Resolving to make healthier choices this year can be delicious and easy!  Wednesdays in January from 12-2 sample delicious recipes full of healthy choices to fuel you wherever you are in your healthy journey!  Take on daily missions, earn badges and share your success at our Whole Foods Market Healthy Eating facebook page.  With tips, recipes, cooking techniques and more, we’re here to give you all the tools you need to start including more healthy foods like fruits and vegetables, beans, grains and other unprocessed, whole foods into your everyday meals.  Watch your health skyrocket and make a commitment to a healthier you in 2013 starting now. 

Charles Ventre, the mastermind behind Chestnut Valley Charcuterie, will be in the house on January 9th sampling the delicious product that has brought him culinary fame!  Here's some more information about him and his amazing Charcuterie line...

THE  PORK GUYS

If it takes a village to create an award-winning line of dried sausage, Charles Ventre certainly found one.  He started at a young age, pitching in with the butchering, blending, spicing, and curing that was the mainstay of his Brooklyn neighborhood.  Here were the pork stores that brought us sopressata, fennel salami and pancetta.   The product was slow-cured and dried with original, unchanged recipes that remain the standard-bearers today.

“The guys” – Landi’s, Faicco’s, Fretta Bros., and the like - fed Charles' passion for the charcuterie craft.  “There was no fooling around with recipes,” he says.  Long or short, skinny or fat, dimpled or smooth, the sausage came off a human assembly line, with each day of the week devoted to one style. Charles' mentors showed him which meat cuts to use, how and why to develop white mold,  when to cure, how long to hang.  Natural casings and selective spices were and still are integral to Charles' recipes.

PERCUSSION OR PEPPERONI?                                                                   

Charles' breakthrough moment hit around the same time as the American food revolution.  Not one to uni-task, Charles jump-started his passion for the drums at a young age.  His love and enthusiasm for music has led Charles to play drums with some outstanding musicians of our time.  A personal quest – how to honor and give back to his pork store mentors and old friends – won out.

NEW WORLD, NEW SPICES

A flood of new ingredients and an influx of international cuisines provided Charles with unlimited  possibilities. A yearning for new aromatics guided his sausage-making.  Why settle on fennel when star anise will provide a deep, pervasive, licoricey flavor?  Why shouldn't pancetta get an unexpected jolt of bay leaf?  His relentless experimentation with flavors like juniper berry, tarragon, and citron transformed dried meats from Old World into GottaHaveItNow.

THE NEW SALUMERIA/CHARCUTERIE MODEL

Charles updated the Old Guys' stores, pushing the envelope with robust marketing and sales efforts, dusting off the hanging salami and plastic garlic braids and using the real thing.  He thrust cured meats into modern distribution channels, upgraded the image of one-story storefronts, and made daily deliveries throughout the boroughs of New York. 

SLOW FOOD, GOOD FOOD

Like his Brooklyn “family”, Charles uses the style, technique, and processes that require time and discipline.  Artisanal sausage requires longer aging, making them shelf stable and reducing shrinkage.  Hogs are treated humanely, without the use of antibiotics or hormones. No nitrates or artificial additives are ever present in his products.  Pork bellies are hand-selected.  Fat to lean ratios are crucial, and “anyone who thinks boutique breeds are superior is being led by the nose.”  He should know – he raises pigs for his family's personal consumption, and is a diehard snout-to-tail cook. 

“Every sausage I make,” he says, “is a tribute to the guys who gave me love, passion, and a sense of what is right.”  

All day Friday, January 11^th, our Meat Department will be having a one day sale just in time for chili season!  Over 40% off Step Rated 85% Lean Ground Beef at $3.49 per pound, regularly $5.99 per pound!  This deal is only while supplies last and no rain checks, so get yours early since it’s sure to sell out quick!

Savor the flavors of winter and enjoy a storewide tasting of our winter comfort favorites on January 11^th from 11 to 2.  The aromas and flavors of winter’s best comfort foods are sure to bring the family together and warm your home.

Celebrate the ritual of a new year during our New Year-New You event in our Whole Body Store on January 14^th from 11 to 2.  We’ve invited vendors to help guide you on your journey to a healthier and happier you in 2013.  Stop by for refreshments, complementary chair massage and enter our monthly gift basket raffle full of Whole Body favorites to help you start the new year off right!

Bring a whole new meaning to shopping!  All day Wednesday, January 16^th, 5% of our sales will go to Connecticut Public Broadcasting.  The parent company of Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) and WNPR-Connecticut Public Radio, Connecticut Public Broadcasting is the state’s only locally owned media organization producing TV, radio, print and Internet content for distribution to Connecticut’s wide-ranging and diverse communities.  For more information, visit www.cpbn.org.

Resolving to make healthier choices this year can be delicious and easy!  Wednesdays in January from 12-2 sample delicious recipes full of healthy choices to fuel you wherever you are in your healthy journey!  Take on daily missions, earn badges and share your success at our Whole Foods Market Healthy Eating facebook page.  With tips, recipes, cooking techniques and more, we’re here to give you all the tools you need to start including more healthy foods like fruits and vegetables, beans, grains and other unprocessed, whole foods into your everyday meals.  Watch your health skyrocket and make a commitment to a healthier you in 2013 starting now. 

How you eat can help elevate your exerise. We'll share ideas, favorite recipes, and more. Follow #wfmdish on Twitter to join the conversation from 6pm - 7pm CST.

Resolving to make healthier choices this year can be delicious and easy!  Wednesdays in January from 12-2 sample delicious recipes full of healthy choices to fuel you wherever you are in your healthy journey!  Take on daily missions, earn badges and share your success at our Whole Foods Market Healthy Eating facebook page.  With tips, recipes, cooking techniques and more, we’re here to give you all the tools you need to start including more healthy foods like fruits and vegetables, beans, grains and other unprocessed, whole foods into your everyday meals.  Watch your health skyrocket and make a commitment to a healthier you in 2013 starting now. 

You've heard about "super foods" but what's behind all of the hype? Join us on Twitter from 6pm - 7pm CST to discuss just what super foods are, what they can do for you, and how to get more of them in your diet in tasy ways. Follow #wfmdish on Twitter to join the conversation.

Making healthier choices doesn’t have to be so black and white!  Join our teams and sample some delicious dishes that make healthy eating easy and delicious.  Make this the most attainable new year’s resolution yet!

Kale yeah!  And collards, bok choy, broccoli rabe, napa cabbage, chard, arugula and watercress, oh my!  January’s peak pick has never looked so good!  Dark Leafy greens are among the healthiest foods around, and calorie for calorie they provide the most concentrated source of nutrition of any food.  Join our Produce team on January 28^th from 12 to 2 for a taste of this fantastic superfood and take home recipe ideas to incorporate leafy greens into some of your favorite dishes for a healthy and delicious start to the new year.

Resolving to make healthier choices this year can be delicious and easy!  Wednesdays in January from 12-2 sample delicious recipes full of healthy choices to fuel you wherever you are in your healthy journey!  Take on daily missions, earn badges and share your success at our Whole Foods Market Healthy Eating facebook page.  With tips, recipes, cooking techniques and more, we’re here to give you all the tools you need to start including more healthy foods like fruits and vegetables, beans, grains and other unprocessed, whole foods into your everyday meals.  Watch your health skyrocket and make a commitment to a healthier you in 2013 starting now. 

From big game parties to comforting dinners and healthy soirees, winter is a great time for entertaining. Join us on Twitter from 6pm - 7pm CST to swap recipes, ideas, and more. Follow #wfmdish on Twitter to join the conversation.