My first four articles on the Natural Products Expo West were looking at specific categories of exhibitors found there. But then there are some that don’t fall under any group, they’re just worth mentioning. Here are those great companies that simply rank as my general favorites.
There are so many reasons to love Eden Foods. They’re yet another organic success story of sustainable products sold across the country. They manage to do a number of things that only a small number businesses, let alone organic businesses, happen to do. Eden was one of the first companies to use BPA-free cans and still is one of the few that does. Even less brands have BPA-free cans that don’t end up being worse than ones with BPA. Eden Foods makes them the correct way. They’re also one of the only companies that soak their legumes correctly when they’re canned.
Another plus about Eden Foods are their raw vinegars. Most vinegars on the market are pasteurized. Eden sells naturally fermented raw red wine and apple cider vinegars. They also have mustards that use their apple cider vinegar, making them the only supermarket mustard I’ll buy.
Eden Foods has a large line of products and after visiting their booth, I discovered there were many more that I didn’t know about. The representative at the booth handed me an extensive catalog that lists everything they produce and these products can be ordered over their website if you can’t find them in grocery stores.
Essential Living Foods is a company based out of Culver City, CA. They’re another organic business with a large variety of offerings, including nuts, olives, spices, oils, and much more. They pride themselves on sustainability at all stages from how their products are all fair trade to the biodegradable packages their foods are in to their offices that are run on solar power. Their foods are available mainly through order over the Internet.
Maple syrup is a great type of natural sweetener to use in place of sugar. Many maple syrups on the market add high fructose corn syrup, which makes no sense to me as maple syrup is sweet in and of itself. Citadelle sells pure maple syrup as a co-op consisting of local maple producers in the Canadian providence of Quebec.
Sea Snax has it right when they bill their product as “strangely addictive”. A couple years ago when I was first offered a piece of seaweed snack from a co-worker, I quickly declined. Then last year at the Expo, I decided to try them and was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I was addicted right after that. And seaweed is a great source of minerals, especially iodine, which is good for your thyroid. Sea Snax come in a number of flavors including chipotle, which won me over with them even more.