DIY Wine and Food Pairings with Napa Nuts

Napa is in the heart of California’s Wine Country.  Every year (except 2020) brought scores of tourists to the Napa Valley to create memories through wine tasting experiences. Wine tasting is a wonderful activity that activates multiple senses.  

Now that vacations are a thing of the past (and hopefully the future), some Napa wineries are working to bring the Wine Tasting Experience to people’s homes.  

Here at Napa Nuts, we truly believe that no wine tasting is complete without a good food pairing.  Wine is known for lots of complex flavors and can get even more delicious when paired with complementary foods. 

A wine and food pairing experience is something that may bring new life to the date night at home or a great way to Zoom bond with friends.  Napa Nuts is here to do our part and provide perfect pairings for your wine tasting experience.

Pairing food with wine can make both better.

RED WINES:

Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir are some of the most popular red wines.  While each wine is a little bit different there are a few flavors that are more dominant in the red wine category.  

For wines with a flavor profile that can be described as “fruit forward” we recommend Black Mission Figs, our signature Gourmet Berry Mix, or Dried Bing Cherries.  

Some red wines are known as “smokey”, “peppery”, or “spicy”. For wines like this, nuts with a smooth or creamy flavor tend to mellow out the strong flavors of the wine.  We recommend Roasted and Salted Almonds, California Walnuts, and Dark Chocolate Almonds.  Everything is better with chocolate, including nuts and wine.

One quick option for wines where the flavor profile is unknown, is to just get our Red Wine Snack Tray.  You will have an array of items to pair with most Red Wines including a few palate cleansing pretzels.

Dried Bing Cherries

White Wines:

Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnays are the top 2 white wines in Napa Valley but there are many fabulous white wine varietals that are worth a taste.

White wines tend to have flavors described as “buttery”, “grassy”, or “floral”.  There are many dried fruits that compliment these wines.  Items like dried Pears, dried Mangoes, or dried Pineapple will make your tastebuds happy.  The lighter notes of the white wines allow for the flavors of the dried fruit to really “pop” when paired with a great white wine.

Napa Nuts has a go-to White Wine Snack Tray that will give you a few ounces of some of our favorites to pair with most white wines. Our White Wine Snack Trays also include our California grown Roasted and Salted Marcona Almonds. These California-grown almonds are custom roasted and salted to our specs for a perfect crunch and lightly dusted with fine salt.

Roasted and Salted Marcona Almonds

Napa Wineries are shipping wines across the country for you to enjoy a genuine wine tasting experience at home. There is no better way to enhance the experience than to add the perfect pairing from Napa Nuts.

White Wine Snack Tray

Feel free to share some of your experiences in the comments section.

3 Simple Rules for Pandemic Pantry Preparation: Go Nuts!

The Covid-19 pandemic has made everyone rethink how often they leave the house and how they go shopping.  Many people have opted for fewer trips to the supermarket to minimize contact with others.  While having fresh produce in the house is amazing, having a pantry full of food that fulfills these simple rules will help households plan for staying happier in the home bunker.

Rule #1: Plan for more non-perishable foods

A well stocked pantry drawer, courtesy of Napa Nuts

The days of daily trips to the market are over for the near future.  Avoiding contact with people is now part of the daily routine.  While grocery delivery services are killing it right now, buying in bulk to cut down on delivery fees makes a lot of sense.

Another “life-hack” that people are using--eat all the perishable food first, then move to the non-perishable food when that runs out.  Otherwise, using non-perishable food to “stretch” the perishable food from one meal to two is also working well.

Canned foods, dry beans, and pasta are all having epic sales numbers this year.  After three months of pandemic, “pasta surprise” got real old.  Crafty households are looking for something more exciting. 

Spice up that pancake mix with some diced pecans.  Pecans are great on the shelf for about a year! They are tasty raw and lightly toasted.  Adding some to pancakes or waffles will add some protein and help you feel full a bit faster.

Dried fruit is also very fun to cook with.  It is very easy to make a chutney with some dried apricots for a fantastic rice dish. Soaking some dried pears in hot water and then blending them will create an awesome compote to add some sweetness to any steak.  Professional chefs have used tricks like these for a long time.

Most importantly, dried fruits and nuts have great shelf lives.  Read more about how long they last here on our earlier blog post.

Rule #2: Keep more healthy and nutritious food on the shelf

While some people have put the stay-at-home time to good use with fitness challenges, others have found the Covid-15 (or the same weight gain as the “Freshman 15” that many people find when their schedules are entirely reset).

Napa Nuts - Raw whole almonds

The reflexive actions of eating anything within arms reach is often too tempting for many people to resist.  Surrounding yourself with choices that are healthier means you may trick yourself into eating better.

Nuts are great for you!  A handful of nuts will fill you up and will satiate hunger for longer than sugary snacks. Read more about the health benefits of nuts and dried fruit here.

Dried fruit, like raisins, will also give you a quick jolt of energy without brewing another pot of coffee.  

We have lots of trail mixes available which are a great mix of nuts and dried fruit.  

Napa Nuts - St. Helena Blend Trail Mix

Rule #3: Make sure the elements in your pantry are versatile.

There is a reason flour is sold in large quantities; it is used in a variety of dishes.  It is the basis for breads, pancakes, and awesome when making fried chicken.  

Napa Nuts hears about new uses for our products all of the time.  

Our fans mention using chopped nuts to coat a fish filet.  Our photo gallery is full of nuts and dried fruit on cheese boards.  Some of our fans have created their own trail mixes or just snack on their favorites.  Salads are more exciting with some dried cranberries mixed in. 

Of course, desserts are always a favorite, whether it is chopped nuts in a cookie or brownie, sliced almonds to “crust” the side of a cake, or nibbling a dried cherry with an aperitif, it is hard to go wrong.

Frankly, we find new ways to cook with dried fruit and nuts all the time.  Please share some of your successful experiments in the comments.

Squeezing the Lemons as Hard as we Can!

Let’s face it—COVID-19 sucks. We all feel that we just got buried in place by 28 tons of methaphorical lemons that prevents us from leaving our houses. Here is Napa Nuts’ second update on how we are trying to dig our way out. Spoiler alert: we just saw a big ray of sunshine come through and we are making as much lemonade as we possible can.

Update 1: Local customers have been ordering a lot. We are also seeing a lot of reorders. This is the best affirmation possible. We see not just the local support, but we are also creating fans for life. We feel so loved. 🤟🥰🤘

Update 2: We have had to reorder products. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is for our small business. We went from selling a few hundred pounds in a single order multiple times per week before the crisis to selling roughly 5 pounds at a time, a few hundred times per week. At first we were worried about our products sitting on the shelves forever. However,, products started leaving the shelves and people kept ordering. While we were a bit worried about spending any money, we have needed to reorder products. We have had to totally change our expectations about what would be our best sellers. Just so you all know, individuals eat a lot more chocolate and flavored nuts than restaurants normally order.

Sweet Treats!

Update 3: When this crisis started, we had a date circled on the calendar when we would have to shut down our business if the situation didn’t change. All of our business basically stopped for a week. We were uncertain what the status of funds would be from the government and if we would have any customers or whether we would be able to keep our staff.

As of this morning, we can confirm that some of our worries that we had a month ago have been alleviated.

a) We are back up to about 85% of our Pre-COVID employment numbers. It’s not perfect, but we keep getting busier so the numbers are moving in the right direction.

b) Our employees have started getting their stimulus checks from the government. We were worried about them and their families. It seems as though the slow gears of the government are moving.

c) Additionally, we were lucky enough to get in on the first wave of the Payroll Protection Program. We just got confirmation that the PPP funds have reached our account so we can pay our employees!

Update 4: We have learned that we are way more adaptable than we had originally thought. We have learned how to take our original basic business model of selling to businesses and pivot to selling direct to consumers. This is how we are making lemonade.

Update 5: We acknowledge that so many in our local community have not been able to go back to work or were already struggling before the crisis began. Since we have a warehouse full of food, Napa Nuts is committed to donating 1 pound of food to the Napa Food Bank for every $50 our customers spend on our online store. So far, we have donated over 500 pounds of food to feed our community. We’ll get through this together.

Update 6: Since salons and barbershops have been closed for a month, Bonnie’s very short “Covid-cut” hairstyle is finally in fashion.

In short, we are working hard to get lots of orders out to a lot of people. Our delivery trucks are making a lot more residential stops and we’re getting new “customers for life” every day.

Napa Nuts is still here and going strong. We are continuing to support our community as they continue to support us.