This Month's Sale Price

$10.99

Organic Almond Butter- 9 & 16 oz jars (just almonds) Great pricing for this pure tasty nut butter! The next crop will be higher priced due to less yield.

$12.99
$19.99

Our Very Own Pecans

The Pecan, according to the respected food writer Waverly Root, is a nut originally 100 percent American. According to the National Pecan Shellers Association, American Indians began cultivating wild pecans in the 1500's. Today Americans grow about 80% of the world's pecans. Many in the south are still cultivating wild (& organic) pecans the same way. Root says pecans originated in Texas and were loved by Pre-Columbian Indians, who pressed them for oil, ground them to thicken stews, roasted them for hunting expedition rations, and mixed them with vegetables.We like putting pecans in our salads, with raspberries or with mixed bitter greens (arugula, radicchio, endive) and a drizzle of balsamic dressing on them.

For more info, go to our pecan page to see facts like pecans are never genetically modified here, and that they are a very high antioxidant food. Good stuff!

Whole Foods Market -
1640 Chicago Avenue
Evanston, IL. 60201

Kol-Tuv Kosher Foods
2938 W. Devon Ave.
Chicago, IL 60659

Another justified plug for the favored Almond

Researchers have been saying for years that people who eat almonds regularly tend to weigh less than those who don't, even if they ingest more calories in a day. Now there's a study helping to explain how this nut has the power to provide valuable nutrients and help decrease LDL cholesterol without adding pounds. Researchers instructed women (most overweight) to eat a bit more than two ounces of almonds daily for 10 weeks. For the following 10-week period, they ate their usual diets. Researchers measured body weight, metabolic rates, and physical activity at various points during the study.

The researchers found that when people were eating the 344 calories worth of almonds every day, they were in total, only taking in an extra 77 calories each day. During the time they ate almonds, the women gained no additional weight, and they met daily recommendations for vitamin E and magnesium (two nutrients most of us don't consume in adequate amounts). Eating almonds also led to increases in consumption of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, protein, and fiber. The extra daily 77 calories were offset because the fiber structure of almonds blocked the fat in almonds from being fully absorbed. Rick Mattes, PhD, RD, coauthor of the study, notes, "Solid data has shown that eating one to three daily ounces of almonds can help lower LDL cholesterol levels. But many healthcare providers have been hesitant to recommend almonds ... because they're a relatively high-calorie food. This study challenges that assumption," In fact, a serving of almonds may not have as many calories as indicated on the nutrition facts label, since the satiating effect of these nuts may replace other foods in the diet, including carbohyd rate- rich ones. Also, the fiber in almonds may block some of the fat from being digested and may cause an increase in resting energy expenditure.

This study adds to the evidence that almonds are satiating and may play a valuable role in weight management.  Previous studies have shown that the addition of nuts to a daily diet does not cause weight gain and increases satiety.

SOURCES "Does the Nutrition Facts Label Tell the Whole Story?" Almond Board of California, wwwAlmondBoard.corn, 8/30/07 0 "Effect ofChronic Almond Consumption on Body Weight of Healthy Humans" by Jarnes Hollis, PhD, and Rick Mattes, PhD, RD, British Joumal ofNutrition, 9/1/07

Why is the pistachio nut unique as compared to other nuts?
• It provides a significant amount of the bioactive carotenoid, lutein that is also found in dark green leafy vegetables such as broccoli (good for your eyes)
• Unique among tree nuts in having lutein and anthocyanins in their peels, giving them their characteristic green and purple 2-tone appearance
• Among tree nuts, pistachios are the richest source of phytosterols, particularly beta-sitosterol and campesterol (good for lowering cholesterol levels and reducing risk of heart disease)
There is 0.36 mg of lutein in a 1 oz. serving of pistachios, which is equivalent to the amount of lutein found in a half-cup serving of broccoli.
Phytosterols are plant sterols that compete with cholesterol in the intestinal lumen for uptake into the bloodstream. Phytoserols may help reduce cholesterol levels as well as help to promote a healthy heart. There is evidence which states a diet that incorporates tree nuts, such as pistachios, is associated with reduced risk of heart disease.

A four-week pistachio diet can help reduce cholesterol levels in people with moderate hypercholesterolemia, without weight gain, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition in April ."A diet with a moderate amount of healthful monounsaturated fat, like the kind found in pistachios, is a more effective way to prevent heart disease than reducing overall fat intake," said Dr James Cooper of George Mason University who conducted the new study.
This follows a 2005 study, published by the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry (Vol 53, pp. 9436-9445), which proved pistachios held the richest source of phytosterols in snack foods, believed to reduce blood cholesterol.
The new study claims that a daily four-week diet consisting of 15 percent of calories from pistachios improved blood serum lipid levels,...The results also showed that there was no change in blood pressure, BMI or weight levels in those on the pistachio diet, supporting recent research that pistachios are a healthy snack option.
Source: Journal of the American College of Nutrition
Volume 26, Number 2, 141-148 (2007)
"Pistachio Nut Consumption and Serum Lipid Levels"
Authors: M J Sheridan, J N Cooper, M Erario, and C E Cheifetz
See our pistachio butter options.

Walnuts-Even healthier than we thought!

Many of our customers were up on the latest findings of a study about the heart benefits of walnuts and walnut butter. A handful of walnuts protects your arteries from the shock of a high-fat meal, Spanish researchers find. The finding suggests that nuts are a more important part of the heart-healthy Mediterranean diet than olive oil. Heart health depends on healthy, flexible arteries. When you eat a high-fat meal, it temporarily stuns your arteries. They stiffen and become less able to expand in response to exercise. Over time, this repeated damage contributes to hardening of the arteries.
But if you eat walnuts along with a fatty meal, the fat has much less of a short-term effect, find Emilio Ros, MD, PhD, and colleagues. Ros is director of the Lipid Clinic at Hospital Clínico, Barcelona, Spain, the central location for the study. More info on our walnut page.

The combination of organic dark chocolate with a wonderfully high cocoa content, an organic coffee and roasted almonds make a unique and pleasurable taste experience. We offer the organically sweetened chocolate combo in both our natural and organic almond butters. Each ingredient can be tasted individually but each enhances the other. Try it and see for yourself. If you like chocolate and coffee (who doesn't?), and want a treat that's loaded with and mostly healthy fresh almonds, give yourself this great combo. It also travels well.

Great pricing -Order

The "sunnies" are great in the following recipe. You can use the other nuts above, instead, but need to chop them first or use our cashews.
Broccoli Salad
Mix together 2 fresh bunches of broccoli, 1/2 cup white or black raisins and put in fridge overnight with a damp cloth/towel covering to keep crisp.
Mix together 1 cup mayonnaise of choice, 1/2 cup sugar (of choice) and 2 TBS apple cider vinegar. Refrigerate overnight & set out 1 hour before mixing into below salad so it's room temp.
Toss the dressing over the broccoli mixture, add 1 cup sunflower seeds and 1 red onion sliced thinly. Serve
All the items seem to compliment each other and taste so right.

Try our Natural & Organic Pecan

Speaking of chocolate, try this. For chocolate and coconut lovers...

Two of us are pictured here from our visit to hazelnut orchards in Oregon. In case you haven't seen them in their natural habitat, here's how they grow.