent vegetable juices to provide both a refreshing fruit taste and the healthful phytonutrients from vegetables. Blends include: NEW Burgundy Berry Blossom, Golden Peach Garden, Purple Roots and Fruits, Autumn Reds, and Orange Carrot Blossom. I’m pretty keen on the Ruby Pomegranate Harmony which includes Vegetable Juice Blend (tomato, carrot, purple carrot, beet, spinach, parsley, watercress, lettuce and cabbage juices from concentrates), Fruit Juice Blend (apple, pomegranate and lemon juices from concentrate), and natural flavor. MSRP: $2.29/11.5-oz. bottle or $3.99 for 30-oz. bottle. For more information, call 650-349-2271 x 229, or visit www.kagome.us.

Essn is a sparkling 100 percent juice beverage that markets itself as taking the boredom out of the same old choices. It’s true; this canned beverage is a sparkling shot of fun with flavors like Blood Orange & Cranberry. It’s an 8.4-oz. treat that has no preservatives and no sweeteners, but does pack a bit of sugar into the mix with 34 grams in the Blood Orange selection and 36 in the Meyer Lemon (both of which contain white grape juice concentrate), and 160 calories a can. Switch over to the Fuji Apple and you get 120 calories and 28 grams of sugar. MSRP: $1.49. Call 866-759-5274, or visit www.drinkessn.com.

Go Appetít’s Gazpacho, Mango Mélange, and Carrot Bisque are interesting blends that are nutrient-dense and high in vitamins and antioxidants. All three are 100 percent natural with no preservatives, artificial colors or flavors, and the 8-oz. single-serving size is easy to consume while running out the door or even driving. A serving of Gazpacho has only 100 calories with no cholesterol and a low carbohydrate content, while the Mango Mélange weighs in at 150 calories and provides 80 percent of your daily vitamin A requirement, 50 percent of vitamin C, plus three grams of protein. All three are packaged in eye-catching curvaceous 8-oz. black bottles and require no refrigeration prior to opening. Go Appetít retails for $2.49–$2.99 per 8-oz. bottle. For more information, call 713-838-7940, or visit www.goappetit.com.

Earthly Delights is a USDA Organic 100 percent pure juice range from Global Juices & Fruits LLC in Idaho. Another pomegranate juice producer, this one softens its 100 percent Pomegranate selection with organic pear and organic cranberry juices. Each 12-oz. container packs 210 calories and 51 grams of sugar. MSRP is $3.49 to $3.99. Call 877-606-1360, or visit www.earthlydelightsorganics.com.

Apple Rush introduces its USDA Organic 100 percent Juice line in six delicious flavors including Pomegranate Apple. They’re lightly carbonated, not too sweet, and available in attractive 4-Paks at an MSRP of $5.99 each. Only 154 calories in a 12-oz. bottle makes this a nice, refreshing option with a sweet 37 grams of sugar. More information at www.applerush.com, or call 708-389-6625.

The Beat
Olive Harvest
As the traditional fall olive harvest season approaches, we’ve borrowed this great graphic from FoodMatch to illustrate year-round olive production and the best times to promote specific table olives.

In celebration of Fair Trade Month each October, TransFair USA holds a retail display contest and consumer sweepstakes. Entrants for the display contest are judged by an independent panel from Big Idea Marketing, based on creativity, visibility, consumer education and the number of Fair Trade Certified products. Last year, demo coordinator Cathy Eubanks from Wild Oats in Cincinnati, Ohio, won the retail display contest, and Alan Brooks from Frederick, Md., won the consumer sweepstakes thanks to an e-mail sent by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters informing him of the contest. Twenty additional runners-up won baskets, provided by World of Good, filled with Fair Trade Certified products.

The two grand-prize winners accompanied TransFair USA staff for an eight-day trip to Costa Rica, March 25 to April 1. The group visited Fair Trade coffee and cocoa co-ops to see firsthand how Fair Trade has transformed these communities, toured the Tirimbina Reserve and La Paz Waterfall Gardens, and whitewater-rafted the Sarapaqui River.

Eubanks often shows new employees a short video about Fair Trade, and one story has particularly stuck with her. “The video shows a coffee farmer who says that before they had Fair Trade certification, they ate tortillas and salt as a meal. But now, with Fair Trade, they always have enough money for rice and beans. It’s inspiring — the fact that for such a small difference in price, we can really change people’s lives for the better.”

In honor of Fair Trade Month, Eubanks’s store director at Wild Oats asked her to build the display because she knew how passionate Eubanks felt about Fair Trade.

“When I was building the display, I was amazed at how much Fair Trade has grown and how many Fair Trade Certified products Wild Oats now carries,” she said. Wild Oats set up the Discover Fair Trade display in the café area of their store, where they have a booming lunch business.

More than 9,700 retail locations participated in Fair Trade Month promotions last year, increasing consumer awareness of Fair Trade and encouraging business partners to promote their Fair Trade Certified™ (FTC) products. Some of the highlights from the October 2006 promotion include:
• Wild Oats Market saw sales of FTC products increase 42 percent over the same period last year and had their most successful buy-one-get-one-free promotion ever with FTC Green Mountain Coffee Roasters coffee. The retailer also teamed up with Wholesome Sweeteners to offer a sweepstakes that attracted more than 7,000 entrants. To round out the October promotion, each store had two end-cap displays, register coupons and grocery bags featuring FTC products.
• Starbucks’ Fair Trade Certified Café Estima blend was the featured coffee of the week for three weeks during Fair Trade Month at all 6000+ stores nationwide. More than 100 university accounts serving Starbucks coffee posted Fair Trade Month promotional materials.
• Amazon.com held its first online Fair Trade sales promotion with Pura Vida coffee.
• The National Cooperative Grocer Association created co-branded promotional materials for their members, and featured an article and advertisements in Cooperative Grocer Magazine.
• PCC Natural Markets discounted products, held sampling events and hosted Santos Marcial Garcia Zambrana from a Nicaraguan Fair Trade coffee cooperative, PRODECOOP.
• Andronico’s created a full-page ad in their in-store circular featuring Fair Trade Certified products.
• Giant Eagle created customized POS materials and featured an article about Fair Trade in an October circular and on their Web site.
• Nugget Markets created displays and their own Fair Trade Month promotional materials.
• Wegmans created end-cap displays.

TransFair also initiated a Fair Trade Month Mini-Grant Program to enable community groups, retailers and manufacturers around the country to expand their Fair Trade Month activities and promotions.
• TransFair assisted with a promotional tour for the documentary film, Black Gold. Tadesse Meskela, Ethiopian Fair Trade coffee cooperative manager and star of the film, made appearances in N.Y.C., D.C., Nashville, Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago and Boston. The tour, initiated by Alterra Coffee Roasters in Milwaukee, garnered the participation and coordination of other industry and NGO partners, including Oxfam America.
• TransFair also assisted with a farmer tour organized by ENGAGE. The tour featured Ubon Yuwa, who has helped establish Fair Trade rice cooperatives in Thailand. Events included a Fair Trade Gala at Samovar Tea Lounge in San Francisco hosted by Anna Lappé, co-author of the book Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen.
• TransFair supported the visit of a Fair Trade farmer from the El Guabo banana cooperative, who joined an African American watermelon farmer and a New England orchard owner for a series of speaking engagements in the Northeast organized by Oké USA.
• TransFair provided a grant for transportation costs for a member of the Cerro Azul cooperative in Ecuador for a series of events with Albert’s Organics in the Boston area.
• Eleven other mini-grants were awarded to university students, community coalitions, and coffee roasters in Las Vegas, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York and Boston.

TransFair USA, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization, audits transactions between U.S. companies offering Fair Trade Certified products and the international suppliers from whom they source, in order to guarantee that the farmers and workers behind Fair Trade Certified goods were paid fair, above-market prices and fair wages. For more information on this year’s event, visit www.transfairusa.org.

In Brief
Tracy Miedema, an organic food and farming advocate with deep roots in organic issues and education, was appointed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). Miedema will serve a five-year term, ending January 24, 2012, as a consumer/public interest representative. She will be responsible for advocating on behalf of consumers on organic program issues brought before the board. Miedema is national sales and marketing manager at Stahlbush Island Farms, an organic family farm that grows and processes certified organic and certified sustainable fruits and vegetables.

The Rodale Institute has announced the appointment of Timothy J. LaSalle as chief executive officer. The institute is a nonprofit organization that has been pioneering the health and environmental benefits of organic food and farming since 1947. Previously, LaSalle served as executive director of the Northwest Earth Institute.

One World Fine Foods, a specialty natural food and product market founded in San Diego in 2004 by Michael and Bibiana Bulloch, is now offering franchise opportunities in California and other parts of the country. With a vision to become the leading brand of Neighborhood Natural Markets, One World combines the characteristics of a convenience market with a healthful product and service offering, all situated in a small and efficient footprint, and operates within a proven, solid foodservice niche. For more information, contact Maya Ellman at 619-507-5488 or 619-501-2151, or visit www.oneworldfood.com.

Barhyte Specialty Foods has recruited two new specialists to help manage the company’s growth in both the foodservice and inside sales categories. Foodservice veteran Mike Cooper and customer-service expert Natalie Williams have joined the Barhyte team. For more information about Barhyte Specialty Foods, call 800-407-9241 or visit www.barhyte.com.

Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods will soon be able to offer three times the whole grain goodness, thanks to the move of its manufacturing, packaging, warehouse and office space to a 320,000-square-foot building. Located half a mile east of the existing facility, the new location effectively triples the current manufacturing capacity. “This should take care of our needs for the next 10-15 years,” said Bob Moore, founding partner of Bob’s Red Mill.

Nutrition Systems, LLC has announced the launch of NutritionPedia.com, a free online searchable database and wiki, which allows health-conscious individuals to easily access Nutrition Facts Labels on over 50,000 branded food products plus up-to-date information on dieting and wellness.

Icelandic Water Holdings ehf., maker of Icelandic Glacial Natural Spring Water, announced that it has received CarbonNeutral Certification from leading climate change company, The CarbonNeutral Company, making Icelandic Glacial the first super-premium bottled water distributed in the United States to be recognized for its ongoing commitment to reduce its overall carbon imprint on the environment. As part of the certification process, Icelandic Glacial was recognized for its ongoing efforts to continually measure and reduce its carbon emissions and offset any remaining environmental impact that contributes to global warming.

New Crops
Puffalicious
Plush Puffs — all-natural, intensely flavored marshmallows — are good enough to eat straight out of the package but are also amazing when melted in hot drinks or roasted in recipes. From ice cream toppings to rice crispy treats, marshmallows aren’t just for S’mores and hot cocoa any more. Plush Puffs come in Small (four pieces) $5.49; Medium (six pieces) $7.99; and Special (12 pieces) $14.99, and are also available in bulk.
818-784-2931
www.toyourheartscontent.com

A Curious Bite
Individually wrapped Curious Cookies are made with all-natural ingredients such as Plugra European-style sweet cream cultured butter, unbleached flour, Madagascar bourbon vanilla extract, Bavarian Schokinag chocolate, and sulfate-free fruits grown locally in the U.S. Curious Cookie uses unrefined evaporated cane juice in lieu of processed sugar, and all the ingredients in the cookies have zero grams trans fat, no hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats/oils, no chemicals, no genetically modified ingredients, no preservatives, and are Star D/Star K Kosher certified.
www.curiouscookie.com
877-986-6928

Organic Pot Pie Line
Blake’s All Natural Foods, a fourth-generation family business offering frozen food specialties, has launched their new certified organic chicken pot pies, shepherds pie and other organic comfort food favorites, nationwide. All Blake’s meals are created from heirloom family recipes and are made from scratch on the original farm. Packaged 12 to a case. MSRP: $4.99–$5.99.
603-225-3532 x 101
www.blakesallnatural.com

The Organic Kitchen
The Organic Caribbean Cookbook by Rachel Valentin makes preparing organic meals easy. Packed with more than 155 pages of delicious entrees, appetizers and desserts, these recipes will impress the most finicky eaters. It also offers easy-to-understand insight into the definition of organic, how to buy, where to shop, and what to look for. MSRP: $14.95.
Lehcar Publishing
www.rachelvalentin.com

Weil’s Cooking
Spring Switzerland, a division of Waterford Wedgwood, has introduced the Weil by Spring “Healthy Kitchen” Collection. The cooking vessels are 5-ply bonded 18/10 steel as opposed to the more traditional 3-ply, and employ a manufacturing technique that does not permit cooking ingredients to come into contact with the aluminum of the various products. The design incorporates specially formulated “rolled edges” that prevent food from interacting with the aluminum. Prices range from $69.99 for a 2-Slice Toaster to $799.00 for the 12-Piece Cookware Set.
800-955-1550
www.waterford.com

Green Goodies
Bamboo flour sack towels, arriving November 2007 under the trademark Red and White Kitchen Company’s Home Green Home, are designed with the eco-friendly home in mind. Bamboo Flour Sack is woven with 70 percent bamboo fibers and 30 percent cotton. Bamboo fibers are naturally antibacterial, super absorbent and biodegradable. Available in six colors. MSRP for these 18" x 28" towels will be $6.99 each.
877-914-7440
www.redandwhitekitchen.com

All-Natural Buzz
Sable & Rosenfeld have brought their tipsy olives into the natural arena with a switch to California olives for their Vodka-Laced Garlic and Vodka ‘Kicked’ Jalapeño Tipsy Olives. Available size: 5.3 oz., 4 oz. gift size.
843-815-6278
www.sableandrosenfeld.com

Mr. Crabby
Sea Fare Foods is updating the look of its Miller’s Select canned crab products. The topper label now carries a full-color photograph of each grade of crab meat showing the characteristics of the various grades — Jumbo Lump, Backfin Lump, Special White, and Claw Crab Meat. Topper labels peel open to reveal tasty recipe suggestions and interesting facts about the small family business and its exceptional crab meat.
888-429-2722
www.seafarefoods.com