Pear V. Apple
Dec 9, 2008 groceries
There was a time in my life where the Peanut Toffee Buzz CLIF Bar was a staple of my diet. Each year, however, the holiday season would sweep in a monotony buster as Spiced Pumpkin Pie hit shelves for a limited time. I loved those things and, although I literally ate one every day for years, that time is now behind me.
That said, Ellie spotted a new seasonal flavor last week: Pear Apple Strudel. A swift purchase was made and sticky hands were once again mine via Clif and his bar of propriety ingredients like ClifProTM and ClifCrunchTM (which contains something called Inulin that is some sort Chicory Extract that increases calcium absorption).
It did not, incidentally, taste much like pears–only apples—and a skimming of the ingredients list confirmed my suspicion that the bar contained more apples than it did pears. So what I want to know is: What kind of marketing research went on that told the Clif sales and marketing people that the Pear Apple Strudel was going to sell better than the Apple Pear Strudel?
And, in case you were wondering, yes, it did taste pretty good, but it was no Peanut Toffee Buzz. What could be?
Tags: apples, CLIF Bar, pears, sticky hands
How d’ya like these apples?
Oct 9, 2008 farmers' markets, farming, groceries
Centennial Farms Apples
Last year, with the weather being not exactly ideal for Missouri farmers, there were several crops that either never made it to market, or never made it at the level of quality the growers would have hoped for. For Centennial Farms that meant that while some cider and apple butter was made, there weren’t a lot of marketable apples to be had, and the few that did make it were particularly small.
However this year things are going different, and it’s not just the quality or quantity of the apples that’ll get your attention, but instead the number of varieties—21 in all. No matter what your apple tastes are they’ve almost certainly got something you’ll be interested in buying.
In order of ripening…Gala, Honeycrisp, Ruby Jon, Ozark Gold, Jonathan, Jonagold, Cortland, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Empire, Sun Crisp, Braeburn, Blushing Golden, Mutsu, Fuji, Staymared, Winesap, Gold Rush, York, Arkansas Black, Granny Smith.
Tags: apples, Centennial Farms
From the mountains of Panama and Ethiopia, to the urban-jungles of Portland and Chicago, journalist Michaele Weissman takes us behind the scenes for a look at the world of third-wave specialty coffee. How did we get to Starbucks, and where we go from here?