Healthy People, Healthy Planet: Celebrating Certified Organic Sweet Apples

Tea made with Bella Viva Orchards Certified Organic Sweet Apples

February is here and the year is still young. As you enjoy a little more sunlight each day, we hope this finds you with a spring in your step and optimism in your heart. Any kind of new year’s resolutions are actually what we live every day…from surrounding ourselves with good people, to continuing to learn to celebrating the good things that are in our world, such as wholesome, real, satisfying foods that are good for people and our planet! This matters deeply to us and we trust you’re with us.

Bella Viva Orchards’ Organic Apples, sliced, low-moisture, chewy and crispy, are true examples of these virtues. Why do we call them virtuous? Because we source these delicious, pure, nothing-added Apples from trusted grower-partners who share our passion for sustainable, regenerative farming practices and a care for people – the people who tend to the trees and nurture the fruit, the people on the business side who make crucial decisions to meet the growing consumer demand for more nutrition and the removal of preservatives, dyes, sugars in all their forms from our food supply. As we farm and market our fruit online, we are thrilled to share that our organic sales are on the increase, which aligns with market data provided by SPINS and other reporting sources. Several of the bold brands that Bella Viva Orchards supports with fruit products have paved the way and opened avenues to the consumer with pure fruit that is both nutritious and delicious. They have challenged the norm for snacking and have told the potato chip and other overly processed foods to move over and make room on the consumer shelf for whole, pure fruit with nothing added.

Bella Viva Orchards Certified Organic Sweet Apples

Our Certified Organic Sweet Apples are quite the multitaskers! They nourish people AND do their part in protecting our planet through our upcycling practices. Once those Apples make their way from the orchards to the packing facility, any apples that lack in aesthetics may be rejected by large-scale supermarket buyers and overseas markets. This is where we come in. We purchase the otherwise cosmetically imperfect (but nutritionally perfect) fruit and dry them so they can be enjoyed in a wide variety of ways, keeping the footprint small and the nutrition high right here in the USA!

Our Certified Organic Sweet Apples can be applied to your snack lines, breakfast products, beverage offerings or simply snacked on just as they are. Remember that we can work with you to meet your specs. We are here as your partners to come up with some fresh ideas or to answer any of your questions about these amazing Apples. To connect with us, 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.

Join us in celebrating virtuous Certified Organic Dried Sweet Apple Chips, longer days, healthier people and a love for our earth, Partners!

Bella Viva Orchards Certified Organic Pears

With the arrival of a fresh, promising new year, we are all surrounded by media promoting healthier lifestyles: Fitness, weight management, diet, mindfulness, chronic disease prevention and so on. It’s that time of year, right? Whether or not you’re into making resolutions we trust you are into doing things to make your own life better. Congratulate yourself for being good to yourself!

You know that part of making your life healthier includes having plenty of nutritious foods in your diet. When you think about what you’d want to eat to feel satiated and directly benefit your body, chances are unprocessed, whole foods come to mind. We’re talking about foods that are sustainably grown, socially and environmentally responsible – and without any additives! We’re talking about foods that reward you for eating them. And a positive result that comes from eating these kinds of foods is that the healthier the foods you eat, the less processed food you crave. But you know that!

Bella Viva Orchards Certified Organic Orange Chips

We’re talking about this because you are a consumer and overall, consumers are demanding more real foods than ever. Among many interesting and positive trends we are seeing is that consumers are demanding more whole foods that are produced ethically and transparently. This is our forte! At Bella Viva Orchards we pride ourselves in offering over 200 SKUs of healthful dried fruits. These are foods that actually give back to your body.

As you continue your own journey of living a more healthful life, think about what you might do to help bring better nutrition to your own consumers. We are here to help generate ideas about what you might add to your product lineup that will meet and exceed their demands.

Know what you want? Great! Looking for ideas? 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.

Wishing you a bright and vibrant new year, Partners! Keep Beautiful Fruits and a Beautiful Life front of mind and within easy reach! While it’s our collective goal that your customers will thank you, by enriching your own life with Bella Viva Orchards’ consciously-produced dried fruits and nuts, we trust your body, your mind and your whole being will thank you!

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!

Sweets & Snack Expo: May 14 – 16

Coming to Sweets & Snack Expo in Indianapolis this month? We’ll be at Booth 20237 in Exhibit Halls A-K. Let us know and we’ll be on the lookout for you!

Magnificent May: Certified Organic Blueberries, Strawberries and Peaches

After a cool, rainy start to spring here in the Central Valley the season is now truly underway. Our Certified Organic Peach orchards are filled with fruits that are bathing in the California sunshine and filling out while developing that optimal sweetness that we all love. Fresh, sweet, plump and pleasantly tangy Certified Organic Strawberries have been arriving in our drying facilities from our trusted grower-partner in nearby Watsonville and Certified Organic Blueberries from our neighboring fields are perfectly ripening and getting ready to harvest. The arrival of these fruits fill us with promise and optimism. We invite you to take a few moments to stop, breathe and take in the miracles of the season while appreciating the measures taken by ethical, conscientious growers who are working to make the Earth a healthier place to live and people thrive through real, honest nutrition! And among those people who seek ethically-sourced foods are you and your customers, right?!

Hibiscus Tea infused with Bella Viva Orchards Organic Fruit

At Bella Viva Orchards, we grow our Certified Organic Yellow Peaches in an estate orchard that’s been in our family since 1987. The variety, the Angelus, is one that is uncommon in the fresh market. We grow it because of their incredible flavor, texture, aroma, sweetness, color and softball-like size. These Certified Organic Dried Yellow Peaches lend themselves to a broad range of sweet and savory applications (think about giving them a spicy and hot treatment for a healthier snack food or ordering them diced to spec to use in your trail mixes, baked goods, beverages or globally-inspired products). If you want to enjoy them in the comfort of your own home, get in the kitchen and make a batch of Peach Glazed Salmon with Almonds.

Salmon with Bella Viva Organic Peaches and Almonds

Our Certified Organic Dried Strawberries are harvested just when they reach optimal sweetness and don’t need any additives or preservatives. These nutrition-packed fruits have an intense, sweet and tangy flavor that is clearly true Strawberry. Use them in your products just as we package them or let us know how we can dice them to make them ready to use in your lineup. One taste and we’re sure you’ll be getting busy in your test kitchen!

And those Certified Organic Dried Blueberries: Sustainably-grown by our nearby grower-partners, they have a beautiful moisture content and have true sweetness that comes from careful growing and drying practices. While they have great moisture, they are easy to transfer to your production environment without being sticky. Order some samples and you’ll understand why Bella Viva Orchards elevates this “superfood” to a higher level! At home, add a handful to your next batch of lemonade, wine or iced tea and enjoy their subtle sweetness as they plump up. While we celebrate Spring and celebrate these Certified Organic fruits, we also celebrate their integrity. Part of that integrity is the regenerative growing practices used for each of them, the fair working conditions in these growing environments and the purity of each product. Yes, they are all completely free of sweeteners and additives – including no added fruit juices. The sweetness comes from proper growing, harvesting and drying practices. Last month we talked about consumers demanding clean foods that are free of unnecessary sugars and additives. Well, that’s what we’re talking about with each of these healthful and versatile fruits. No added anything except care, attention and many years of constant refining of farming practices.

We invite you to check out Bella Viva Orchards’ Certified Organic Dried Yellow Peach Slices, Certified Organic Dried Strawberries and Certified Organic Dried Blueberries and we trust you’ll be inspired to bring them into products to delight your customers.

Remember, getting samples of our products is just a phone call or click away!

Click here to shop Bella Viva Manufacturing

Happy spring and happy clean eating, partners!

Bella Viva Co-founder, Angela Martino

In the fertile soil around our nearby California Delta, Pear trees have a pretty brief blooming time lasting from late January through early February. That means that the blossoms that grow in billowy white clusters have now become precious little fruitlets. With March upon us and those fruitlets taking in every bit of sun from our ever-lengthening days, our thoughts are turning to all things Pear: Granola, energy bars, trail mixes, all kinds of baked goodies and snacks and noshing opportunities galore! Our mouths are watering and we hope yours is, too!

Bella Viva Orchards’ Certified Organic Pears come to us from our trusted grower-partners who share our values for sustainable farming and family values. They grow these prized GMO-free fruits in lush and leafy pesticide-free orchards in that Delta area. When we cut and dry them, their sweet, pleasantly chewy, softly aromatic qualities are highlighted! Beyond the aesthetic plusses of these GMO-free fruits, experts tell us that they’re filled with health benefits. Curious? Just do an online search to discover more about their boast-worthy qualities! There’s simply no shortage of good news when it comes to our Certified Organic Dried Pears!

We think now’s the perfect time for you to think about what you might do with our popular Certified Organic Dried Pears! We can get them to you in sliced format to stand out as a unique ingredient in your products or can dice them to meet your specifications. Sliced or diced, we’re confident you’ll be thrilled with them!

So get ready to make your customers’ palates happy with Bella Viva Orchards’ beautiful Certified Organic Dried Pears! Happy March and happy Pears, partners!

Come see us at the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim this month! The Bella Viva Orchards’ team will be ready to meet your needs for your stand-out brand! We’ll be in Booth #1883 in Hall B. Let us know if you have any specific requests in advance and we’ll be on the lookout for you! You can call us Monday through Friday, 8 am through 4 pm PST. For a brief snapshot on all of your buying options and ordering methods, just click here.

We at Bella Viva Orchards have grown and offered our retail customers our Certified Organic Prunes since 2021 with increased production and sales every year since. We’ve scaled our production to meet your business-to-business needs! We’re excited to announce that we are surpassing certified organic certification and working toward our Regenerative Organic certification, which is quite an uplevel, and meets the needs of our customers who wish to purchase and offer only regenerative organic ingredients and stand alone snacks

What is Regenerative Organic farming? A quick explanation on what this is about: Focusing on soil health, animal welfare and social fairness for farmers. This relatively new program activated in 2020 with the goal of joining forces with other growers to promote regenerative organic growing practices and reduce emissions that can be captured and reused through our soil rather than releasing into the environment – essentially, taking conscious measures to help curb climate change and promote social fairness!

Our Certified Organic Prunes have been popular for these many years with steady sales growth among our retail customers for these reasons: They’re considered superfoods for their nutritional content and health benefits. Prune products have actually been sent in our NASA space capsules for the astronauts to eat to help curb bone shrinkage that occurs in space. True story, look it up!

But another reason they’re so popular – and one that might be important to you – is that our cofounder Victor Martino made a decision decades ago to dry these Prunes to the level where they are still plump, wonderfully intense in flavor, balanced with sweetness and gorgeous in appearance – but they are not ooey gooey sticky.

While how that all takes place is proprietary at Bella Viva Orchards, we think it’s a win-win. YES on all of the health benefits and YES on easy manageability of the actual product. You can very easily empty them out of their packaging without a super sticky mess. We think Victor hit it right on and we think you’ll agree.

If you love our Certified Organic Prunes and want a stickier product, we can certainly meet your specs! Just contact us by clicking here 24/7, calling us Monday through Friday, 8 am through 4 pm PST at (209) 883-4146 or toll free at (800) 552-8218, and we’ll get samples your way so you can taste and decide for yourself.

We invite you to join our happy Prune Revolution! Long live great nutrition! Long live great quality! And long live our precious earth!

Coming to Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim next month? We’ll be in Booth #1883 in Hall B. Let us know and we’ll be on the lookout for you!

If you’d like to schedule a call with a knowledgeable member of our sales staff, just click here or go to our Contact Us page at bellavivamanufacturing.com. If you’d like to talk with us, just call Monday through Friday, 8 am through 4 pm PST. For a brief Business to Business snapshot on all of your buying options and ordering methods, just click here.

Happy New Year: New Year, New Product

Speaking of the new year and new product, we are thrilled to share that we are launching our all-new Certified Organic Dried Bananas. For a product sheet on this exciting new product, please click here.

Sri Lanka Organic Bananas

These Bananas are incredibly moist, beautifully-textured and packed with highly intense Banana flavor.

They’re produced by a family in Sri Lanka who shares our passion for regenerative organic agriculture and meets our uncompromising product quality and social standards. Their facility is almost 100% solar and all the peels go back to their fields as fertilizer.

Our bananas are screaming to be added to your innovative products (though we wouldn’t object if you get some into your personal kitchen to add them to your morning oatmeal, scatter on yogurt, blend into a smoothie or enjoy on an organic creative banana split).

We feel so strongly that you’ll go bananas once you try them that we’re offering complimentary samples. One taste and we think you’ll get really inspired about how you might use them to advance your business initiatives!

Another way to connect with Bella Viva Orchards to meet your bulk food service needs on a smaller scale you can always shop online 24/7 for almost 200 SKUs through our wholesale website – bellavivawholesale.com. On this site you’ll find fruits and nuts that are grown in our own orchards and those that are sourced from growers who have passed our uncompromising quality standards.

Among all of our product offerings be sure to keep your eyes open for our own Bella Viva Orchards products, including our sustainably-grown and certified organic fruits that we produce without any added sugars or preservatives. You’ll find our own products labeled with our new “BVO Made” seal! Besides being easy to reach us we want to remind you that our wholesale team is ready to help fulfill your bulk, food service and ingredient needs with a special focus on our beautiful Certified Organic products.

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

The Bella Viva Old Fashioned

This cocktail, featuring Bella Viva Orchards’ Certified Organic Orange Chips and Certified Organic Dried Cherries is perfect for sipping by the fire or before an

indulgent steak dinner. This is a designated driver-worthy beverage with a bone-warming kick. A special thanks to Dr. Gail S. of Mesa, Arizona for this recipe!

Yield: 2 single or 1 double drink

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 15-20 minutes*

Total Time: 20-25 minutes*

Ingredients:

3 ounces bourbon or rye (your favorite brand)
1 1/2 teaspoons Grand Marnier
4 dashes aromatic bitters
1 tablespoon Dried Cherry Simple Syrup (recipe to follow)
2 slices of Bella Viva Orchards’ Certified Organic Orange Chips

Instructions:

In a cocktail shaker, add the bourbon or rye, Grand Marnier, bitters and Dried Cherry Simple Syrup. Stir to combine. In each glass add ice and at least 2 plumped Dried Cherries. Top with the bourbon mixture and tuck in a couple slices of Orange Chips. Stir, kick back and enjoy!

*You can save time for future batches by doubling the Dried Cherry Simple Syrup recipe and keeping it cold in the fridge!

Angela’s Spiced Apple Cider

The aromas, flavors and warmth of this autumnal cider will help make your home ultra cozy, your heart soothed and your taste buds so glad you fired up the stovetop. This Martino family favorite, featuring Bella Viva Orchards’ Dried Sweet Apples, Dried Tart Apples and Dried Orange Chips is a household staple that’s enjoyed throughout fall and winter. Cheers!

Yield: About 1/2 gallon

Prep time: 2 minutes

Cook time: 15-20minutes

Total Time: 17-22 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon apple cider (any bracup Bella Viva Orchards’ Dried Sweet Apples
1 cup Bella Viva Orchards’ Dried Tart Apples
Bella Viva Orchards’ Dried Orange Chips – 1 per serving
1 handful star anise (available online or in the spice section of most grocery stores)
4-6 cinnamon sticks

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a gentle simmer, about 15-20
minutes. Serve hot or warm, making sure a nice Orange Chip is in each serving.

Category: Uncategorized

Healthy People, Healthy Planet: Celebrating Certified Organic Sweet Apples

Happy New Year: Here’s to Your Health!

November is Here: Persimmons and Reflections of Gratitude

Magnificent May: Certified Organic Blueberries, Strawberries and Peaches

Sweets & Snack Expo: May 14 – 16

Magnificent May: Certified Organic Blueberries, Strawberries and Peaches

March: Pleasing, Palatable Certified Organic Pears

New Product for You: Certified Organic Prunes!

Happy New Year: New Year, New Product

Happy New Year: New Year, New Product

Sri Lanka Organic Bananas

November Gratitude: Giving Thanks for Our Bounty and Partnerships!

November Gratitude: Giving Thanks for Our Bounty and Partnerships!

Bella Viva “Old Fashioned” Recipe

The Bella Viva Old Fashioned

Angela’s Spiced Apple Cider Recipe

Angela’s Spiced Apple Cider