Foodtown - September 2018

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of heading north to the Catskill Mountains, you might have stumbled across one of the best- kept company secrets. Nestled next to the east fork of the Delaware River, the Freshtown of Margaretville is a great place for locals and passersby alike. At the center of this amazing store is Debbie Rosa, one of our company’s star employees. Debbie has worked at this store for nearly 40 years; she worked for the company that owned the location before we took it over 10 years ago. Having spent 27 years working as the deli manager for a corporate chain, Debbie would be the first to tell you how much of a change Freshtown is for her. “I’m working for a family-owned business, and that’s different from a big corporation. A lot different,” Debbie says. “Everyone here is community-minded and employee-minded. They’ve embraced our families too.” Families have each other's backs, and we try to display that level of caring for our team members when they go through tough times. “They’ve given me a lot of support over the last few years, and I’m very appreciative of that,” Debbie says. DEBBIE ROSA IS MY NAME Foodtown Service Is My Game

WHY YOU NEED TO INCORPORATE GHEE INTO YOUR COOKING For hundreds of years, cooks throughout the Middle East and India have known about the magic of ghee. They cook with it, spread it over bread, and use it as a sauce. Ghee is a type of clarified butter. The butter is simmered for a longer period of time than standard clarified butter in order to render out as much water as possible. Then the remaining milk solids are strained away. The resulting ghee has a rich, nutty flavor. Even better, ghee is shelf-stable, doesn’t need refrigeration, and can last a long time — though once you start using it, it’s unlikely to sit around for very long. While ghee hasn’t quite entered the mainstream yet, it’s on the verge of becoming a kitchen staple in the U.S. The reasons why are simple: It’s delicious and better for you than regular butter. In fact, for a food that’s almost entirely fat — ghee is 99.5 percent fat, and 60 percent of that is saturated fat — it boasts quite a few health benefits. Ghee is packed with healthy fat to help your body utilize fat-soluble vitamins and minerals more effectively. It’s also a great source of vitamins A, E, and K2. And ghee is a source of HDL cholesterol, often called the “good” cholesterol. In the kitchen, ghee is exceptionally versatile in all kinds of dishes. It has a high smoke point at 485 degrees (ordinary butter has a smoke point of 350 degrees), making it perfect for sautéing and frying. It makes an ideal replacement for vegetable and canola oil in recipes. You can even use it in place of coconut oil. You can find ghee at most grocery stores, though it’s most readily available at specialty grocers. You can also make it right at home. All you need is a pound of high-quality butter (organic, grass-fed is best) and a saucepan. Bring the butter to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and let it simmer. The butter should foam and bubble, and then the foam should disappear. Continue simmering the butter until it foams a second time. This means it’s done! The butter will be a golden color, and brown milk solids will sink to the bottom of the pan. Pour it through a fine wire-mesh strainer or cheesecloth into a heatproof and airtight container. Butter makes it better, but ghee makes it grand.

When you work with people, you need to have a certain mindset. There are very few people better at serving others than Debbie. “I

love working with people,” she says. “They aren’t just customers. Some of them are friends. I know most of my customers by name.” That level of intimacy makes Debbie irreplaceable in our store. “We’re all about customer service. People appreciate the friendliness of our store. People come to our town to relax, and we want our store to mirror that.”

We’re proud to have someone as passionate and dedicated to their craft as Debbie. If you’re ever in the Catskills, stop by and ask her for her favorite cut of roast beef. She won’t let you down.

Want free groceries? Simply use your club card to earn points. Then grab the Free Items sheet at the register and redeem your points for free groceries. It's that simple. *Available at the store location on the back of this newsletter. FREE GROCERIES — REALLY!

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