Yes, I think the best part of serving a ham for the holidays is having lots of leftovers. I have fond childhood memories of sliced ham on a warm dinner roll. Of course, now my choice would be a whole wheat roll and the ham HAS to be from Whole Foods Market. It really makes a difference! Our hams are from pigs raised to meet our high standards, which means:

• Raised with no antibiotics – ever
• Raised with no added growth hormones*
• No animal byproducts in the feed
• No added nitrates or nitrites
• Raised without gestation or farrowing crates

*Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in raising pork

In addition, our hams contain no artificial ingredients or preservatives. No water is added, so they are full of flavor. Check out our website for tips on cooking ham and to learn more about the farms where the animals are raised.

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Flavorful and elegant, ham is a great choice for the holidays. It’s simple, feeds a crowd and provides fantastic leftovers. But not all ham is alike. Our hams are from pigs raised to meet our high standards, which means:

• Raised with no antibiotics – ever
• Raised with no added growth hormones*
• No animal byproducts in the feed
• No added nitrates or nitrites
• Raised without gestation or farrowing crates

*Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in raising pork

In addition, our hams contain no artificial ingredients or preservatives. No water is added, so they are full of flavor. We’ve gathered some recipe and cooking tips to lighten your load. And check out our website for more about the scoop on our ham and to learn more about the farms where the animals are raised.

Favorite Ham Recipes:

• Honey-Glazed Ham with Fresh Pineapple Chutney
• Roasted Spiral-Sliced Ham with Maple and Orange Marmalade Glaze
• Mango and Orange Glazed Ham with Scallion-Cheddar Biscuits

Tips for a perfectly cooked centerpiece ham:

• Once a ham is fully cooked, it can be served at a warm or cool temperature but never straight out of the refrigerator.
• One advantage to buying a bone-in ham is to have the ham bone – great for soups and beans.
  
• Allow for ½ to ¾ lbs per serving for a bone-in ham.
• Allow for ¼ to ½ lbs per serving for a boneless ham.
• Let the ham sit at room temperature for about an hour before cooking.
• Scoring the skin of the ham adds to a beautiful presentation. Cut ¼” deep crosswise into 1” to 2” squares to create classic diamond shapes.
• If you chose to glaze your ham, don’t coat the ham with the glaze until the last hour of cooking to avoid burning.
• Don’t baste ham with the drippings as they can be really salty. Try pineapple juice, instead.
• If you use cloves to spice up your ham, be sure and remove the cloves before slicing and serving.

Stay tuned for a post on how to serve up those fabulous ham leftovers. How do you like your ham?

Looking for an all-encompassing guide to help answer your questions about turkey buying, cooking, carving and more? Well, we’ve got you covered! It’s our job to think about turkeys all year long so when it comes down to the quintessential turkey holiday, you know you can depend on us for the best. Let’s break it down.

Buying

First off, let’s take a quick look at why we think you should get your turkey from us instead of somewhere else.  All of our turkeys are raised with these standards:

• No antibiotics — ever
• No animal byproducts in feed
• No supplemental growth hormones (federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones when raising poultry)

Every turkey we sell meets these strict quality standards, so no matter what type of bird you serve, you can feel good about what you put on your table.

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Musical powerhouses John Legend & The Roots are presenting fans with a fiery new offering, WAKE UP! This CD, available in Whole Foods Market stores now, features soulful music from the 60′s and 70′s all with an underlying theme of awareness, engagement and consciousness- effectively telling listeners to WAKE UP! (Read on for a chance to win an autographed CD.)

The album features eleven evocative songs infused with sounds of gospel, rock and reggae inflections with hip-hop influences. The album is highlighted by familiar tracks like “Wholly Holy” by Marvin Gaye and “Little Ghetto Boy” by Donny Hathaway mixed with the more obscure selections of Baby Huey and the Babysitters’ “Hard Times,” and “Hang on in There” by Mike James Kirkland.

The album features one original composition, Legend’s song “Shine,” which is featured in Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim’s upcoming documentary film Waiting for Superman. The song, a “Stevie-Wonder-meets-gospel” stunner, clearly demonstrates the strengths of this specific group of musicians.

WAKE UP! blends Legend’s expressive, thoughtful vocal interpretations with an element of funk that only The Roots can provide. Watch to John Legend & The Roots talk about what this album means to them in this video about the Making of WAKE UP!

Got a favorite song that helps you wake up to the needs of the world around us? Leave a comment below by October 13th telling us what it is and we’ll pick three random winners to receive a CD and poster. One of the CDs is even autographed!

What if our country’s most debilitating diseases could be prevented by simply changing the way we eat? The groundbreaking new feature film Forks Over Knives presents compelling evidence suggesting that diseases like heart disease and diabetes may be prevented – and in many cases reversed – through a whole food plant-based diet. You can check out the film at several pre-screening events in select cities, listed below.

The movie features Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. M.D., author of Reversing Heart Disease and T. Colin Campbell, PhD, author of The China Study – both members of the Whole Foods Market medical advisory board. Our Health Starts Here partner Rip Esselstyn, author of the Engine 2 Diet, makes an appearance as well.

Forks Over Knives is partnering with us to put on a series of pre-screening events in select cities. If you’re close by, please join us for these upcoming events:

Nashville, TN	Wednesday, October 6th
Chicago, IL	Tuesday, October 19th
Fort Collins, CO	Wednesday, October 20th
Portland, OR	Wednesday, October 27th
Seattle, WA	Thursday, October 28th
Los Angeles, CA	Thursday, November 11th

If you were one of the many who attended screenings in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia or Raleigh, drop a comment below and let us know what you thought of the film. And wherever you live, you can check out the film March 11, 2011 when it officially releases to the public.

An inspired indie band dedicated to the environment? Music to our ears! Fifteen years into their career, Guster is operating at the peak of their creative powers,creating inspired music and practices for the entire music industry. In 2004, band member Adam Gardner and his wife Lauren Sullivan started Reverb – a non-profit organization dedicated to greening musicians’ tours. Since its inception, Reverb has helped transform the touring practices of over 100 major tours including Coldplay, John Legend, and many others.

Give a listen to Guster’s new album, Easy Wonderful — a sneak preview for Whole Story readers since the album comes out in stores next week. And check out Adam’s musing below about “What does Guster have to do with Whole Foods?”

Guster "Easy Wonderful" by guster

From Adam Gardner:

Hey there, this is Adam, Guster’s guitarist/vocalist. If you’re wondering, “What does Guster have to do with Whole Foods?” That’s a fair question. The answer is until recently, nothing. But then something changed — we realized how we share the same passion for protecting the planet and have joined forces to try to make good stuff happen on a local, national and global scale. Read the rest of this entry »

Would you like to do some good for others while enjoying some good family tunes? Many Hands fits the bill. This nationally-released and critically acclaimed CD, now available in Whole Foods Markets, was produced by Dog on Fleas’ Dean Jones, and it includes new songs by Pete Seeger, Dan Zanes, They Might Be Giants, Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, Elizabeth Mitchell, Randy Kaplan, Recess Monkey and many other top family music artists. All profits from this release will benefit the Haitian People’s Support Project and their long-standing work to help the people of Haiti.

After the January 12th, 2010 earthquake that destroyed much of the Haitian capital, family musician Dean Jones (Dog on Fleas) found himself feeling helpless and desperately wanting to help the people of Haiti. Having close friends in Haiti and feeling a deep love and respect for the music from the region, Jones felt the need to create something that could help the ongoing rebuilding effort.

The idea for Many Hands came to him in the middle of the night and the very next day several of his fellow family musicians signed on. Almost all of the tracks on the album are previously unreleased, most of them recorded especially for this release. The gathering of artists featured here is a strong assortment of the unique and special talents creating and performing for today’s all ages audiences, from the legendary Pete Seeger to family hip-hop star Secret Agent 23 Skidoo. In addition, everyone involved in the process of getting this album out into the world from replication to distribution has also either drastically discounted or donated their services.

Pick up the CD in our stores and go to the ManyHandsCD website to learn about CD release shows around the country. If you happen to be in the Northampton, MA area this weekend, check out the family benefit concert for Haiti at the Pines Theater on Sunday, September 26th.

With a week left to go, our customers have already donated over $1,228,000 to put salad bars in public schools across the U.S. That amazing amount is enough for about 491 schools and we aren’t through yet. We’ll be collecting donations through the end of September, so keep donating at the registers or online. The more we raise, the more local schools will be able to have salad bars.

In case you’ve missed some of the details along the way, here’s how it works. The donated money goes to our partner, Chef Ann Cooper’s Food, Family, Farming Foundation (F3), who is conducting a grant process where schools apply for one of these free salad bars. Now don’t get worried when you hear the word “grant.” They have made it a very simple process. The whole point of the formal grant is to make sure that the schools receiving the salad bars have the support they need to make good use of them.

The grant money will be used to buy the physical salad bar. Each school that is chosen will receive a portable, five-well Cambro salad bar complete with utensils, pan inserts, chilling pads and training tools. Chef Ann’s The Lunch Box will provide the necessary training tools and ongoing support to help ensure proper management. The food on these salad bars will be provided through the school’s current buying channels for procuring food — not provided by our stores. (All school districts buy food on contract or bid and do not have the ability to bring food in from non-wholesale vendors — in many cases it is not even legal for them to do so!) Read the rest of this entry »

Appreciation goes to these great vendor partners for taking the time to record video birthday messages to us. We are feeling really special on this most special day — our big 3-0!

From Transfair:

From Dogfish Head Brewery:

From Country Natural Beef:

From Wellshire Farms:

Are you planning an Oktoberfest celebration? We doubt anyone can top the ten million pints of beer and more than ¾ million sausages consumed at Munich’s Oktoberfest. Of course, they have a reputation to uphold as the birthplace of Oktoberfest back in 1810 celebrating of the wedding of Crown Prince Luitpold I and Princess Theressa of Bavaria.

Whether you’re celebrating big or small, we’ve got the best wurst (sausage) and brew (beer) in town to make your plans a success.

Start off with Beck’s Oktoberfest brew. Germany has such a storied history of brewing beer that since the 16^th century the German Purity Law, also known as Reinheitsgebot (pronounced Rine-Hites-gaBoat), requires that only malt, hops, yeast and water be used in the brewing process.  Beck’s Oktoberfest is a Maerzen style Lager characterized by a rich amber color and aromas of caramel, coffee and chocolate.  It is full-bodied and slightly sweet, with notes of caramel and roasted malts.  Prost!

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