Additional Products
At Chubeza, we value the direct connection between consumers and producers and encourage our friends to familiarize themselves with the food they eat. To this end, we have partnered with a number of small producers, some from literally around the corner and others from the far reaches of our tiny country, whose products may be added to your boxes: organic fruit, granola and cookies, flour and semolina, sprouts, goat cheeses, honey, crackers, dates, probiotic foods, dried fruits and leathers, olive oil and olives, sourdough bread and baked goods. This type of person-to-person economic relationship also contributes to the support and continued sustainment of local independent businesses.
Below is a brief description of each of our affiliated producers. A detailed list of items and prices can be found on our online order system (for registered Chubeza members).
Danny & Galit’s Granola and Health Cookies
A few years ago, Danny and Galit founded a small, but oh so sweet, family business, calling it…what else? – Danny and Galit! Following careful R&D, during which they conducted taste testing and quality control of the granola mixed and baked in their own kitchen on Moshav Kidron near Gedera, Danny and Galit started selling their granola, and soon a variety of cookies, guided always by a commitment to healthful whole ingredients and uncomplicated preparation methods. Today, Danny and Galit offer granola, cookies and biscuits in a range of tempting flavors, and still with the feeling of home. Simply delicious.
Maggie is a fellow organic grower with a large vegetable garden at her home in Nataf in the Judean hills. Every week she distributes to dozens of families, just like Chubeza. Maggie began her sprouting career by attempting to sprout virtually everything in sight wherever there was a free corner in her house. After this learning curve, Maggie settled her focus on about ten different types of sprouts. Now, in a small hothouse behind her own house, Maggie produces a wealth of sprouts that vary in taste, color and appearance. Although soft and tender, these baby plants pack a powerhouse of health and vitality. This more than mundane miracle unfolds continuously right in Maggie’s backyard.
Melo Hatene Fruits
Hilaf Menahem specializes in growing fruit at his farm “Melo Hatene” (meaning “bountiful basket,” the Hebrew equivalent of cornucopia). Hilaf is a close neighbor – in order to deliver his produce to us, he only has to cross the low hills separating our fields from his orchards in Karme Yosef. At Melo Hatene the Menahem family has created a special, magical place, where instead of a large monoculture containing a single fruit variety, there thrives a marvelously mixed orchard of many varied fruit trees, bushes and climbing vines, interspersed with vegetables, herbs and every imaginable plant. The diversity of fruit includes familiar friends like apples, citrus, plums and grapes, alongside raspberries, guava, annona (sugar apple), figs, pomegranates, loquats and more. The fruits available vary with the season. You can order a small/large box on a regular basis, choose individual fruit by weight, or put in a personal order directly to Hilaf.
Minhat Ha’aretz Flours
Stone-ground by Assaf in Pardes Hana, this flour is especially great since it is from Israeli wheat, growing mainly not far from Assaf in the Bet She’an Valley. From the moment of grinding, the flour is refrigerated to discourage insect and other pest development. In addition to 100% whole wheat flour, Assaf prepares a 70% wheat flour (reduced bran), spelt flour, rye flour (both imported), as well as coarse-ground semolinas from the above grains. The following specialty flours are also available: rice, corn, oats, buckwheat, white spelt and quinoa. All flours are organic and of excellent quality.
Yotav Dairy Goat Cheeses
Rona of the Yotav Dairy gathers goat milk from several herds around the country, some on remote homesteads, others on somewhat larger farms, but all grazing primarily on the plants growing in their particular pastures. Most are even milked manually! Once collected at the small dairy, the milk is made into a wide variety of premium milk products including milk, yogurts, and soft and hard cheeses. The products do not undergo homogenization and are manufactured without preservatives.
Tamir’s Honey
Tamir and Daniella live on Moshav Sha’al in the Golan Heights. As a beekeeper, Tamir is continuing in the footsteps of his father from Ethiopia. In adherence to family tradition, Tamir does not feed the bees sugar, nor heat the honey, and abstains from any unnecessary intervention, such that the resulting product is as naturally delicious as can be. The wild vegetation and cultivated crops of the Golan provide the bees with a host of flowers to feast upon, so that Tamir and Daniella can offer a range of honey flavors: wildflower, eucalyptus, raspberry, blueberry, kiwi, and jujube. Also, in season, honeycombs may be purchased, swimming in jars of sweet golden honey.
Organic Dates from Kibbutz Samar
Kibbutz Samar in the Eilot region specializes in growing a number of date varieties, most unique in its dry state being the Barhi type, nicknamed “date toffee” at Samar. The Barhi is the same hard bright yellow date usually sold in unripe clusters at the beginning of the season, to be frozen and thawed. Dried, they are sweet and chewy, like, well, taffy, but naturally better for you. We also sell the Dekel Nur variety, popular in the Arab world, characterized by a subtle sweetness and texture, perfect for snacking, as well as cooking and baking. Every few weeks, Gili, the marketing manager for Samar dates, happily replenishes our stock by dispatching a friendly kibbutznik who happens to be heading our way.
Lev HaTeva Organic Crackers
From a small factory on Kibbutz Kfar HaNasi originate the organic crackers of Zohar and Assaf, made from basic, healthful and clean ingredients: flour, grains and seeds, without sugar, additives or preservatives. Lev HaTeva crackers come in three flavors: wheat, rye or spelt. Aside from the quality and health embodied in their excellent taste, these crackers are made in the nation’s economically challenged north, providing employment for local residents – a fact that definitely weighs in when choosing this superb product.
Shoreshei Tzion Living and Probiotic Foods
Eliezer and Rose Tzion became interested in live-cultured foods by way of kombucha, a fermented tea drink. It was love at first sip. Fascinated by the transformative process of food fermentation, the couple embarked on a journey to understand, explore and create other pickled, probiotic and living products. Stemming from a deep faith in the importance of eating live food, Eliezer and Rose prepare their cultured products from uncooked seeds, nuts, fruits and vegetables, always striving to use raw ingredients which are fresh, local and organic. Shoreshei Tzion is strongly rooted in the belief that living food is healing food, having the power to nourish both body and soul.
Mipri Yadeha Dried Fruits and Fruit Leathers
After over a decade at the Ministry of Agriculture, Melissa, our friend and neighbor from Kibbutz Gezer, opened a new chapter in her life as a maker of natural snacks. She chose to start on the sweet side, discovering anew the health inherent in creation. So was born “Mipri Yadeha” – dried fruits and specialty leathers, in a variety of surprising flavors, lovingly crafted from 100% fresh fruit and herbs of the country, with no additives of any kind. Each leather packet of 6 sheets begins from about a kilo of fruit, peeled, mixed, blended and dehydrated. The result is an explosive burst of taste and energy with each healthy bite. Mipri Yadeha is the ideal choice for snacks, trips, gifts and school lunches. This is Melissa’s particular way of preserving and sharing the natural abundance all around us.
Tene Yarok Olives and Olive Oil
Didi and Shira Amusi from Rotem in the northern Jordan Valley produce organic olive oil and olives. Their oil bears the distinctive flavor of a family laboring day by day in love, joy and simplicity. They know and follow each and every tree in their grove during the changing seasons: blossoming into bloom, flowers into fruit, and then, at the start of winter, the family joins together in celebrating the harvest. On the same day the olives are picked, they are brought, fresh, ripe and bursting, to the press. The final product is cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil produced under strict quality control and concern for the environment, free of pesticides, with 0.5% maximum acidity, certified organic, kosher and kosher for Passover, in the following select varietals: Suri, Barnea, Picual, and house-blend.
Manu’s Sourdough Bread and Baked Goods
Despairing of the industrial style loaves available during a prolonged stay in England, Manu (Emanuelle Roueff Zinkower) began baking bread at home for her family. This hobby led to exploration, experimentation and delving deeper into the fine art of bread-making. Today, Manu runs a small bakery at her home in Moshav Taoz where she makes bread from whole-grain flours using homemade sourdough starter rather than commercially prepared yeast. Allowed to rise slowly, unheated, each artisan loaf develops its own singular refined flavor. The basic breads are: wheat, spelt, rye, 3-grain and sprouted, weighing 660-680 grams. In addition, using only the best ingredients, Manu makes sweet and savory pies, quiches, cakes and other baked delights.