Halloween is a time when we’re typically bombarded with mountains of sugary, corn-syrupy treats being hauled around by all the little ghouls and goblins, which is why we’re loving this good old-fashioned alternative featuring healthy whole-grain popcorn and pure Vermont maple syrup. You’ll find local, organic Hurricane Flats popcorn featured in our Halloween Weekly Sale from October 26th – November 1st, so it’s a perfect time to give these wholesome treats a try!
Halloween is a time when we’re typically bombarded with mountains of sugary, corn-syrupy treats being hauled around by all the little ghouls and goblins, which is why we’re loving this good old-fashioned alternative featuring healthy whole-grain popcorn and pure Vermont maple syrup. You’ll find local, organic Hurricane Flats popcorn featured in our Halloween Weekly Sale from October 27th – November 2nd, so it’s a perfect time to give these wholesome treats a try!
This spooky Halloween cupcake recipe features blood-red cupcakes and a brainy frosting that is all-natural … no, they do not contain real BRAINS, but they are made with real ingredients and contain no artificial food coloring! So, what is the secret to getting cake batter and icing in these delightful shades? Fresh beet puree! Beets are a beautiful shade of red and add both delicious flavor and color to this fun recipe.
This spooky Halloween cupcake recipe features blood-red cupcakes and a brainy frosting that is all-natural … no, they do not contain real BRAINS, but they are made with real ingredients and contain no artificial food coloring! So, what is the secret to getting cake batter and icing in these delightful shades? Fresh beet puree! Beets are a beautiful shade of red and add both delicious flavor and color to this fun recipe.
If you love the spooky revelry of Halloween, but you’re not loving all the sugary indulgence, these treats are for you!
When I was a kid, people in my neighborhood that wanted to hand out a healthier option on Halloween apparently had two choices: pennies or pencils. I can remember staring at those items, strewn on the carpet amongst my brightly colored loot, so out of context, I could barely understand what they were. What is this, a pencil? How’d that get in here? A penny? Weird.
Now that I have a kid who has an allergy to red food dye, though, I see things differently. Those unconventional neighbors have been recast in my mind as bold, progressive heroes in the Halloween battle against strange new allergens and high fructose corn syrup. I’ve even considered following suit—what alternative could I offer visiting children? The flimsy spider ring? The tiny box of raisins?
No, I like fun. Prohibition? That ain’t me. For kids, Halloween is pretty much about candy, with a little dress-up and staying up late thrown in for good measure. So as I often do as a parent, I turned to the co-op for help—I needed gummy bears made with plant dyes and I needed them now!
Food co-ops have come quite a distance towards meeting us halfway on our, uh, less-than-healthy cultural traditions. There are abundant options for Halloween treats and—psst—they are ridiculously good. Even I-hope-we-get-fewer-kids-than-usual good, if you know what I mean. With ingredients like organic sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, sustainable coconut and palm oils instead of trans fats, and fair trade chocolate, these treats aren’t sleeping on the job—they are accomplishing multiple goals!
I’m not kidding myself to think that any of that is necessarily healthier to eat (though I believe an argument could be made), but I do know that organic is healthier for our environment, and for the health of the people involved in making our candy, fair trade is best. In the chocolate industry, in particular, fair trade certification is the easiest way for us as shoppers to know that the cocoa beans used to make your chocolate were not farmed using unpaid child labor and other human rights abuses. Despite multiple news reports about unpaid child labor in cocoa production going back as far as 2001, the majority of chocolate we eat in the United States is still produced that way. I’m not in the business of bumming you out—so please do your own reading if you’re interested.
I am thankful that there are so many choices these days for how I spend my money; the ability to make a difference in the lives of the people in our communities and around the world that produce our food is abundant and, thanks to committed people all along the supply chain from farm to food co-op, readily available to me. Cultural holidays like Halloween knit our communities together—how great to live at a time where I can hand out candy and feel pretty good about it, too!
By Mandy Makinen of NCG Co-op
Looking for some healthy alternatives to candy this Halloween? Check these out! They’re simple to make and so much fun to eat that the kiddos might not even notice the missing candy!
Peel and slice bananas in half. Push chocolate chips or carob chips into place for eyes and mouths. Crumble chocolate cookies or Grahams onto a plate, then place the boonanas. We used Jovial Einkorn Cocoa Cookies and thought they were particularly delicious.
Quarter an apple and remove the core. Flip each quarter upside down and slice a V-shaped valley for the mouth. Insert slivered almonds for the teeth. Another fun option is to use nut butter “drool”.
Create a stack of sliced cheese. We used Andrew & Everett’s Provolone. Use a paring knife or cookie cutter to carve out a ghost shape. Use a marker cap to punch out the eyes.
Slice a mozzarella string cheese stick into thirds. Use a paring knife to slice broom fringe into the bottom half of each segment, then poke a pretzel stick into the top half of each segment and tie a chive around the top.
