Ocean Mist Farms Brings California Artichokes to Minn. At Kowalski's

Shoppers at the new Kowalski's Market in Eagan, Minn., got a fresh taste of California last week when Ocean Mist Farms served artichoke recipes as part of the store's grand opening.

Ocean Mist Farms served 1,800 servings of grilled fresh long-stem artichokes with artichoke hummus on Nov. 20-21. The Ocean Mist Farms demo team showed shoppers how to use a potato peeler to remove the outside strands of a long-stem artichoke to prepare for cooking.

Once the artichoke was cooked, the demo team used a food processor to make artichoke hummus with garbanzo beans.

"Having Ocean Mist at Kowalski's brought the entire produce department to life and taught shoppers how to be passionate about artichokes," said Terri Bennis, v.p. of fresh food operations for the Woodbury, Minn-based Kowalski's, which operates nine upscale grocery stores.

One shopper, Marielle DuBois of Green Bay, Wisc., said she would never have tried a fresh artichoke if Ocean Mist Farms had not been demonstrating how to prepare and cook them in the produce department. "I am back to buy more artichokes today," DuBois said.

Joe Feldman, v.p. of sales and marketing for the Castroville, Calif.-based Ocean Mist, said education is an important part of the company's marketing program.

"Research shows that shoppers are interested in learning more how to use artichokes and why they should eat artichokes," Feldman said. "We appreciate the opportunity to work with our retail partners, like Kowalski's Markets, to educate shoppers."
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