Community Food Co-op

Voted Bellingham's best grocery store. Full-service deli, hot bar, salad bar featuring organic, local, and natural foods. Everyone can shop, anyone can join. Co+op, stronger together.

Welcome! Everyone can shop the Community Food Co-op!
360-734-8158|
  • menu bar three linesMENU
    • Shop Online
    • Hours & Locations
      • Community Food Co-op, Downtown Store, 1220 North Forest Street at Holly StreetDowntown Store
        1220 North Forest Street at Holly Street
        Bellingham, Washington
        7 am - 9 pm
        360-734-8158
      • Cordata Co-Op exteriorCordata Store
        315 Westerly Road at Cordata Parkway
        Bellingham, Washington
        7 am - 9 pm
        360-734-8158
    • In Our Stores
      • Celebrating Our Co-op’s 50th Anniversary
      • Community Rooms
      • Customer Input
      • How to Shop
      • Dirty Dozen / Clean 15
      • Service Desk
      • What’s on Sale?
      • Contact Us
    • Departments
      • Bakery
      • Bulk
      • The Co-op Bakery Cafe
      • Dairy & Refrigerated
      • Deli & Deli To Go
      • Floral & Garden
      • Grocery
      • Meat & Seafood
      • Mercantile
      • Produce
      • Specialty Cheese
      • Wellness
      • Wine, Beer, & Spirits
    • About Us
      • Awards
      • Co-op Blog
      • Magazine & E-news
      • Our History
      • Strategic Plan
      • Sustainability at the Co-op
      • Vision, Mission, and Values
      • Contact Us
    • Community Giving
      • Community Shopping Days
      • Donations & Sponsorships
      • Donate at our Registers
      • Farm Fund
      • The Real Food Show
    • Join Us
      • Become a Co-op Member • Join Today!
      • Board of Directors
      • Employment
      • Local Business Partners
      • Sell to the Co-op
    • Recipes
      • Recipes
      • Cooking Videos
  • What’s on Sale?
  • Bakery Online Orders
  • Shop Online
  • Careers
  • Join Today!
  • Cooking Classes
  • Hours and Locations
You are here: Home / Archives for cured

Charcuterie

by Robin Elwood, Downtown Deli Assistant Manager

deli worker handing wrapped package to customer, salami

Mike in the Cordata deli will slice your charcuterie to order (with a smile!).

The Co-op is proud to announce the arrival of Fra’ Mani and Creminelli charcuteries! Co-op deli staff sought out the highest quality, artisan, handcrafted, additive-free meats for our shoppers, and we are excited to share them with you. Curious to learn more about what makes these two purveyors exceptional? Read on, and ask for a sample the next time you are in the deli.

the highest quality, artisan, handcrafted, additive-free meats

Fra’ Mani, based in Berkeley, California, represents approximately a decade of artisanal, hand-packed, naturally cured meat. Started by slow-food chef Paul Bertolli, their mission is to “keep old world traditions alive...using ingredients of the highest quality from sustainable sources.” Their meat, chiefly pork, comes from family farmers committed to the well-being of their animals and their land. The animals are never given antibiotics, artificial growth hormones, growth-promoting agents, or meat by-products, and are raised on pasture or in deeply bedded pens.

Creminelli, the other main supplier of the Co-op’s new charcuterie assortment, is at least a fourth-generation family producer of Salumi. The current generation moved from Italy to Utah in 2007, bringing the company with them, and searched for a landscape and an heirloom breed of pig suitable for making their traditional recipes. Their Duroc-breed pigs are raised in open living conditions, with all-natural standards similar to Fra’ Mani’s.

Many artisan producers pride themselves on the “story” that goes with their food, and both Fra’ Mani and Creminelli’s websites put family origin and culinary vision front and center. However, any corporation can write a vague story to go with their product. What sets these producers apart is a verifiable commitment to specific animal welfare and sustainability practices. And, of course, by their insistence that what they do creates an especially delicious product.

The real test comes when a room full of professional meat eaters sits in a back room at the Co-op’s Cordata store passing around a plate of charcuterie. Andy Adams, a representative from Peterson (one of the Co-op’s distributors), was running the deli slicer and leading a training on the vocabulary and variety of Italian-style preserved meats.

Andy led the group quickly through the definitions: salumi is a general Italian term for salted, cured, meats including salami, mortadella, sopressata, lardo, porchetta, cotta, etc. The cuts of meat, spices added, and curing times vary, but all of them originated as ways of preserving meat before refrigeration. They have endured due to both their durability and their tastiness.

“One of the great things about salami calabrese is that, despite the Calabrian pepper flakes giving it some heat, you also taste the flavor of the heirloom pork. Unless a customer wants something different, slice it about as thin as a dime,” said Andy.

At this point, Andy pauses and looks around the room. Everyone is eating salami calabrese. No one is listening to him.

“Oh,” he said. “Should I slice some more of that and hand it around again?”

The Cordata deli launched the new line of charcuterie first, and customers have been wildly responsive. Additionally, the deli team has some blockbuster sandwich suggestions utilizing slices of the various offerings. Downtown, the deli remodel delayed the arrival of these new products, but some of the smaller salami is available in the specialty cheese case. If all goes as planned, the full assortment will also be available in the Downtown deli by early February—sliced to order, with descriptions and samples galore.

And, yes, it includes that salami calabrese that stops all conversation.

Learn more at framani.com and creminelli.com.

Tweet

DELI & CATERING charcuterie| cured| deli| meat| natural| traditional

Categories

  • BAKERY
  • BULK
  • DELI & CATERING
  • EQUITY, DIVERSITY, & INCLUSION
  • FARM FUND
  • FLORAL & GARDEN
  • GROCERY
  • HOLIDAY
  • HOT OFF THE PRESS
  • LOCAL
  • MEAT & SEAFOOD
  • NUTRITION
  • PRODUCE
  • RECIPES
  • SALES
  • SPECIALITY DIET
  • SPECIALTY CHEESE
  • SUSTAINABILITY
  • THE CO-OP DIFFERENCE
  • UNCATEGORIZED
  • WELLNESS
  • WINE, BEER, & SPIRITS
thanksgiving dinner spread

Our Guide to Holiday Turkeys Available at the Co-op

All the turkeys available for purchase at the Co-op are from Mary’s Turkeys. Choose from three fresh, never-frozen turkeys: natural, organic, and heritage.

package of tortillas con madre tortillas locally made in bellingham washington

A Visit To Tortillas Con Madre

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo early this year by visiting one of our favorite local companies, Tortillas Con Madre! Hear Lupita’s story and check out behind the scenes footage of production day at the tortilla factory.

Stephanie Says

Stephanie Says

The cheese case can be overwhelming. Don’t know where to start? Check out recommendations from our Downtown Specialty Cheese manager, Stephanie.

enews-sign-up-image

get connected and save - click here to sign up for our e-news

DOWNTOWN STORE & DELI • map • 360-734-8158 • 7 am – 9 pm
meat and deli counter: 7 am – 7 pm
made-to-order counter: 7 am – 6 pm
salad/hot bar: 7 am – 6 pm

CORDATA STORE & DELI • map • 360-734-8158 • 7 am – 9 pm
meat and deli counter: 7 am – 7 pm
made-to-order counter: 7 am – 6 pm
salad/hot bar: 7 am – 7 pm

Facebook Instagram Twitter TikTok

Machine Readable Files

Copyright © 2023 Community Food Co-op

0