Good morning! We've talked a lot lately about the Peanut Butter Project whereby your peanut butter donations to the Mustard Seed Food Bank would be matched by Pepper's, Island Nut Roastery and Merry Maids. The grand total of containers topped out at over 2700! That's an extroardinary amount of peanut butter, a record amount, in fact (this project was started in 2015)! And it's all thanks to your generosity. But with over 1000 families utilizing the food bank each and every month, sadly, that peanut butter will be gone in a matter of weeks.
Lately, local headlines have been made about Little Stand Jams, the Saanich-located roadside stand operated by owner Katherine Little.The stand, which offered homemade jams and salsas through an honour system, was shut down after a neighbour filed a bylaw complaint. That ticked a lot of people off. How would they be able to purchase their new favourite local jarred goods? Well it turns out that Pepper's has teamed up with Katherine and we will have all ten of her wonderful jams and her three types of fresh salsa on our shelves by the end of this week! We are so looking forward to working with Katherine and allowing the community to still enjoy her unique, handcrafted culinary delights!
Another one of Victoria's own small businesses is 49 Below Artisinal Ice Cream. Pepper's has stocked their rotating flavours for a long time and so when they let us know that soon they'd be creating gourmet ice cream bars, we (a) freaked out a little bit and then (b) calmly asked how soon that could happen? As it turns out, it's happened!! You're going to love these hefty bars, made with local ingredients and lots of love!
Recently, one of our customers asked if we could get in a smaller container of cottage cheese? And, us being us, we said of course we could! So now you can purchase Dairyland 2% Cottage Cheese 250g, the perfect size for snacking or if it takes you awhile to go through a 500g container.
Yet another Victoria small business, Heartisan Foods, has their cane sugar-free, raw, organic, vegan and holistic Mocolate bar back on our shelf! This gluten-free, prebiotic bar is made with ingredients such as marshmallow root, licorice root, Fo-Ti root, carob, hemp seed and coconut nectar to promote health and wellness. Mocolate: May Our Communities Offer Limitless Abundance To Everyone.
Heating foods can destroy certain enzymes and nutrients contained therein. And oxidation, the exposure to the air of food, is also not good. That's what doesn't happen when cold pressed juices are made. New Well Cold-Pressed Juices are created using a hydraulic press and are verified Cold-pressed. This Ontario company uses the HPP (High Pressure Processing) method instead of pasteurization to extend the shelf-life of their amazing tasting juices by reducing 99.999% of the microorganisms. Separation is totally normal. Just shake and chug!
Coffee artistry done right is a thing of beauty. When you get that perfect cappuccino or latte handed to you from the barista who just made it, you feel just about as warm and fuzzy as the foamed milk on top of it. But if foamed milk just ain't your thing, then new fortified Earth's Own Oat Barista Edition might be. It foams and steams just like milk does so your dairy free coffee beverage will look and feel (mouth feel, that is) exactly like the real deal. And because it has a neutral flavour profile, all that delicious coffee flavour won't be masked.
For those of you who enjoy a nice, refreshing carbonated beverage without sugar, colour or artificial anything, Zevia Soda sure hits the spot. And now they've got two new mixers for your favourite libations! Zevia Tonic Water (tantalizing Tom Collins, anyone?) and Zevia Ginger Beer (meritorious Moscow Mule?) are "bold in flavour with zero sugar and no artificial sweeteners. A delicious compliment to any cocktail, mocktail or straight out of the can!"
That's all the newness we can offer for this week. Oh, and before we forget, Canada Day is coming up on Monday, July 1! Our hours for that day are 7AM-7:30PM. Time to break out the Canadian tuxedo and celebrate in style! Let's bring it back into fashion! And while we're all rocking the denim on denim look, we should pause between Molsons to thank Bing Crosby for this unique style. After all, it was his visit to Vancouver in 1951 that spawned its creation.
Happy Canada Day!!
Pepper's Foods