Once in a while we have a new program in produce that is super exciting, and Whole Trade pineapple is one of those programs. First off, the fruit is delicious! But in addition to taste, there are plenty of reasons that we can’t stop talking about this fruit. Whole Trade pineapple is grown on farms that meet high social and environmental standards. Our purchases of this fruit contribute back to the communities that produced it (check out Matt’s blog to get the full story). Additionally, one percent of the retail sale goes to the Whole Planet Foundation, aiding in the fight against poverty in developing countries. That’s a lot of good things packed into a piece of fruit!
As we got ready to launch this program, our team visited the farms and brought back reports about pineapple growing, harvesting and selection. As they shared the scoop, it came to light just how many myths there are out there about selecting pineapple. Here are just a few that we came across!
Myth #1: Never buy a green pineapple, it is not ripe.
The scoop: Pineapples are fully ripe when green and color is not an indicator of ripeness or flavor. Read the rest of this entry »
Sue Swyt is our randomly selected winner of the $25 gift card. Thanks everyone for your entries!
Tell us your best fresh pineapple recipe (using 6 ingredients or less) in the comments below and you could win a $25 gift card!
Fresh pineapple is easy to love. A bowl of juicy pineapple chunks makes a tropical treat that’s hard to resist. And our Whole Trade Pineapples are even easier to love, as these pineapples with a purpose make a difference by supporting organics, meeting environmental and social standards, and investing in communities, research and education.
Fresh pineapple is downright delicious in all kinds of recipes from salsas and salads to smoothies and sandwiches. Whether it’s sharing a family favorite or creating something new and exciting, we want to know what you like to make with fresh pineapple. Now, here’s the challenge: your recipe needs to feature fresh pineapple and no more than five other ingredients. We want these recipe ideas to be fabulous and simple.
Post your recipe idea in the comments below by Wednesday, April 21, and you’ll be entered to win a $25 gift card. We’ll choose a winner at random from the responses we receive.
Stumped for inspiration or just can’t wait to get your hands on some great pineapple recipes? Check out some of our favorite recipes featuring fresh pineapple, along with the scoop on why pineapple is so good for you.
Okay, time to head to the kitchen and start experimenting — have fun!
Update 5/7/10: Huge congratulations to our winner — Arlene from the Philadelphia area who shops at our North Wales store!
Our Whole Trade™ pineapples are setting a sweeter standard for quality, as well as environmental and social responsibility. Grown in Costa Rica on farms that never compromise on providing delectable sweet and juicy fruit, and who keep the health of the planet high on their priority list. Our Whole Trade™ Guarantee ensures that these responsible farms and their workers receive equitable wages and better working conditions – and that you enjoy the best quality tropical treat, delivered to our stores at peak ripeness.
Here’s your chance to taste the pineapples where they are picked!
Our produce team has been learning a lot about pineapple lately. We had heard from various sources about environmental problems associated with pineapple production in Costa Rica and we wanted to know more. Over the past six months, we’ve toured farms, tasted lots of pineapple and met with a diverse group of knowledgeable people, including growers (large and small), farm workers, importers, certifiers, academics and others – a peace corps volunteer even took a long bus ride to tell us about her life and work in a community on the edge of a big pineapple farm.
As a result of what we’ve learned, this April (Earth Month) we’re introducing Whole Trade Pineapple. As always, the Whole Trade Guarantee™ is our commitment to ethical trade, the environment and the highest quality. In this case, the quality speaks for itself. This fruit is excellent – fresh, ripe and sweet. I’ll explain in the rest of this post why it’s also important that it meet the other requirements of the Whole Trade Guarantee.
During Whole Trade February, we hope you’ve learned a lot about the difference that Whole Trade makes. In case you are just tuning in, The Whole Trade Guarantee is our commitment to quality, the environment and ethical trade with partners in developing countries. To wrap up the month, we wanted to revisit bananas – our first Whole Trade product and a great example of the very real, positive impact we can have on farm workers, communities and the environment while providing a quality product to our customers.
Bananas were the first product to carry the Whole Trade Guarantee. Over the past several years, we’ve built relationships with some of the world’s best and most socially and environmentally innovative banana growers. Bananas from these farms are now stickered with the Whole Trade seal and are available in our stores nationwide almost every day. Considering the social and environmental problems that have resulted from large scale banana production in many Latin American countries, we are proud to offer this excellent fruit from growers that are truly part of the solution. Read the rest of this entry »
Olowo-n’djo Tchala is the Founder and Director of Alaffia. In appreciation for our customers supporting their mission, he asked if they could please give away a lovely gift basket along with this blog post. Of course! So, given that February is Whole Trade Month here at Whole Foods Market and Alaffia is one of our wonderful Whole Trade vendors, enter a comment below by February 22, 2010, telling us what you like best about purchasing Whole Trade products. (Need a reminder about the benefits? Check out this Whole Trade Month post.) We’ll select one comment at random to win the Alaffia gift basket. Read the rest of this entry »
As part of Whole Trade Guarantee™ Month at Whole Foods Market, we encourage you to explore the world of Divine Chocolate – owned by cocoa farmers, made for chocolate lovers. Lovingly grown under the tropical rainforest canopy in Ghana, Divine’s cocoa beans are carefully fermented and dried by the farmers who co-own the company. The great news is that when consumers purchase Divine Chocolate products for their loved ones, they will also do a good thing for the farmers in Ghana by ensuring that they receive a Fair Trade price for their cocoa beans.
Comfort Kumeah is a mother of five, a grandmother and a member of Kuapa Kokoo cocoa growers’ cooperative. She teaches kindergarten (her classroom often exceeding 120 students) and works on the farm whenever she isn’t teaching, on Saturdays and during the school holidays. Here she talks about Fair Trade and how it has helped her family and community.
Each bar of Divine Chocolate is adorned with traditional West African Adinkra symbols. Each symbol has its own special meaning, representing something integral to Ghanaian culture. These symbols are still in use today serving to deliver messages of goodwill.
Learn more about Divine’s fair trade mission and hear more of the farmer-owner’s stories. Divine Chocolate, share the love!
It’s Whole Trade Month, which means time to celebrate the Whole Trade Guarantee and the hard-working folks who produce these outstanding products. By no coincidence, Whole Trade Month falls around Valentine’s Day, when we often think about chocolate and roses, two of our staple Whole Trade products. But the Whole Trade Guarantee encompasses so much more. From bananas to coffee to body care, we sources thousands of items from producers who share our commitment to quality, the environment and healthy working conditions. Read the rest of this entry »
When it comes to Valentine’s Day and roses, it’s hard to think of one without the other! We’ve been thinking about them a LOT around here…not just how beautiful they are, but more importantly what our Whole Trade Guarantee™ roses give back to the communities where they are grown.
Grown in the Ecuadorian Andes by a group of Fair Trade certified farms, these “blooms with benefits” help to cultivate better working conditions and equitable wages for the farms’ workers. For each case of Whole Trade roses purchased by Whole Foods Market, an additional percentage is paid directly to worker groups from each farm who collectively decide how to use the money. Some development projects have included education, training, scholarships, health care and housing.
Growing conditions for roses can be finicky at best, and Ecuador has come to be one of the more popular growing environments due to its 10,000 feet elevation, proximity to the sun and its cool nights. The flower industry started there around 20 years ago and currently gives direct employment to more than 70,000 people, with indirect employment going to another 210,000 people. While on average the entire country holds an unemployment rate of 8%, there is very little unemployment in the regions where the flowers business has developed. Read the rest of this entry »
As you do your shopping this holiday season, you’ve probably noticed the beautiful bouquets of holiday flowers in your local Whole Foods Market store. But a quick look doesn’t give you the whole story. This season, we’ve worked with our growers to bring you three Whole Trade™ Guarantee holiday floral bouquets.*
In addition to their outstanding beauty, these Whole Trade bouquets do more than dress up your home or table. Meet Ana, one of the workers on a flower farm that supplies us with these beautiful flowers. Ana has been working for the farm for seven years. She works in production at the farm, cutting and preparing the flowers for their trip to our stores in bouquets or bunches. Ana and her family live in Facatativa, Colombia. They have benefited from the farm’s foundation, which is providing her son with an education. Read the rest of this entry »
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Once in a while we have a new program in produce that is super exciting, and Whole Trade pineapple is one of those programs. First off, the fruit is delicious! But in addition to taste, there are plenty of reasons that we can’t stop talking about this fruit. Whole Trade pineapple is grown on farms that meet high social and environmental standards. Our purchases of this fruit contribute back to the communities that produced it (check out Matt’s blog to get the full story). Additionally, one percent of the retail sale goes to the Whole Planet Foundation, aiding in the fight against poverty in developing countries. That’s a lot of good things packed into a piece of fruit!
These symbols are still in use today serving to deliver messages of goodwill. 
