Whole Story

UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who entered! Congratulations to our winners Shea Fox, William Radkovich, Jennifer Essad, Koren Feinstein, and Carol Martell!

My son has a picture book where a group of animal friends find a treasure map. They run into some trouble – their canoe tips over, they cross a rickety rope bridge, they go through a spooky cave – before they finally get to the spot where the treasure should be. Instead they find a big fruit tree.  That’s when they realize the fruit is the treasure!

That’s how I feel when I walk into the produce section and I see those glistening bunches of red, green and dark, dark purple grapes piled high, like gems overflowing from a treasure chest. It’s when I eat them that I realize what a sweet treasure they really are.

Organic grapes are at their juicy, irresistible peak in Autumn. During this time of year, the organic grapes in our stores hail from California’s Central Valley. Grown without the use of toxic persistent pesticides by farmers who are committed to sustainable agriculture practices, grapes thrive in this region’s deep, fertile soils and plentiful sunshine. Here’s a blog post from last spring that goes into detail about what you get when you buy organic.

And who doesn’t love grapes? If you can keep yourself from gobbling them up right away, they can be used in all kinds of recipes. Our Sonoma Chicken Salad is one of our most requested store recipes. We’ve shared a number of glorious grape recipes in this recent blog post, but we want to share even more!

That’s why we’re giving away a copy of Susan Volland’s cookbook Green Black Red: Recipes for cooking and enjoying California grapes to five lucky readers, courtesy of the California Table Grape Commission.

From innovative drinks like Grape Bubble Milk Tea and Grape and Green Tea Smoothies to entertaining dishes like Mediterranean Grilled Chicken and Grape Skewers to kid-friendly fare like the Fresh Trail Mix made of grapes, Cheddar and nuts, Susan covers it all. I can’t decide which I’ll make first, the Creamy Penne with Blue Cheese and Grapes, or the Edamame and Green Grape Salad.

If any of this sounds “grape!” to you, share what you love about organic grapes in the comments below by October 3rd. We’ll pick five winners at random to receive a copy of Green Black Red.

The fine print: No purchase necessary. Promotion ends Wednesday, October 3, 2012, 11:59 PM CDT. Must be a legal resident of the US or Canada (except in Quebec, where it is void) age 18 or older to participate. Taxes on prize, if applicable, are the responsibility of the winner. Employees of Whole Foods Market, Inc., are not eligible. Void where prohibited.