LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Hi everyone,
As with everything else, paper and printing prices are increasing rapidly. And as always, postage for the Reader is extremely high. We’ve been working towards shifting to more digital subscriptions than paper. We are going to be transitioning to digital issues as much as possible starting with the July 2022 issue. We know many of you love and prefer a printed copy, so our plan is to have plenty of printed copies available in each store and we already have an emailed version available to whomever wants it. We’re asking you to consider switching to the digital version and/or picking a copy up in the store rather than having one mailed to you. For those of you who cannot do that or who prefer receiving a printed copy in the mail, we will happily continue to send you one. We don’t want you to miss out on Co-op news and sales! You can sign up for the digital e-mail version here: www.willystreet.coop/emails.
Thank you so much!
Liz Wermcrantz, Editor
SCALLOPS
Q: Fried a package of Orca Bay scallops purchased at the Middleton store because it was labeled to contain only “scallops” and found it swimming in a pool of water released from the scallops once heated. The pool was a sure sign that it had been adulterated with an agent to make the scallops absorb water after they were harvested. The cooked scallops were also about 40% smaller than when frozen, and given that scallops are sold by weight, the added water was a sign of fraud by the processor. Unfortunately, the scallops also had a chemical after taste.
Historically, the seafood industry has used agents to adulterate scallops and shrimp such as trisodium phosphate, which is an antimicrobial used to hide unhygienic practices and can cause skin irritation. Tripolyphosphate has also be found on frozen seafood labels, which can cause esophageal stricture and violent vomiting.
The Co-op has a long reputation of providing food to our community that can be trusted. Please ask frozen scallop and shrimp vendors for letters of guarantee that their products are free from adulterants and only contain what is listed on the package. Thank you.
A: Thank you for taking the time to write. I am sorry you were not satisfied with your purchase and if you would like a refund on your purchase I would be happy to make that happen! I also reached out to Orca Bay and they assured me that they do not add any preservatives, water, or any additives to their scallops. One reason there may be so much water in the pan while cooking scallops is that scallops are about 70% water and when frozen the water forms crystals; those crystals puncture the cell walls causing more water to be released while cooking. I am truly sorry you had a bad experience with your purchase but based on my research and what Orca Bay told me directly. I am confident in that product's quality. We do sell fresh dry packed sea scallops and dry packed sea scallop pieces out of our fish service case at west that are amazing. You can't beat the scallop pieces for the price if you are looking for an alternative to the frozen scallops. Thank you again and please feel free to reach out to me with any other questions or concerns. -Jeremy Johnson, Meat & Specialty Category Manager
MIXED GREENS
Q: Hi, I have been a member for over 25 years and read the WS Coop Reader regularly. I especially love your recipes! But this time I have a question: Your latest WSCR lists a “Mixed Greens Spanakopita. Please give me some example of “coarse” greens. I assume soft greens refers to spinach or arugula? Thanks much.
A: Thank you for writing! I looked into this and I have to say I have no idea! My hunch is that coarse greens means kale or chard and soft means spinach, but I don't think it matters either way. I'm sorry for the confusion and for not catching how weird those instructions are! I'll make sure to change them in the future! Take care, Liz Wermcrantz, Editor
THANK YOU
Q: I am writing in response to a letter in the previous reader requesting that cashiers say "Thank you" when ending a transaction. I am begging you to NOT give your cashiers any script or even guidelines regarding conversing with members. I belong to the Co-op for its organic food as well as its inclusive community that embraces individuality and personal freedoms. My favorite cashier is the guy at Willy West with the awesome hair that tells me to "Take it easy." Thanks man, I will!
A: Thanks for sharing your input! In our current customer service training, we talk about how to end a transaction with a customer, and how expressing appreciation for a person’s choice to shop with us or wishing the customer well when they leave is important. We talk about how to express gratitude or well wishes in our own words instead of using a script because we want to put a personal touch on the service we provide. -Liz Hawley, Education and Outreach Coordinator
WELLNESS WEDNESDAY
Q: Is Wellness Wednesday back or is discount every day like during COVID?
A: Wellness Wednesday is back! It's on the first Wednesday of the month. The one in May will be a special one—15% off. -Liz Hawley, Education and Outreach Coordinator
BULK TEA
Q: Are there any plans to bring back teas in bulk. I used to keep small amounts of several teas before the bulk bins shut down. Those ponds of tea would likely turn to dust before getting used.
A: Thanks for reaching out to us with your question regarding the bulk tea. We currently do not have plans to bring back tea (or herbs) in bulk. Luckily, we have a wide selection of loose-leaf tea from Rishi Tea available in 4 oz resealable bags. Rishi Tea has made it really convenient to sample or have a variety of loose leaf tea in smaller quantities. Thanks again for reaching out! -Sara Berg, General Merchandise Category Manager
APHIDS
Q: Hello Willy St support team! This is going to be long so please bear with me.
I recently bought some purple curly and Tuscan kale, as well as a few heads of broccoli. Kale was meh as it usually is in winter months but the broccoli looked great. However, when I started to process it and wash it, I noticed an alarming number of aphids. Thousands, probably. I soaked and rinsed the broccoli 6 six times, and the first 5 times the bowl was just completely filled with aphids in various stages of growth. I called it after the 6th wash since only a dozen or so came out and I was tired and figured it was good enough.
For context, I have volunteered at an organic vegetable farm for 7 years, so I am pretty unbothered by bugs on produce - but this was such an insane magnitude of aphids that I was grossed out (still going to eat the broccoli though). The only bug problems we have had with broccoli has been little green inchworms and I've never seen any aphid action on the broccoli, or the kale for that matter. I've had this issue with organic kale from another co-op (not in WI), where it was so densely covered in aphids I had to scrape them off. It seems really odd to me that it happens with Big Ag produce and not locally grown produce but I digress.
What I am mostly concerned about is where this produce is coming from. I didn't save the kale twist ties but I looked up the "farm" that the broccoli came from, and it isn't even from a farm. It's from some sort of distribution company, and it said "grown for Heger Organic Farms", but didn't say who exactly grew it.
I'm genuinely curious as to why the Co-op is getting produce from a large distribution company and not from an individually owned farm. Are there policies in place where you can only source produce from certain places? I'm guessing there might be, but seeing as how you sell products from Olden Farm (which is right near me) then I don't understand why other produce can't be sourced from similar farms, even if you have to source from ones outside of Wisconsin during the off season.
I'd love to learn more about this, especially since I find our society's food system to be problematic and would love it if more stores sold local produce, but I'm not educated in the obstacles that might get in the way of that. Thank you in advance!
A: Thank you for writing! First let me apologize for the aphids in your broccoli, I am so sorry that you had that experience. We do our best to inspect all of our produce before it is stocked on the shelf, but as you experienced, aphids are very good at hiding! I can give you a little background into why there were so many aphids. There is a transition time in California each year in the spring and the fall. In the spring, farms finish harvesting the fields in the southern desert region of California, where they farm during the winter months. In spring and summer, growing operations transition to fields farther North in California. This time of year is particularly difficult to produce quality produce, especially organically. The crops from Northern growing regions are not quite ready to harvest, and the Southern fields begin to face increasing aphid pressure, due to warm, moist conditions. There is no way to thoroughly suppress the pests organically. This year was one of the worst years we have seen for aphids. Many growers in California actually stopped harvesting leaf lettuces for a week or more, resulting in a gap in supply—something I had not seen before in my 20+years in the produce industry. Luckily, at the time of writing, we seem to be past the worst of the transition time!
In regards to your question about produce sourcing, we do strive to purchase as much produce as possible locally. We work with over 30 local farmers and in peak growing season, our produce departments offer more than 150 local produce items. When we are unable to source produce locally, we turn to our trusted regional produce distributors. Due to the volume of produce we sell, our backstock is not big enough to store the volume we move, and yet we are not quite large enough to have our own warehouse and distribution center. Therefore, the logistics do not work out for us to purchase direct from farms in California. Luckily, our distributors are wonderful about sourcing quality, organic produce from California and elsewhere. It's really amazing how many moving parts go into keeping fresh produce on the shelves in our stores!
Thank you again for your inquiries! Have a wonderful day! -Brandy Schroeder, Produce Manager—North
TEMPORRY SHOPPERS
Q: Hi! I'm disabled and down with COVID. Could you add my housemate as someone who can shop for me with my discount?
A: Your housemate can definitely shop for you on your account as a temporary shopper. In order to do this they will need to stop by the Customer Service desk at one of our locations to get a temporary shopper card which they will then need to show at the register when they use your Owner number. How long would you like them to be able to shop for you? And, what store should we have a temporary shopper card prepared at for them to pick up?
If you live together, you also have the option to add them to your account permanently as a Secondary Owner. This will change your account to a Household account type and does require additional equity to be paid. Because you participate in the Access Discount Program, the equity payments would be $7/year until you reach $91 of invested equity.
Let me know which route you would like to go and I will gladly help you take the next steps. Enjoy your day! -Roslyn Murphy, Owner Records Administrator
SALTY PASTA
Q: My spouse and I have been purchasing Taste Republic GF pasta for some time now but just recently (shame on me), noticed that it is extremely high in sodium. Some of them have over 700mg per serving! That's more than a large bag of chips. I checked the other GF pastas that we buy from Willy, like Jovial and it has zero salt. I am hoping your product management team will pressure Taste Republic to offer a salt free option. Most, if not all, cooks add salt to their water and sauces. We do not need salt in our pasta too! I did send TR a note too. They responded but did not give any reasoning for why they add so much. It's clearly not a healthy option and we won't be buying any more until the offer a salt-free or low-salt version. Thanks for listening.
A: Thank you for your comments regarding Taste Republic's GF pasta and its salt content. That does seem a like a lot of salt. I reached out to Taste Republic and this is what they said:
“Thanks so much for reaching out to Dean with your concern, and for your patience as I have been traveling for work the last few weeks. My name is Shana and I am the brand manager for Taste Republic.
“I read through your concerns regarding the sodium contents in our Taste Republic pasta and wanted to provide some context for you.
“We use salt in our fresh pasta to help ensure quality, inhibit microbial growth and prolong the shelf life so it remains fresh, safe and delicious for as long as possible. By utilizing salt, we are able to avoid using less common ingredients with names you likely haven’t encountered before.
“The good news is that for our unfilled pasta (fettuccine, linguini, fusilli etc.), ~60% of the sodium transfers into the water during cooking leaving about 40% in the finished pasta. For our filled pasta, ~30% transfers into the water during cooking. Due to this phenomenon, it is not necessary to salt the water prior to cooking as is typically recommended when cooking pasta.
“I hope this helps alleviate some of your concerns and if you have any additional questions please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly, we so appreciate your support of the brand over the years!” -Dean kallas, Grocery Category Manager
BELOVED JUICE GLASS
Q: My grandson broke a beloved juice glass with blue whales on it. I purchased it at West a year or so ago. I also got one with yellow bees for my granddaughter. I think there were ones with green frogs too. I'm wondering if you might still carry these?
A: West does still carry the juice glasses you asked about! We have these cute juice glasses in seven different designs: ladybugs, bees, poppies, turtles, dragonflies, whales, and sea coral. We try our best to always have some of each design in stock but availability can vary based on demand and what is in stock through the vendor we source them from. Willy East and Willy North also carry a variety of designs! At West, you can find them in our housewares section located along the wall between the cheese department and the registers. -Sophie Patterson, General Merchandise Manager—West
HOT COFFEE
Q: The coffee bar should not be open if the coffee isn’t hot. I needed an evening pick me up after work. Was excited for a hot brew today on this rainy chilly day.
I got to my car and tried the” coffee” it wasn't hot at all almost cold brew!
I would suggest that afternoon or evening hot drinks be Poured at the bar, if the constant heat isn’t checked.
Very disappointed, I’d rather get my coffee from your stores than a coffee shop , especially if I’m shopping for other items.
My knee is in rehab so I didn’t want to limp back in the store, or why should I?
A: Thank you for taking the time to write to us about your experience in the Willy West Juice Bar. We are sorry that you found our coffee not hot enough during your last visit. We brew coffee several times a day to make sure that it stays hot. However, during the afternoon hours we currently do not have any Juice Bar staff that are able to keep that going. We are working to restructure our Juice Bar in order to make sure that you can get a hot cup of coffee all day long, and hope to be able to fulfill on that soon! Thank you, Renee Strobel, Deli Manager—West
COLD-PRESSED CALORIES
Q: I am a longtime fan of your cold-pressed juices. I am wondering how I can find calorie content on your juices? My favorite is the Green Zinger, although I often buy many kinds. And you guys do a great job of displaying the ingredients, but I’m unsure of how to determine caloric info without the amount of each ingredient. Do you have this info available on your ready-made juices that are in the cooler? Caloric content is not on the label, so I was hoping you could help? Thank you!
A: Thanks for reaching out about our juice offerings! We don’t currently have caloric content for our juices because it’s a really difficult thing to have consistency on a product like this. Since we use all fresh and organic fruits and vegetables the recipes tend to vary slightly. Sometimes it takes two apples to get 6 oz. of juice, and other times it may take 3. It just depends on where the crop was grown, how it’s been stored, how long it’s been stored, etc.
I did find this really nifty caloric calculator that can help give you a ballpark idea of how many calories are in a juice and other nutrition content: sprintkitchen.com/juicing-calculator.
The recipe for a Green Zinger is 3-4 apples, 1 two-inch chunk of ginger, half a lemon, 2-3 leaves of kale, and an ounce of wheatgrass.
Also, just as a point of clarification, we do not sell cold-pressed juices that are made in house. We use centrifugal juicers to make all of our juices. I know there’s a lot of different opinions out there about which is better and you can decide for yourself. Since we use centrifugal juicers, we chose to give our juices a 72-hour (or less) shelf life, since we know the nutrients typically degrade a little faster than with a cold-pressed juice.
Please let me know if you have any other questions! Thanks! -Dustin Skelley, Prepared Foods Category Manager