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.
All Co-op locations will close at 8 pm on New Year's Eve. Happy 2018!
Both the Cordata and Downtown stores close at 8 pm today. The bakery cafe closes at 4 pm as usual. Enjoy your New Year's Eve festivities.
All locations open at 10 am New Year's Day (Wednesday).
Stop in and save! Need recommendations? Ask our wine stewards: Tim at the Cordata store or Vic at the Downtown store.
Feeding a crowd? Dazzle ’em with simple hors d’oeuvres and delicious cheese!
My suggestion? Bring a smile to everyone’s face with a round of Ile de France Brie, topped with Divina Sour Cherry Spread, and paired with La Panzanella Gluten-Free Oat Thins.
This simple yet posh dish brings so many flavors for a few minutes of work, plus it won’t break the bank!
Feeding a crowd? Let them nibble on these irresistible morsels.
If you’re anything like me, you love the holidays! We enjoy getting together with friends and family. But, when you really think about it, we love the holidays because we love to eat. The holiday recipes that seem too fancy for everyday living make us all feel like we are gourmet chefs in the kitchen. It’s a chance to impress your family members while trying something new.
you’ll supply the amazing hors d’oeuvres
This year, the specialty cheese department is here to help excite you and all your friends with delicious easy-to-prepare treats. Let the family gourmet chefs prepare the main courses; you’ll supply the amazing hors d’oeuvres!
My suggestion? Bring a smile to everyone’s face with a round of Ile de France Brie, topped with Divina Sour Cherry Spread, and paired with La Panzanella Gluten-Free Oat Thins, as pictured above.
This simple yet posh dish brings so many flavors for a few minutes of work, plus it won’t break the bank!
Ile de France is a mild brie and great for anyone just starting to try soft ripened cheeses. It has a slight mushroomy scent with a tangy aftertaste that pairs perfectly with the sweet and sour cherry spread.
The new Gluten-Free Oat Thins from La Panzanella in Seattle is a great option if you are trying to please everyone’s palate and consider various dietary needs. La Panzanella has long been a best-seller at the Co-op and their new gluten-free crackers don’t disappoint.
A basic serving suggestion is 1 to 1 1/2 ounces of each cheese per person; round down if you are serving three or more cheese varieties, round up if serving only one or two cheeses.
Another great option when feeding the masses is a cheese tray.
grab something for everyone and fill your platter with salamis, cheeses, olives, fruits, and crackers
Grab something for everyone and fill your platter with salamis, cheeses, olives, fruits, and crackers. The Co-op has some approachable and affordable suggestions.
A great starter cheese tray would look something like:
(see descriptions of each selection below)
Simply add your favorite meat and fruit, and enjoy!
The cheese case can be overwhelming. Don’t know where to start? These selections offer something to please everyone.
Popular Dutch cheese with a pleasantly mild, fresh taste and pure white color. It is made from light, fresh goats’ milk, formed into classic Gouda-style wheels and aged to a rich yet mellow flavor and a creamy smooth texture. It’s a great “beginners” goat cheese.
Uses: Texture is firm enough to slice or cube, but also melts beautifully in anything: omelets, pizza, or quesadillas.
Mild, buttery flavor reminiscent of a silky triple-crème. The texture is a thick, nearly whipped spread of tangy, milky goodness. A flawless rind adds flavor to the sweetness of the cheese.
Uses: Popular on cheese platters with a sweetness that pairs well with champagne and fresh fruit. Smooth and gooey when warm from the oven: serve with crackers or toasted crusty French bread slices, topped with Divina Sour Cherry Spread, or wrapped in phyllo and baked for an impressive Brie en Croûte.
Creamy texture with nutty, earthy flavors that range from stone fruit to brown butter. Captures the essence of a raw-milk, mountain pasture-fed cow’s milk cheese.
Uses: Super versatile and fairly firm, it can be sliced, cubed, or grated. Great eaten by itself, or used in cooking. Those nutty flavors work well melted into everything from fondue to Croque Monsieur—or jazz up a bowl of mac & cheese, sprinkle over veggies, or fold into a plate of eggs.
Melt-in-your-mouth, buttery, full but mild flavor, with notes of sweet grass and wildflowers. A thick, creamy disc of fresh sheep’s milk with a fudgy center and downy velvet rind. The sheep graze lush floral pasture on the Causses, a group of limestone plateaus rich in minerality in the South of France.
Uses: At room temperatures, it gets almost unctuous and runny, making it perfect to spread on crackers or a baguette with sour cherry jam and toasted nuts on the side.
Classic bloomy rind and soft paste with earthy and vegetal aromas that intensify as the cheese ripens. Full-flavored and mildly funky, with flavors that range from milk and sweet cream to mushroom and cauliflower.
Uses: follow suggestions for Fromager d’Affinois
Delicious shimmery spreads from Divina are customer and staff favorites all year long, but particularly popular during the holiday entertaining season.
Uses: Serve one of these spreads on the side or generously spread over a rich brie or smooth goat cheese to instantly elevate your appetizer plate. Choose from sour cherry, fig, and orange fig.
These olives were my gateway olive. Never having liked olives in the past, I was encouraged to try these. I was not disappointed. Castelvetranos upon first glance stand out because of their lively, pale shade of green. They are firm and meaty with a mild and buttery taste that’s both salty and sweet. They appeal not only to olive aficionados, but also to those who shy away from stronger, brinier varieties.
The Co-op is here to make entertaining a breeze! Every department in our stores is stocked with carefully selected items to make your gathering special: bakery, deli, specialty cheese, wine and spirits, produce, meat, and grocery.
Choose from a wide variety of made from scratch, delicious sweets and savories for your next gathering.
The Co-op bakery has you covered with all types of goodies from custom cakes to cookie trays.
The Co-op deli-to-go offers trays and entrees to keep your guests fed and happy. Veggie, fruit, cheese, meats, kabobs, sandwiches ... choose your tray! Or, order an entree of your choice that is ready to heat and eat: spinach lasagna, veggie and bean enchilada, chicken enchilada, or vegetable frittata (recommend serving cold). Or you can simply stop by the deli service case or specialty cheese case and choose from our ample selection!
Choose from our large array of scratch-made dips and spreads, cheese, charcuterie, olives, crackers, and other goodies to create a finger-food panoply that your guests will love. Need advice on pairings? Just ask our cheese buyers or deli counter staff. We're happy to help! Consider adding a bottle of wine or spirits!
Order cakes, cupcakes, and more online from the Co-op bakery and choose to pick up your order in either of our stores or choose no-contact drive-though pickup at the Holly Street bakery building.
The bakery team makes every recipe by hand—cracking every egg and decorating every item to make each treat as beautiful as it is delicious. Our selection of Valentine’s Day treats has something for everyone.
The Co-op Bakery is ready to delight with traditional bakery treats, beautiful custom creations, and heavenly tasting allergen-free sweets and savories. Our talented bakers love a challenge, so dream big!
