Costco Wholesale is putting the focus on four organic suppliers

A salad made with pomegranate seeds, Italian cheese, Campari Tomatoes and Organic Spring Mix from Earthbound Farm, one of the four organic suppliers featured in the Costco Connection magazine.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Earthbound Farm Organic harvests 48,000 crop acres each year (the amount of harvests you get off a single acre).

Coleman Natural Foods, another Costco Wholesale supplier, has been raising antibiotic-free chickens for 140 years, and organic chicken since 2001.

Aurora Organic Dairy's organic cows receive no antibiotics or hormones, and must be fed 100% organic feed and have access to the outdoors.

The cover story in the January 2015 issue of The Costco Connection magazine profiles four of its organic suppliers -- "Growing Organic: A seedling market rises to mainstream."

The fourth Costco supplier is Stemilt Growers, a Washington State harvester of organic apples.

Earthbound Farm

The oldest of Costco's organic suppliers is Earthbound Farm, which provided its first packaged salad greens to the warehouse chain in 1992.

Every week, I buy a 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix at my Hackensack Costco for $4.99 or less, compared to $6.99 or more in a supermarket.

In 2005, I paid $3.99 for the same triple-washed organic salad at Costco.  

The more organic, the better

Costco members have seen the selection of organic foods grow over the years, and it's clear they are from many suppliers, not just the four profiled in the magazine.

It's possible to serve a complete organic meal from Costco, using organic chicken, organic brown rice or quinoa with organic diced tomatoes, and organic salad dressed with organic extra-virgin olive oil.

"Simply put, certified organic foods have been farmed without synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertizers, and do not use genetically modified organisms (GMOs)," The Costco Connection says.

Costco also sells non-organic products that are GMO free.

I fried two organic eggs from Costco Wholesale in Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. A 54-ounce jar was $17.49 at my Hackensack Costco.

Organic-spinach smoothie

My wife brought home a pound of organic baby spinach from Costco ($4.49), and blended it into a smoothie with apple juice, pineapple and banana.

She also bought 5.5 pounds of Organic Gala Apples from Washington State at Costco ($9.99).

I fried two organic eggs from Costco in Organic Coconut Oil, which left behind a distinct taste of coconut. 

I served the eggs over leftover organic quinoa I had prepared in an electric cooker with organic diced tomatoes, both from Costco.

Recipe in Costco magazine is needlessly complicated

A five-cheese-and-garlic frittata starts out on the stove and finishes cooking under a low broiler setting. There is no need to turn this 10-inch stuffed Italian omelet or the Spanish potato omelet described in a recipe in the April 2014 issue of Costco Connection magazine.

Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale is spooned on top of the frittata once it is out of the oven.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Reading instructions in the Costco Connection magazine on how to turn a Tortilla de Patata (Potato Omelet) is like watching a high-wire act:

You fight the urge to close your eyes to avoid seeing an accident.

The Potato Omelet recipe in the lifestyle magazine for Costco Wholesale members is too complicated, and likely discourages a lot of home cooks from trying it (Page 49).

I've been making frittatas, the Italian version of this omelet, with sliced sweet potatoes and other ingredients, and have never turned them.

Don't try at home

In the Costco recipe, Christina Mendez provides the following instructions:

"When the edges are cooked and the center is still moist, place a plate over the pan and invert it, so the raw side of the tortilla flips face down onto the plate.

"Carefully return the tortilla to the pan by sliding it off the plate and continue cooking for another minute."

That's a cooking disaster waiting to happen.

With my frittatas, I don't bother trying to turn them. I just put them in the oven or under the broiler to brown and finish cooking.

Boil and save oil

Another shortcut for the Spanish omelet recipe is to boil water to cook the recommended 8 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, which you have to peel and cube.

I'd leave the peel on, and wouldn't follow the recipe's instructions "to cover" the potatoes, onion and Anaheim pepper in expensive Spanish extra-virgin olive oil, and cook them in a covered pan.

The recipe calls for more than 2 cups of oil. That's just wasteful.

I usually put sweet potato slices for my frittatas in cold water; leave the cover slightly ajar to vent steam and bring the water to a low boil. 

They are usually fork tender in about 30 minutes.

Or get one to go

Of course, if you don't want to go to the bother of preparing a Spanish potato omelet at home, head on over to La Pola, a Cuban sandwich shop in West New York.

Sandwich master Belarmino Rico, who emigrated to Cuba from Spain, makes an excellent version of the omelet, also called Tortilla Espanola.

Try one of his authentic sandwiches with a cup of cafe con leche, and get the tortilla to go.

La Pola, 5400 Palisade Ave., West New York; 201-867-6028. Cash only. Call for hours.

A reheated wedge of frittata made with five cheeses, including the two found in Costco's prepared pesto, and lots of garlic.

For garlic mashed sweet potatoes, I boil peeled garlic and unpeeled potatoes, both from Costco; drain them in a colander and return them to the pot, where I add extra-virgin olive oil, a little salt and other seasonings, including cinnamon and curry powder. Potatoes for a frittata or omelet also can be boiled.

A couple of shortcuts woul make a Tortilla de Patata much easier to prepare at home. This recipe appears in the April 2014 issue of Costco Connection magazine.

Costco Wholesale's rotisserie chicken makes great dog food

Seasoned rotisserie chickens at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. At only $4.99 for a 3-pound chicken, these birds fly out the door, but the quality is questionable.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I'm sure the editors of the Costco Connection came to praise the rotisserie chicken sold at the warehouse store, not to bury it.

In the latest issue of what is called "a lifestyle magazine for Costco members," customers who love the highly seasoned rotisserie chicken offer their ideas on how to best use leftovers.

However, the most prominent comment is in the voice of "Maggie the Labrador, owned by Will and Jill Mason" of Chandler, Ariz.

"The chicken's so-called leftovers (fat, trimmings and juices) are mixed in with my bowl of normally blase dog food, transforming my food into a weekly treat," the dog is quoted as saying.

That says it in a nutshell: This chicken makes great dog food, not good human food.

Costco puts the "Kirkland Signature" name on the label of the rotisserie chicken, but that is usually reserved for organic eggs, preservative-free smoked wild salmon and other high quality items.

Ingredients include water, salt, sugar, carrageenan, silicon dioxide and polysorbate 80.

Silent on antibiotics

The "Creative Cooking" article in the December 2012 issue doesn't mention harmful animal antibiotics that allow the chicken to achieve its 3-pound weight quickly (Pages 30-31).

The editors don't even say whether the chicken is fed an all-vegetable diet.

Costco sells about 50 million rotisserie chickens a year, the magazine reports.

I tried one of these chickens years ago, and didn't like how it tasted.

It was inferior to the rotisserie chickens I'd pick up at Fairway Market in Harlem, where customers have a choice between a conventional chicken and a Murray's free-roaming bird, which is raised without antibiotics.

A quiet day at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. The warehouse closed in October 2015, when a bigger Costco opened a few miles away in Teterboro, then reopened in March 2016 as a Costco Business Center.

On a Saturday in late June 2016 at the Teterboro warehouse, one Costco member couldn't wait to get his rotisserie chicken home.

Going natural at Whole Foods

Now, I buy the naturally raised rotisserie chicken at Whole Foods Market in Paramus for family members who eat meat and poultry.

On Tuesday, I asked the Costco employee at the rotisserie chicken stand in Hackensack if he knew which processor supplies the chickens.

He said he didn't, and that they arrive at the store already seasoned, so all he has to do is put them in the big rotisserie cases behind him and when they are fully cooked, pack them in black-and-clear-plastic takeout containers.   

I'm not sure why the Costco Connection is using a hard sell for this low-quality chicken.

The article begins:

"Costco's Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken has almost a cult following. It even has its own Facebook page."

Costco also sells whole, uncooked Coleman Organic chickens. 

Why not give customers who care what they are eating a choice and offer the organic chicken side-by-side with the mystery rotisserie chicken?

Even the headline used is offensive to fans of Charlie Parker, the late jazz alto saxophonist who was known as "Bird" for his soaring solos.

Costco Connection says:

"Bird is the word"

"Members flock to Costco's rotisserie chicken."

I say: Not if you know what's good for you. 

Related posts

Click on the following links:

Where to find better-quality rotisserie chickens

Costco's low-quality rotisserie bird costs more in Canada


Costco shoppers see red in undercooked chickens

Costco chicken fails Kirkland Signature quality test