Fresh Fruits and Vegetables from the Garden or your area for freezing and canning.

     Hello, how’s your week been? It’s been a good one here. Today we had a warm day

with 80 degrees, that is, until a cool front came in. Now we are at 56 degrees. 

So it’s out with the shorts and in with the jackets.

     I like to buy fresh fruits and vegetables when I can find them. My better half planted

a garden just recently. I’m hoping that it does well as this will solve my problem of trying to find USA vegetables at the store. We also have an apple and pear tree plus a grape vine. I’m planning to freeze or can the vegetables and fruits this year. The red grapes will make good jelly and juice. The apples will be good for pies and jam.

      There are strawberry and blueberry farms in our area where you can go and pick 

your own berries for a price. I plan to do this and freeze the berries. They are good

to mix with oatmeal or to make fruit smoothies.

     Another place that I like to go is the farmer’s market. There’s a woman at our market that’s a beekeeper. She sells her honey every year and it’s very good. She has the dark and light honey.  I have heard that if you eat honey that has been produced in the area where you live, it can help your allergies. I don’t know if there is any truth to this but I love honey so I will be buying some.

     I have to remember to read every label of each product that I buy to make sure it is

from the USA. This makes for a longer shopping trip. I am finding out that I have been in

a rut with the products that I’ve bought in the past. Now I’m trying out different brands. For example, I bought some organic apples from Oregon State the last two weeks. They are delicious. It may be because organic fruits are always picked when they are ripe.

     Here is a list of some USA products that I’ve bought.

Era, for washing clothes

Glad Bags, Finish Gel Paks and Powder for dishwashers, Target Ultra Dishwashing

and Antibacterial Hand soap, Blue Diamond Almonds, and La Tiara Taco Shells.

     Have a good week.

          Carol Brown

It would be a good thing if all the food companies would specify exactly where their food products are from.

    Hello, how are you?  The weather is better this week. It’s 70 degrees here today.

I’m going to plant a couple of Begonia and Geranium plants tomorrow and finish

working on getting our taxes filed before the April 18th deadline. 

     I’m happy to report that today I bought USA tomatoes, lettuce, oranges, Washington State apples and California walnuts. I could have easily picked up tomatoes and lettuce from Mexico and Apples from New Zealand or another country except that I was looking for the USA label on each fruit and vegetable.

     This project of buying only USA foods and products is proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be. This is because some of the products aren’t clearly marked as to what country they come from. I found out yesterday that 3 Kraft products that I brought home aren’t exactly from the US. I called and talked to a person at Kraft Foods Global, Inc. and here’s what I learned.

  

     I asked about their Kraft Dry Roasted Peanuts and where they are produced. The answer surprised me as I thought these peanuts were from the US. I was told that some of the Peanuts are from North Africa, India, China, North Carolina, Virginia and elsewhere. I asked what elsewhere meant.  I was told this could be “anywhere.” 

     Two other Kraft Products, Planters Lightly Salted Mixed Nuts and Planters Trail Mix

Go-Paks, Berry Almond Daybreak Blend are also from different countries

   The Kraft Foods’ representative said that the nuts in the Planters Lightly Salted Mixed Nuts came from various countries. The cashews are from India, Africa, Brazil and Vietnam. The Pecans are from Africa, Brazil and India and any country. The almonds and walnuts are from California. The peanuts are from different countries as in the Kraft Dry Roasted Peanuts mentioned above.

     The Kraft Planters Trail Mix Go-Paks, Berry Almond Mix has this breakdown. The cranberries, raisins and granola clusters are from “other countries” and the US. I wasn’t told what “other countries” these ingredients are from, but the almonds are from the US. I may call Kraft Foods again to see if I can find out where the cranberries and raisins are from.

  The dry roasted Planters Pistachios produced by Kraft that I bought are from California. 

     I asked the Kraft representative how to tell if a Kraft product was from the US. I was told that if it said Kraft Foods Global then it could be from a combination of different countries. If the product was from just one foreign country, it would give the name of that country on the product. It would say Kraft Foods if it’s from the US.  I noticed that on these 4 Kraft Products that I bought it says, Kraft Foods Global, Inc., Northfield, IL USA, and Kraft Foods.

     It would be a good thing if all the food companies would specify exactly where their food products are from.  I believe this is important information for consumers.

     Have a good day,

     

     Later,

         Carol Brown