local

I'm always on the look out for amazing new products to add to our gift baskets. Checking out specialty shops, farmers markets, doing internet research to name a few, looking for the best delicious, locally sourced, organic and fair trade products. Gourmet foods, snacks, spa and body care products, coffee, tea, and of coursemany people's favorite, chocolate. There are days when something unexpected shows up, a package that wasn't ordered, someone sending me something to check out. This past spring I received one such package, from Sara Redpath of Sarandipity, a local chocolatier in Ladysmith, BC on Vancouver Island, filled with samples of her organic and fair trade chocolate creations. Another day at the office!

A few Sarandipity products really stood out for us so we decided to add them to our corporate gifts and gift boxes:

Chocolate Smores - graham cracker, marshmellow and chocolate goodness, without the mess of making them over the fire or the nasty preservatives in those store bought chocolate marshmellow cookies

Artisan Hot Chocolate - we tried Sara's 'A weekend in Paris'. Definitely a nice sweet treat on a rainy day. She's also got a whole bunch of other flavoured hot chocolates we've yet to try.

Northwest Chocolate Hazelnut Bark - thin, crispy, dark chocolate bark sprinkled with ground local hazelnuts. Nuff said. The bag didn't last long in our office.

Top 3 things we like about Sarandipity

1. Making it happen - we like how Sara just sent us her awesome chocolate knowing that we'd want it for our cool gift boxes
2. No compromises - Sarandipity chocolates taste great. Sourcing only organic and/or fair trade chocolate and cocoa ensure social and environmental responsibility. Not only does the chocolate make me feel good, so do the values.
3. Peace - That's how Sara signs her emails! Root natty root.

Over the last few months we've been working closely with Rachel at CocoaNymph on a line of specialy artisan nuts. Delicious and original these are a fantastic corporate gift to send to an office or to take to a dinner party. Easy to share, unique flavours, and damb tasty the nuts are the kind of thing you probably wouldn't buy for yourself but would be happy to enjoy.

Sustainable packaging

Each selection of nuts is packaged in a PLA biodegradable tub. PLA is derived from corn. Although corn is one of the most genetically modified crops in North America and debated given its requirements for water and fertilizers I think supporting the development of biodegradable packaging is worthwhile. With more and more people thinking about what happens to waste and packaging we raise awareness and people become more conscious consumers. This is the direction we need to go as a society. We sourced the packaging from Susanna at BSI Biodegradable Solutions, the go to source for sustainable packaging in Vancouver, BC.  100% recycled gift boxes round out the package for a great sustainable corporate gift.

Artisan specialty nuts

1. My favorite are the local Agassiz cocoa espresso covered hazelnuts. Damb. These are delicious morsels of goodness. There's not much out there in the market quite like these little treasures. Aggasiz hazelnuts are a high end quality product from the Lower Mainland, BC. Their unique shape make each little treat a little bit different.
2. Dark chocolate almond culsters with sea salt. The most popular nuts in our office these ones are hard to keep around. Sweet and savoury.
3. Caramalized walnuts in a balsamic reduction. Soft tangy goodness. Not something that you'd expect, truely nice flavour on this classic nut.
4. Candied spiced pecans. The first candied nut to come out from the CocoaNymph shop. Where it all began.

Gift boxes filled with the selection of 4 artisan nuts are priced at $40 from Saul Good.

Don't forget about the chocolate!

Rachel is a fantastic chocolatier! She's got a great selection of chocolate truffles and chocolate bars. CocoaNymph is a quaint shop up on 10th Ave West in Point Grey and is a happening little music venue on occasion. If you're in the neighbourhood check it out, grab a coffee or loose leaf tea, some chocolates and kick back. It's a good vibe. In the summer they've got some great natural ice creams as well.

Top 3 reasons CocoaNymph makes an excelent corporate gift

1. Easy to share. One of the key ingredients to a successful client gift sent to an office. An amazing product that everyone will get a taste of.
2. Local. Made fresh in Vancouver these gifts not only support a strong local economy but also local farmers.
3. Artisan. Delicious original unique creatations. You've got to try the cocoa covered espresso hazelnuts - fantastic!

I love my job! I got this call yesterday from Russell at UrbanSweet Honey asking me if I was interested in high quality honey made by bees in Vancouver. He prefaced his offer, letting me know that he's only looking to work with retailers that have high end quality products that understand the value the local artisans. It was an easy answer, Russell found his guy.

The product is 100% pure wildflower which is a blend of various plants, maple, dandelion, blueberry and clover. Basically all the various plants you might find in your Vancouver neighbourhood. Russell's bees live near the PNE so this honey is East Van all the way.

Strengthen your immune system

Eating honey from your local ecosystem is good for your immune system as your body becomes more balanced with the local environment as the bees collect pollen from local plants. If you've got mild allergies, eating a little bit of pollen from the plants that give you problems can help your body create an immunity. Tom Ogren, a California horticulturalist and botanist, advocates for the use of small amounts of local (like a few mile radius from your home) to help with allergies. If you have severe allergies you need to be really careful as eating a small amount could cause an adverse reaction so act with caution. UrbanSweet Honey, although lightly filtered still contains pollen, bees wax and propolis, all good things for the immune system.

How local is local?

Bees live in a 2-3 mile radius from their hive so if you want to be truly hardcore, this is what local means to ensure the pollen you're eating is from the plants you encounter. Of course where you live, work and travel affects what local means in this case. Most artisan honeys that you'll find at the farmers market could be local but there are different kinds of bee keepers (or apiarists) which you should know about to help you with your decisions:

1) Migratory - these bee keepers travel up and down the coast to let their bees live in different areas during different season, from California to the BC interior. In this case 'local' doesn't mean much unless you're a gypsy or a rolling stone.

2) Stationary - these bee keepers live and keep their bees in one place, thus local is the radius of how far the bees travel.

In Vancouver there are a few urban bee keepers. Apparently there are bees in Strathcona Community Garden, in addition to bee hives on the roof of the Fairmont Vancouver and the new Vancouver Convention Center. We've seen honey bees on our green roof, so they are getting around!

Top 3 things I love about UrbanSweet Honey

1) The honey is so rich and smooth, the taste lingers ever so slightly and lasts in a good way.

2) Local - as local as it gets, did I mention it's good? Really good!

3) Clean - UrbanSweet is processed in a professional certified food products facility. No need to worry if dem dirty as dreadlocks from the farmers market are getting up in your food.

GreenOne Ventures is an amazing local company with deep committments to sustainability. After meeting at Sustainability 2.0 and talking more with GreenOne founder Melissa Blyth I was quick to realize a great opportunity to work together. Not only are GreenOne bags super stylie, fashion forward, and practical but also locally manufactured while supporting the local arts community. Melissa is commited to having a positive impact on the world as seen by the depth of her consideration in sourcing materials and partners in this enterprise. Saul Good is happy to announce that we've started to offer her bags, not only as great gifts on their own, but also as packaging options for our corporate gifts, gourmet gift baskets and boxes.

Supporting the local arts community

To ensure that GreenOne has a positive impact on our local community Melissa founded Give A Shirt, a social venture that hires local DTES artists such as the infamous Ken Foster, Garnet Tobacco and Lauren Javor. Proceeds from the sale of each shirt go directly to the artists as royalties and a portion of profits from the program go into a social venture fund to address social and economic development issues in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Top 5 things we like about Green One

1. Funky designs from local artists
2. Functional, comfortable to carry, even a couple great places to stash a bottle of wine or two
3. Sustainable materials - the conventional cotton industry uses 16% of the world's chemical pesticide use¹, damaging fresh water sources, the health of farmers and our ecology as a whole. Feel good about purchasing organic cotton, it's making Earth a better place to live.
4. Social justice - The Give a Shirt program is rad! Support for local artists and opportunties for residents in the downtown eastside helps to create an inclusive community that empowers people and values diversity.
5. Reusable shopping bags eliminate the need for plastic bags. Every time you use a GreenOne bag it reduces the need for plastic bags by 2. Plastic comes from oil/gas and we're running out of that. GreenOne helps you to be part of the solution, and do it in style!