Local & Organic

“Eating is an agricultural act.“

-Wendell Berry

At Bagel Grove, we strive to source more and more of our ingredients from local, small scale agricultural producers and/or from organic sources. This is part of our “family values” as our sister owns and operates a small scale vegetable farm in Sauquoit. If you know of any farms that might have products that we carry here, please let us know! We are always working to increase our connections with the local agricultural community. Some products that you can look for at Bagel Grove:

Whole Wheat Bagels

Our whole wheat bagels are made from 100% Organic Whole Wheat Flour that is grown and milled by Farmer Ground Flour in the Finger Lakes, less than 100 miles from Bagel Grove. Even better, the flour is delivered to us shortly after milling, and as a result, the flavor is much better, without the bitterness that some people associate with whole-wheat products. (The naturally occurring oils that are in the germ of the wheat grain begin to go rancid once the grain has been milled… using fresh ground flour eliminates that “off” flavor.) Now Available: 5 lb. bags of Farmer Ground Whole Wheat Bread Flour and Polenta (Corn Meal) that you can bake with at your home!

Cream Cheese

We mix the flavors and package all the cream cheese fresh on the premises. We are excited by a new relationship that we have built with Peter and Suzie Jones from Jones Family Farm in Herkimer where we are now sourcing about 30% of our cream cheese. All of our flavors of Lite cream cheese are 100% local, fresh cheese made by the Jones Family, and it is the best cream cheese you will ever taste, and it’s naturally low fat!

Fresh, Local Eggs

We source our eggs used throughout the shop directly from local farms: Berry Hill Farm in Deansboro and Jones Family Farm in Herkimer, and Happy Hens Natural Brown Barn eggs from Westwind Farms in Interlaken, New York. These chickens are pasture-raised, resulting in much healthier eggs: • 1⁄3 less cholesterol• 1⁄4 less saturated fat• 2⁄3 more vitamin A• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids• 3 times more vitamin E• 7 times more beta carotene (Source) . These eggs are used in our famously delicious breakfast sandwiches, our egg bagels, egg salad and are available for sale by the dozen.

Coffee & Tea

We serve only 100% organic and fair-trade coffees and teas from Equal Exchange. These high quality coffees and teas are grown in sustainable conditions that benefit the growers’ communities in concrete ways. We also sell delicious, organic and fair-trade gourmet chocolate bars made by Equal Exchange. For more information, visit EqualExchange.coop

Equal Exchange Coffee

Also, we sell Equal Exchange whole-bean coffee by the pound. Don’t have a grinder at home? No problem – we have a self-serve grinder for you to grind your coffee here to your own specifications.

Milk & Yogurt

We offer organic, non-homogenized whole milk produced by Pittsford Farm Dairy in Pittsford, NY for sale in glass quarts (return the glass jar for a refund of your $1 deposit). This milk has the “cream on top” for a real treat! Also, we offer yogurt and yogurt smoothies in single-serving and quarts. This yogurt is organic and produced from 100% grass-fed cows, which makes a real difference. Check out Maple Hill Creamery in Little Falls for more info!

Honey

All of the honey used in our bagels and cream cheese comes from Wild Mountain Apiaries in Barnaveld. Now Available: Wild Mountain Apiaries Honey for sale in 1 and 2 lb. jars. Also available: Extra Raw Unheated Honey, Cinnamon Raw Honey and Creamed Honey in 1 lb. jars.

Local Fruit Butters & Maple Products

We now offer delicious Strawberry and Blueberry Butters from Tassleberry Farm in Westmoreland, NY. Also, try Maple Cream or Maple Sugar from Tibbitts Maple Farm in New Hartford, NY. Both of these farms produce incomparable products that also happen to go fantastically on a bagel! We also carry Tibbitts Maple Syrup and Tassleberry Farm’s other great products: Strawberry and Blueberry Vinegars, Marinades and Salsas.

Other Organic Ingredients in our Bagels & Cream Cheese

Raisins
Sunflower, Pumpkin and Flax Seeds
Millet and Rolled Oats

Bagels

We make all of our bagels from scratch on the premises. Our bagels are all natural and contain no preservatives.

Certified?

Some of our farmer friends are “USDA-Certified” Organic and others are not… we feel that there are some valid criticisms of the USDA Organic label, especially in the way that some large-scale producers take advantage of loopholes (that they paid lobbyists big bucks to get written into the law). The best way to know for sure about the conditions under which your food is grown is to get to know who grows, raises and produces your food, not just trust a label.

Here is one article with some opinions on the short-comings of the USDA-Organic certification requirements.