August 02, 2019

JEM's Marcona Almonds – Why Are They the Best?

By Danny Van Dyke

JEM’s Marcona Almonds – Why Are They the Best?

At JEM Organics, we are committed to creating intentional blends that are as nourishing as they are ridiculously delicious. While we do use three nut varieties in our products, I want to focus today on our USDA Certified Organic almonds. We all love almonds for their nutrients, antioxidants, healthy fats, and their tasty delicious crunch. However, there is more to choosing the RIGHT almond than most might think.

I am sure you have heard a lot about JEM Just Eat Me recently and there is a reason for it. We are creating healthy and delicious products for you that use simple, carefully sourced ingredients that address your nutrition concerns… so you don’t have to worry. When sourcing almonds, we specifically choose USDA Certified Organic Spanish almonds. We carefully source the finest organic almonds available and then soak, dehydrate and stone grind them to give you our unique, ultra-creamy almond butter that you have come to love!

We insist on sourcing certified organic Spanish (Marcona) almonds for three main reasons. First, Spanish almonds have an amaretto taste to them unlike the typical California almond. This brings out a sweeter, more buttery flavor that we absolutely love! Second, the majority of almonds that are grown in the United States and used in lesser quality nut butters are required to undergo pasteurization before they can be sold and distributed. For non-organic almonds this typically means being treated with propylene oxide (yuck!). For organic almonds, this typically means roasting, blanching, or a steam treatment. JEM avoids roasted almonds as we know that the level of heat required for roasting can kill off the valuable nutrients that are inside (more on this below). Finally, organic almonds are better for our environment (pesticides are the worst!) and better for our bees (#savethebees). Therefore, we always source truly raw, USDA Certified Organic, Spanish almonds.

Once these wonderful Spanish Marcona almonds arrive at our factory, we rinse them and then soak them in our special solution using a particular type of natural salt. This process breaks down the almond’s phytic acid shell, which allows your body to more easily absorb the essential nutrients that make almonds so good for you (yay!). After they are finished soaking, we drain them and get them ready for dehydrating, the next process step in making our ridiculously delicious almond butters.

Remember how I mentioned that heating the almond can kill off many valuable nutrients in the lesser nut butter brands? Well, JEM uses a USDA-approved proprietary process that heats our almonds to the point of destroying all harmful bacteria while preserving the maximum nutrient value – thus ensuring our products are super-safe for consumption as well as super-nutritious. So, JEM is neither raw nor roasted, we are the just-right in-between mix!

Following this step, we place almonds in our stone grinders and combine with our other high quality, nutrient dense, and certified organic ingredients to create our unique products We stone grind at slow speeds according to a fine-tuned temperature controlled process that preserves those precious nutrients and creates a finished product with the velvety texture and and taste that our fans just love. This requires us to grind our handcrafted nut butters for a long time, but that unique and special JEM taste along with preserving all those healthy nutrients is worth it to us! (Fun fact: our products are stone ground to the point of 20 microns (this is the point your tongue can no longer detect texture), giving us our unique and ultra creamy almond butter!)

We hope you enjoyed learning more about why we think USDA Certified Organic Spanish Marcona almonds are truly the best and why we carefully select them as the almond of choice in handcrafting our ridiculously delicious premium nut butters. We are so thankful to you for choosing JEM’s products and being one of our loyal fans. Stay tuned for more blogs to come as we will continue to feature stories about our carefully selected ingredients and explain more about why JEM is so much better than everything else out there. We hope you’ll spread the word and stay with us on this beautiful and always enlightening, healthy, whole food journey that we are on!

Try our Naked Almond Butter on toast with bananas, honey, and pollen!

Photo by Larrisa Leitner at Bee Seasonal Honey (the best honey ever!)

January 25, 2019

New Year - New Chocolate Hazelnut Butter!

By Nik Rueth

It’s no mystery people love chocolate. A fact we’re very well acquainted with at Jem as we have front row seats watching our fans gobble up our Chocolate Hazelnut Butter. Though, a thought occurred to us: “What if we made it even more chocolatey!” After much experimentation and, yes, delicious taste testing we’re excited to announce Jem’s new, more chocolatey - Chocolate Hazelnut Butter!

In addition to hazelnuts, cacao nibs, coconut sugar and vanilla we’ve added cacao butter and sunflower lecithin to the formula. The effect? Enhanced creaminess, reduced separation and maximized yumminess of this popular Jem flavor.

Cacao Butter needs no introduction. It is, after all, the fatty hallmark flavor people love in chocolate; not to mention rich in Vit. E & Vit. K! Sunflower lecithin though more obscure is no less nutritionally impressive. It boasts high amounts of Vit. E, phosphorus, omega fatty acids along with other vitamins & minerals. It also serves as an “emulsifier” - helping to create a more creamy texture.

We’re excited to hear your thoughts on our new Jem and hope it makes your 2019 even more chocolatey!

August 29, 2018

Every Season is Ice Cream Season!

By Jen Moore

The Best Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

INGREDIENTS

2 cups heavy cream, preferably organic and not ultra-pasteurized
2 cups half-and-half, preferably organic, or 1 cup additional heavy cream plus 1 cup whole milk
½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out with the tip of a sharp knife, or 3 tablespoons (about 8 bags) loose Earl Grey tea plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar or 3/4 cup light corn syrup, more to taste
½ teaspoon salt, more to taste

PREPARATION

In a saucepan or a microwave-safe container, combine cream, half-and-half and vanilla bean and seeds (or tea and vanilla extract). On the stove or in the microwave, bring mixture to a simmer. Immediately turn off heat.
Add sugar or corn syrup and salt and mix until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Taste and add more sugar and salt as needed to balance the flavors. The mixture should taste slightly too sweet when warm; the sweetness will be muted when the ice cream is frozen.
Strain mixture into a container and refrigerate until very cold, at least 4 hours and preferably overnight.
Churn mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Serve immediately or transfer to an airtight container and let freeze until hard.
Drizzle your favorite flavor of Jem!

Recipe from the N.Y. Times.

HTTPS://COOKING.NYTIMES.COM/RECIPES/1017613-EASIEST-VANILLA-ICE-CREAM?REGI=1&JOIN_COOKING_NEWSLETTER=TRUE&REGISTER=GOOGLE

June 08, 2018

Why Organic Almonds?

By Danny Van Dyke

Recently, Max Goldberg from livingmaxwell.com wrote up a fantastic article on why we should be choosing organic almonds. Organic ingredients has always been a founding principle of JEM Organics and something we never have been, and never will be, willing to compromise on. While our almonds are no longer considered "raw" (due to the outbreaks of salmonella); we do still purchase all of our nuts raw. We then soak them in water with pink himalayan salt for 24 hours. Then, we dehydrate them using convectional heat to the point where studies have shown salmonella cannot survive. However, we do not roast to preserve as much of the nutritional value as possible.

Because your health and the health of our planet is our #1 priority, JEM's CEO, Jen Moore, is always staying up to date on all things organic and will continue to make sure all of JEM's products are safe, healthy, and delicious.

Check it out below, share with your friends, and let us know what you think!

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Why Organic Almonds? Because of the Super-Toxic Fumigant Propylene Oxide

Max Goldberg May 29, 2018

As more and more people are moving toward a plant-based diet and migrating away from animal products, organic cannot be forgotten in this equation.

Unfortunately, I see far too many people who think that as long as it is plant-based, that is sufficient. It’s not.

Case in point: almonds.

In the early 2000s, there were a few outbreaks of salmonella traced to raw almonds from California, a state where nearly 100% of America’s almonds are grown. As a result, the USDA implemented a rule that required all almonds grown in California to be pasteurized. This holds true for both organic and non-organic varieties.

What is essential for people to understand are the methods that can be used to pasteurize the nuts.

“California can use steaming, steam-vacuuming technology, blanching, dry-roasting, oil roasting or propylene oxide. However, propylene oxide, also known as PPO, is prohibited in organic,” said Wendy Larsen, General Manager at Big Tree Organic Farms, a California-based grower and manufacturer of organic almonds and almond products.

There is a good reason why the spraying of PPO is banned in organic — it is a super-toxic chemical that is used in foams in furniture and car seats, building insulation, waterproof clothing and aircraft de-icers.

Furthermore, the American Cancer Society says in its National Toxicology Program 14th Report on Carcinogens, PPO is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” That means it is reasonable to assume that PPO causes cancer to humans. Furthermore, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that PPO is a “probable human carcinogen.”

Does this mean that all conventionally-grown almonds, almond butters, almond milks and other almond products apply PPO in order to pasteurize the almonds?

Not necessarily.

There are companies that disclose on their websites that they do not use PPO on their conventional almonds, such as what supermarket chain Natural Grocers says about their almonds sold in bulk. However, unless you are going to contact the manufacturer and ask them directly, you just do not know. This is particularly difficult when you are at a restaurant, and you have absolutely no idea what the brand is. The bottom line is that all conventionally-grown almonds can be treated with PPO.

Even if the conventional almonds are PPO-free, they are allowed to be sprayed with other super-toxic chemicals, such as glyphosate — the primary ingredient in Monsanto’s RoundUp. And according to EPA documents from October 5th, 2015, 85% of almonds are treated with glyphosate. Why should this concern you?

The State of California said that glyphosate is known “to cause cancer.”

Because of the salmonella outbreak many years ago, even California-grown organic almonds must be pasteurized. So, the question that some people may be asking is: what do you do if you want organic almonds that are truly raw and unpasteurized?

There are options.

Because of the Roadside Stand Exemption in California’s almond pasteurization law, consumers can purchase up to 100 pounds of organic, unpasteurized almonds per day directly from farmers. Or, you can purchase organic, unpasteurized almonds which have been grown abroad,such as from Italy.

If buying in bulk is too inconvenient, there are companies that source their almonds from overseas.

Jem Organics, a fantastic brand of organic almond butters, purchases its raw, organic almonds from Spain.

Jen Moore, founder of Jem Organics, told me, “We have done extensive testing on the organic almonds from Spain for both mold and chemicals, and they have all come back clean.”

Whether you prefer pasteurized or unpasteurized almonds, one thing is certain — they must be organic.

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Find the original article here: https://livingmaxwell.com/conventional-almonds-propylene-oxide-ppo-health-risks#more-12116

Jem Organic Nut Butter Blog