Cherries and Blueberries: Notes About Upcycling and Variety

Bella Viva Orchards Certified Organic Blueberries

The great Aristotle philosophized that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” This holds true in many areas of all of our lives, and we can’t help but shout out a big YES when we count Certified Organic Cherries and Certified Organic Blueberries, and Certified Organic Strawberries as worthy of this wisdom. How’s that, you may ask?! If you’ve been a reader with us for a while, you know that we are big supporters of upcycling.

Upcycling is the practice of rescuing fruits that may otherwise be deemed aesthetically challenged to be sold fresh for use domestically AND over the world. In the case of Certified Organic Cherries and Certified Organic Blueberries (berries), the decisions about the fruits’ use is made in the fresh packing facilities. These facilities take in fruits from a number of growers and once sorted, the top choice fresh fruits are sent on to their destinations, such as supermarkets. Thanks to upcycling, there’s hope for those fruits that are left behind due to irregularities in size, shape or blemishes!

Scones made with Bella Viva Orchards Certified Organic Cherries

In the case of Certified Organic Cherries, the fruit’s varieties that don’t go to the fresh market are combined. It’s wise, it’s responsible and it’s an industry standard. Varieties such as Bing, Sweetheart, Coral, Brooks, Dark Sweet, Chelan, Garnet and their dark sweet cousins are all blended before they go on to the next step in the process. The same rings true for our Certified Organic Blueberries and Certified Organic Strawberries. At Bella Viva Orchards, we purchase the blended varieties, dry them and pack them for your use and for retail consumption. It’s a beautiful thing when you think of it. We honor the resources that it takes to get these fruits ready for harvest: People power, water, fuel for transportation and all of the other work it takes to get those perfectly nutritious fruits ready for harvest.

We are proud to be good stewards of the earth through our upcycling program and regenerative practices. We encourage you to think about how combining multiple varieties of these fruits is responsible, respectful and thoughtful – from start to finish. When you think of supporting upcycling, we hope it makes you feel like your partnership with us supports a better world.

Wouldn’t Aristotle be blown away if he was to see his wisdom applied to today’s world?! We invite you to be part of this wisdom by incorporating our virtuous Certified Organic Cherries and Certified Organic Blueberries into your product lines. Want inspiration? We are here to work with you on product ideas or to meet your specs. Just call us at (855) 888-8482, (209) 883-9015, email us, or complete our easy online form. We are here Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm PST.

We’d like to think that with your partnership, the sum of our respective efforts really can be greater together. So be earth-conscious, be philosophical, and be creative with our proudly upcycled Certified Organic Cherries and Certified Organic Blueberries, partners!

New Bella Viva Orchards Organic Persimmons

It’s fall, and that means it’s Persimmon harvest time here in California’s Central Valley. Tucked away in our neck of the woods are acres of Bella Viva Orchards’ Certified Organic Persimmons and those of our longtime neighbor-partner who grows the same variety – the bright, sweet, super-flavorful Hachiya Persimmon. These jewel-hued Persimmons have basked in the sun and are now perfect for harvesting. Yes Partners, if Persimmons are what you want, you’re in luck, ‘cause we are having a nice yield this year!

We’re proud to grow these Certified Organic Persimmons using regenerative and sustainable practices. These practices include growing cover crops around the trees to create a habitat for beneficial insects that help keep the trees healthy. We also mulch the tree cuttings and fruits pulled off during the thinning process right back into the soil, adding to the ability for the soil to retain moisture and release nutrients.

Take a bite of these fruits that are redolent of November’s ubiquitous pumpkin spice, and you’ll understand why they are so popular with our manufacturing partners and retail customers alike. Think of how you might add them to your product offerings to celebrate and extend the coziness of November! Just call us at (855) 888-8482, (209) 883-9015, email us, or complete our easy online form. We are here Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm PST. We’re here to get those Certified Organic Persimmons to you so you and your customers can enjoy completely natural, GMO-free, additive-free, wonderfully warm and spicy flavors!

Now on to gratitude: Many of us consider November a month to observe gratitude. It’s more than a current buzzword. It’s how we feel every year, every harvest and every day. We feel it when we look out our windows to the orchards that surround us. We feel it when those beautiful, health-filled shipments of awe-inspiring fruits and nuts come in from our grower partners. We feel it when we have time to spend with our family and friends. We’re grateful to have launched many exciting new products this past year. We’re thankful to have made headway with strengthening our company culture and employee engagement. All of these feelings of gratitude are part of supporting and maintaining an environment where our people enjoy working. It’s good for them, good for you and in the long run, good for YOUR customers. When we have the option, we opt to embrace that life is good!

We invite you to reflect on your own sentiments of gratitude, big or small, as we head into the holiday season. Be thankful, be healthy and continue enjoying Beautiful Fruits and a Beautiful Life, Partners!

New Bella Viva Orchards Natural Limes in Slices

We know…it may be hard to believe, but another holiday season is just around the corner. Major retailers have had holiday merchandise out for weeks now, and that tells us it’s time for all of us to push our own holiday planning into high gear. If you’re all set for your winter celebrations, merchandising and gift-giving, we applaud you. And just maybe you haven’t completed all the tasks on your to do list. No problem, we still applaud you and we can help!

You can make the holidays extra merry for those suppliers and associates on your corporate gift list by presenting them with our organic gift baskets, gift boxes, gift baskets or gift trays – from our beautiful California-centric collection. These hand-assembled gifts, ranging from $8 to $200 each, include your personalized gift messages and your company logo. Each gift is filled with fruits and nuts that are grown with attention to quality and flavor. We even have gifts that contain our chocolate-covered fruits and nuts for those with a sweet tooth, even if it’s healthier! And the extra good news? We are here and ready to save you time while keeping within your budget.

Talk with us and we will help you make choices to please anyone on your list. Just call us at (209) 883-9015 or email us at gifts@BellaViva.com and we will get you on your way with ease. Order by December 15th and we can deliver those gifts directly to you or we can send them to individual recipients on time. So make your list, check it twice, give us a call and we’ll make it nice!

You know we’re always looking for products to delight your consumers. We’re excited to share that we are launching a NEW product line: Natural Limes in slices, dices and powdered form! Imagine the fun, interesting and maybe nutritious ways you can get Natural Limes into your products. And while we’re talking about non-holiday-specific products, check out our Natural Pears! They’re back in stock in full inventory quantities.

While it may be time to plan for the holidays, we are here to help you with your everyday ordering needs. Email skooner@bellaviva.com, ssteele@bellaviva.comor sales@bellaviva.com if you wish to reorder or inquire on a new item to try. Whether you have case ordering needs or pallet orders we are here for you! Just call us at (800) 552-8218 or (855) 888-8482, (209) 883-4146, or complete our easy online form. We are here Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm PST.

As the holidays approach, we are mindful of how grateful we are for your business. From a personal AND business perspective, we thank you for enjoying Beautiful Fruits and a Beautiful Life!

November Gratitude: Giving Thanks for Our Bounty and Partnerships!

The days have arrived when we throw on our favorite sweaters at the end of the day, get a nice fire going and look back on this year with gratitude. This year has been filled with heart-warming gatherings with family and friends, watching our family grow, celebrating a bountiful growing season and providing you – our dear partners – a great array of California-grown fruits. We at Bella Viva Orchards are now looking ahead to the holidays. Can you believe it’s already time?

We are truly grateful for you, our partners, who propagate the message of “Beautiful Fruit. Beautiful Life.” through your food and beverage brands. Because you look for beautiful fruits to use in your creations, we are energized to continue providing solutions to help meet and exceed your needs.

Part of the way we express our gratitude to you is to bring out our best with every harvest. Now that we’re heading into the holiday season we invite you to give our “Bella Viva Old Fashioned” a try. This recipe comes to us from Dr. Gail S. of Mesa, Arizona, who has used our Certified Organic Dried Oranges and Certified Organic Dried Cherries with great creativity! With the holiday season ahead, think of how you might include these fruits in your own products.

Besides making a dangerous but good cocktail, they can be applied to your own business needs. Our snack-worthy vitamin C-packed Certified Organic Dried Oranges and our Certified Organic Dried Lemon Slices both make great garnishes for all kinds of beverages – adult or family-friendly.

Diced, these citrus products make phenomenal tea and baking additions. When used as packaged, they make amazing infusions for recovery beverages, sparkling teas, kombucha and other brews. And when diced, our Certified Organic Dried Cherries will shine in bakery, energy bars, granolas and oatmeal blends.

To make your holiday product development a little easier, now through the end of November, we invite you to enjoy 10 percent off our Certified Organic Dried Oranges and Certified Organic Dried Cherries.

After you return from a day of creating with the Bella Viva Orchards line, kick back in your favorite comfy sweater with that relaxing Old Fashioned! Share the gratitude and enjoy the savings, partners! Happy Thanksgiving to all our Bella Viva family of partners!!

Contact Us

sales@bellaviva.com or 1-800-552-8218 for information on our organic dried lemons, oranges and cherries

With the busiest days of our 2023 harvest season behind us we’re taking some time to reflect on how grateful we are for our family and our business. We also feel immense gratitude for another good growing season, that remarkable rain that filled our reservoirs and fed our water table, for the warm California sunshine that nourishes our crops – and for you, our valued partners. We also feel thankful for the Bella Viva Orchards team that works so hard throughout the year so we can offer you so many healthful products. There’s just so much to appreciate!

As we celebrate this year’s bounty, Apples are front and center and it just so happens to be National Apple Month. Speaking of Apples, we are excited to announce that we have added Natural Sweet Apples (Low Moisture) and Certified Organic Sweet Apples (Low Moisture) to our offerings and they are available now!!

Enjoy simmering up some of Angela’s Spiced Apple Cider. While you’re making your home cozy with that amazing Spiced Apple Cider recipe, enjoy the aromas, flavors and warmth of this delightful beverage while relaxing with your favorite throw blanket. While you’re surrounded with that Apple goodness, just imagine how you might extend the simplicity, joy and goodness of these beautiful Apples to your customers. Cheers!

Contact Us

sales@bellaviva.com or 1-800-552-8218 for information on our natural and organic low moisture sweet apples.

When September comes around, it signals many things: The beginning of the fall season, heading out to watch the kids and grandkids play their sports and getting out into our orchards to harvest our beloved Certified Organic Prunes!

For those of you who’ve been reading our newsletters for a while you’re familiar with how proud we are to be growing these fruits in orchards that have been in our family for over 100 years – the same land where the Martino kids grew up! In 2021 we released our first harvest of Certified Organic Prunes and we’re excited that this year’s the biggest harvest yet!

Recently, Victor shared a memory:

“Remember my recent story about how I grew up on a Peach orchard? Well, that orchard was right next to my family’s Prune orchard. For as long as I can remember, during this time of year, I’d be picking Prunes with my family after school every day. Back in those days, we’d dry our Prunes in the sun as the hot days of summer were coming to a close. To get the drying process started, we’d dip the fresh fruits in boiling water to break their skins so the moisture could escape more easily. When I was 12 my father taught me how to get a raging wood fire going under a big pot that was basically half of a 55 gallon drum. Once the water was boiling he put me in charge of dipping large colanders of prunes in the boiling water. I can still hear his voice ‘Put them in and count to 30. If they’re in too long they’ll turn to mush; not long enough and the skins won’t be cracked. And be careful not to get burned.’ By the time I was 15 I was proud to be in charge of overseeing the whole Prune drying process. A lot has changed since the ’60s and ’70s – but our obsession with producing the perfect Prune has always been our guide. Today we dry our Prunes with modern dehydrators. We love nostalgia, but we’re happy to say that we now have a safer – and just as healthful – way to go about it!”

Another prime fruit that’s currently being harvested is our Certified Organic Pears. These fruits are grown in what you might think of as Pear paradise: A place where miles of California Delta waterways are dotted with small agricultural communities where hard-working Pear farmers grow their crops in a climate that’s perfect for this fruit!

Our Certified Organic Pears are sustainably grown by local partners who share the same farming values as us. A big plus: They are grown in a pesticide-free environment and are free of any additives!

We invite you to imagine the orchards where these Certified Organic Prunes and Pears are grown and get fired up about how you might incorporate them into your food or beverage product line. Enjoy this month’s specials and let us know how you and your company use these prime fruits!

Happy fall, partners!

Contact Us

sales@bellaviva.com or 1-800-552-8218 for discounted pricing on Bella Viva Orchards’ own Certified Organic Dried Pears and Certified Organic Pitted Prunes

August Elation: Certified Organic Peaches Have Arrived!

The triple digit days of summer took their time to arrive this year, but when they did there was no question about it: We are in the middle of summertime! Since mid-July, we’ve been out in our orchards before the crack of dawn to harvest our prized Certified Organic Peaches. Yes, it’s hot and it’s hard work but it’s a total labor of love.

You may know that our Certified Organic Yellow Peaches are grown in an estate orchard that’s been in our family since 1987. We grow several varieties of Peaches but the relatively uncommon Angelus variety won our hearts over because of its unbelievable flavor, texture, aroma, sweetness and blushy-peachy hue. We say this Peach delivers!

As we harvest our Certified Organic Yellow Peaches we think of how quickly the time has gone by since our family has grown these sweet summer fruits.

Recently Victor got to reminiscing (If you’re short on time just scroll to the bottom for this month’s special):

“My obsession with Peaches started many decades ago. I was born in February and my parents took me to our family home in the middle of our Peach orchard. By August, they set me in a crate under the Peach trees while my mother, father and four older siblings tended to the harvest. Later in the day after the fruit had been picked they moved me in that Peach crate to the cutting shed where the freshly-picked fruits were cut in half, treated with a generous helping of sulfur dioxide and then laid out in the sun to dry. I was too young to know at that time, but at that time Peaches became a major part of my life.

“Fast forward to today, I’m still out in that orchard watching over the whole process, from tending to the trees to harvesting that fruit to drying our awesome Peaches. All my obsession with growing and drying the perfect Peach has led to many improvements and innovations over the decades. For years I was on a quest to find the perfect variety of Peach. After growing and removing dozens of varieties that Angelus variety made its way to the top of the list. It’s the perfect variety for eating and drying. Once I determined that the Angelus was my variety of choice I went to work on getting rid of all those nasty pesticides by becoming a certified organic grower. I believe that when it comes to thinking of my greatest Peach achievements, I’d say that I’m proud of developing and perfecting our proprietary process of drying Peaches without sulfur dioxide or any preservatives whatsoever while maintaining the fruit’s natural color, flavor and nutritional content.”

“I proudly invite you to bring our Certified Organic Yellow Peaches into your product lineup and see what I’m talking about!”

We hope that what Victor has shared entices you to bring our Certified Organic Yellow Peaches to your food or beverage program. To celebrate this quintessential summer fruit we’re offering you 10 percent off throughout the entire month of August!

So kick back at the end of your own hot day, put your feet up, dream of ways to incorporate our Certified Organic Peaches into your product offerings and soak in all the warm joy that summer has to offer, partners!

Contact Us

sales@bellaviva.com or 1-800-552-8218 for discounted pricing on Bella Viva Orchards’ own Certified Organic Dried Yellow Peaches

Category: Ingredients

Cherries and Blueberries: Notes About Upcycling and Variety

November is Here: Persimmons and Reflections of Gratitude

Holiday Planning Made Easy: We’re Here to Help!

November Gratitude: Giving Thanks for Our Bounty and Partnerships!

November Gratitude: Giving Thanks for Our Bounty and Partnerships!

Awesome October: National Apple Month

Sweet September: Prunes and Pears Abound!

August Elation: Certified Organic Peaches Have Arrived!

August Elation: Certified Organic Peaches Have Arrived!

Contact Us