The Fruit Company

If you are having trouble finding the perfect gift this holiday season, below are some choices for every type of recipient on your list. Christmas is coming, let us help you get all of your gifts picked out!

If you are planning the office party, sending gifts to valued clients, or just wanting to get your boss something special, these gifts have something for everyone.

Choose the Festival of Fruit with over 19 pounds of crisp apples, fresh pears, juicy citrus and cool tropical pineapple. Or the Dried Fruit and Nut Tray, perfect for entertaining with its dried mango, kiwi, and pineapple among Colossal Pistachios and classics such as dried apples, pears, and apricots.

To make a bigger impression choose the Mountain of Gifts. Complete with fresh fruit, cheese, crackers, sausage and chocolates, it is sure to be a hit.

Whether you are sending your love via mail or visiting for the holidays, these classic best-selling gifts are a great addition to any family gathering.

Enjoying these gifts is the perfect way to spend a snowy evening gathered around the fire after a fun filled day.

For the fruit lover in your family there is no better gift then one of ourHarvestClub™ monthly fruit clubs.

With four different clubs from the Americana and Deluxe, to the Organic and Exotica you are sure to find something for everyone’s tastes.

We at The Fruit Company wanted to just take a minute and wish you all and your families a wonderful fall.  As the leaves start to dance off the trees and the colors change, enjoy the time shared with loved ones and friends as we enter into a festive time of year filled with the lighting of the fireplace, hot chocolate and the sprinkling of rain.

This just in! Summer is a great time to enjoy tasty fresh fruit! That’s right, you can celebrate fresh fruit and vegetables by adding a tasty fruit to each meal.  Whether it’s as a main course, side dish or a tasty dessert, fruit is a great part of your diet. Below are five ideas on adding tasty fruit into your day.  Enjoy!

Apple Slice Snack: A great idea for any time of year! Start the day by coring and slicing two apples. Take two Ziploc bags and put an apple into each bag.  Put them in the fridge and use as a nice cold snack during the day or grab one for your drive in the afternoon!

Cubed Tomatoes:  Yes tomatoes are fruit and the great thing about this fruit is that it goes great with most dinner dishes.  Whether you are eating Enchiladas, Spaghetti, or a tasty garden, salad cube a tomato up and serve it as a topping to any of these dishes.  The flavor and acidity of the tomato adds a great taste combination for any palate.

Fruit Salad: A great treat for breakfast or dessert is a delicious fruit salad that is simple and easy to make.  Find a small watermelon, a cantaloupe, a honeydew melon, and a carton of strawberries.  Cube the melons and slice the strawberries.  Mix them together gently in a bowl.  Quickly put them in the fridge to chill. That’s it.  Now you have a perfect summer breakfast side dish or dessert for a nice summer evening.

Frozen Blueberries: Summer is generally warm.  A great way to enjoy a nice cool treat is to freeze blueberries! Either pick or purchase enough blueberries to fill a one pound Ziploc freezer bag.  Rinse the blueberries and let them dry for about fifteen minutes. Place the blueberries in the Ziploc freezer bag and place them in your freezer.  After one day any time you want a sweet icy cool treat, grab a handful or fill a bowl and enjoy the tasty flavor.  Perfect for a summer afternoon and for kids!

Fruit Recipes: One of our favorite things to cook here at The Fruit Company is main courses that involve a strong fruit flavor.  A recent recipe that we made here and featured on our blog was a tasty Pan-Seared Pork (or Chicken) with a Pineapple-Kiwi Salsa.  This mixture of fruit and protein was a delightful main course that had a great balance between the ingredients! Try it out and see for yourself!

Recipe

We’re always talking up fruit; it’s healthy, delicious, and makes for a fantastic holiday gift.  And this last weekend as it came time to hang our wreaths and fill our houses with sparkling tinsel and evergreens, we came across another reason to love fruit: decorating.

Think about it: how many meals did you eat this week that you’d display on a fireplace or as a centerpiece?  Exactly.  There’s something to be said about decorating with items that at the drop of a hat can turn into a snack.  We kind of wish all decorative items worked that way. But seeing as they don’t, we decided to put together a mini-guide into making the most of your fruit decorations this holiday season.

1.)  Color.  Decorating with fruit means decorating with color.  Take one look at the produce section or our selection of premium fruit and you’ll see a palate of colors waiting to liven up your house and holidays.  For us, there’s nothing better than mixing red apples and green pears.  Call it cliché, we call it classic.  Mix Pink Ladys or Honeycrisp apples with Green d’Anjou pears and you can’t go wrong. But that certainly doesn’t mean you’re limited to red and green, be creative and experiment.  That’s half the fun of it.

2.) Quality. One of the biggest pitfalls when decorating with fruit is underestimating the difference that quality fruit can make.  Much in the way an ugly painting can ruin a wall, a bunch of misfit fruit together is bound to bring down any centerpiece or display.  Look for fruit bursting with color and displaying character.  If it looks unappetizing, it won’t work.  Fruit on display looks good because there’s something beautiful about delicious-looking fruit.  It’s like they say, you eat with your eyes first.

3.) The Arrangement.  With our arrangements, we focus on the fruit.  There’s nothing better than an elegant bowl, either clear or with an understated design, filled with fruit.  For the holidays though, we like to add little flourishes of traditional holiday garnishes to spice up our displays.  Holly, evergreen branches (small ones), and mistletoe can really make a big impact, though you’ll want to avoid overusing them as they can overwhelm the fruit and become gaudy in a hurry.  It’s hard to say how much is too much, but chances are, you’ll know when you see it.

4.) That Natural Look. Our last tip in decorating with fruit is to make it look as natural as possible.  Sure, there aren’t many places in nature where you can find apples and pears carefully wrapped around holly (or whatever you’re using) but the best displays always have a semblance of naturalness to them.  Try not to make your display look too manicured or artificial.  Avoid anything too intricate as the best fruit displays showcase the fruit in all its splendor.  And don’t forget to use seasonal fruit.  Apples, pears, pomegranates and oranges all carry with them memories of holidays past.  You just got to bring it out with a little love.

Things have begun to slow down here at The Fruit Company since the Mother’s Day rush.  During Mother’s Day the fruit was flying, the production line buzzing and the phones couldn’t be tamed.  Everyone was asking the hard questions: Does Mom want apples this year?  Did she like the chocolate covered blueberries, or was it the cherries? Did she love the cheese or was that what she claimed gave her gas till Father’s Day?  In the midst of the whirlwind, it can suddenly seem as if the world will grind to a halt and fall off its axis if Mom doesn’t get the perfect gift.  It’s enough to put a ring of sweat on your upper lip and have you spontaneously sobbing to the Fed-Ex man.

Gift giving is the ultimate revenge on an already tired and sleep deprived world.  It’s also an opportunity to remember a few things: It really is the thought that counts, being re-gifted isn’t the worst thing on the planet, and taking a few minutes to relax may be the most healthy and productive gift you ever give yourself. Read more

“Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifice.”

-President Harry S. Truman

It’s almost Memorial Day, and while I have lots of love and passion for veterans, I can’t figure out a single thing to say.  I guess if I was a professional writer that would be alarming, but maybe it’s the perfect response.  What really can be said?  How do you summarize the collective sacrifice of nearly 1.5 million Americans in the pursuit and protection of freedom, liberty and justice?  Hollywood has given us so many vivid and genuine pictures of what our country men have endured, and yet I can’t help think that no matter how vivid or gritty, or how crisp the high definition or representational accuracy, we will never truly understand the measures of courage, fortitude and strength it takes to fight in a war.  Memorial Day, a day set aside to remember our fallen soldiers, may best be characterized from a place of speechlessness. Read more

Need some inspiration to get out and move that body? Wondering where to start? Look no more! National Senior Health & Fitness Day is coming up on Wednesday, May 26. Every last Wednesday in May during Older Americans Month, hundreds of thousands of seniors in over 1,000 events nationwide, will be participating and promoting the value of fitness for older adults. This is an opportunity for seniors of all fitness levels to participate in small group exercise demonstrations in community senior centers to walking tours and outdoor health fairs. Look for events planned for your local area at venues including hospitals, park and recreation departments, senior centers, health clubs, retirement communities, houses of worship, health departments and other community locations. Read more

The Fruit Company CEO, Scott Webster, will be speaking Monday, May 10, at 6:30 pm for the Farmlife speaking event focusing on Thinking outside the Barn.  Be sure to join the community as we hear multiple speakers discuss new ideas and strategies that are outside the scope of the farm.

Thinking Outside the “Barn”
Adding Value to Farms & Farm Products

An apple is an apple is an apple—right? Not anymore. Grocery stores operate with buzzwords and price differences. And farmers find new ways to compete by specializing in organic or artisan goods or by exploring ways to process raw goods into “new” options or simply by using marketing and the global economy to expand sales. What are the economic and ethical risks and rewards faced by farmers? What should consumers know about “value-added agriculture”? Representatives from local agribusinesses and the Gorge Grown Food Network will share their experiences and their plans for the future.

Speakers: Gary Willis & Don Stevens, Gorge Delights; Scott Webster, The Fruit Company; Representative, Gorge Grown Food Network

Through times dating back to Ancient Greece and Rome there have been many days set aside to honor Mother’s and women of many different cultures, creeds, and tribes. Traditionally in Europe, certain Sundays were reserved as a special day to honor those women.  Under different names like Mother Day, Laetare Sunday, and other varying descriptions, the legacy of celebration transcends centuries.

More recently the Holiday that we celebrate in the United States of America was started in 1909 and was known as International Women’s Day. In 1912 Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases “Second Sunday in May” and… Read more