Vol. 1 Issue 12                                                                    DECEMBER 18, 2019

The Final Countdown

We’re near the finish line now—Solstice, Hanukkah and Christmas are mere days away and a week later we’ll celebrate the start of a whole new year and decade with 2020! But first don’t fret and stress over the winter holidays… Sheridan offers one stop shopping with gifts that are sure to satisfy the pickiest person on your list. Tired of the same old meats for your holiday meal? Try some popular alternatives and put an international twist to your holiday spread. An orange that bleeds when you cut into it? Oh yeah! Read on and find out more!
 
Be it Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa or Festivus, all of us here at Sheridan Fruit Company would like to wish you a safe and very merry holiday season and a happy new year!

Got the Holidaze?
​Sheridan Can Help

We get it. The holidays can be a stressful time with all that shopping, gift giving, meal planning, deciding who is going to sit where at dinner so you don’t start WWIII…and let’s not forget finding the time to write and send all those holiday cards. It can all be a bit much. But have no fear, Sheridan is here to take a load off your holiday shoulders.
 
We have a variety of ways you can show how much your friends and family mean to you without running to a bunch of different stores. You can get it all done right here at Sheridan. For most of these gift ideas, it’s as easy as clicking on a mouse or picking up your phone.
 
So you have this person on your list that has EVERYTHING or they are super picky. Well, if they eat food (and really, who doesn’t?), they will love Sheridan’s gift card starting at $5. Sheridan gift cards are good for anything we sell in the store including yummy made-to-order lunches from our food cart, produce, groceries, meat, beverages…if we sell it, the gift card will pay for it. Plus, our gift cards never expire and we do not charge a service fee so the balance on the card never changes, year after year.
 
If you really want to show someone how much you care about them, give a handcrafted Sheridan fruit basket or gift box. Filled with healthy and nutritious seasonal fruits, our baskets and fruit gift boxes are the best you’ll find in Portland. Each piece of fruit is meticulously and lovingly selected then assembled into one-of-a-kind baskets. Unlike other cheaper, mass produced fruit baskets, ours don’t contain any fillers apart from some green paper ‘grass’ to help protect the fruits from bumps and scrapes.
 
Sheridan also offers a variety of other handcrafted gifts such as dried fruit trays, snack trays and gourmet gift boxes that makes holiday gift giving a breeze. For extra convenience, shop online at www.sheridanfruit.com/shop.html and have these items delivered. You can also order via telephone by calling 503-236-2114 during retail store hours. We can ship to other states as well but certain restrictions do apply. Please note we require 24 hour notice for custom orders and more time may be necessary for big orders. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Duck, Duck, Goose…Lamb!

Did you know turkey was not the original holiday bird of choice? There are other birds that fit the bill. While ham and prime rib roasts are the norm at the Christmas table in the U.S., there are options for people who don’t eat pork or beef.
 
Before turkey became the de rigueur holiday bird, early Americans ate duck and geese during holidays. These birds were readily available and native to the area. In fact, turkey did not become popular until President Abraham Lincoln made it a trend. It is also often posited that Charles Dickens had a lot to do with the turkey becoming a popular holiday bird when he depicted Scrooge buying one for the Crachit family in “A Christmas Carol.”
 
In the old days, meat was highly prized. Duck was most commonly made into a stew to make it stretch and feed a family. Today, roast duck is still commonly eaten during the holidays in Europe and Asia. The duck we sell at Sheridan is from Mary’s Free-Range Duck. These ducks grow naturally with plenty of open space on a ranch in sunny California and are raised in a humane manner by allowing them to roam in a stress-free environment that is four times the size of the average commercial ranch. Because of cleaner living quarters, a healthier and happier duck is produced having a better taste.
 
Goose is another oft-forsaken holiday fowl in modern day U.S. A favorite with early immigrants, goose was also probably made into stew and soups so it can feed more people. Later immigrants from Europe brought with them recipes for roast goose and dumplings made from the highly prized fat drippings. Today, roast or confited goose is still a staple in many European countries. Our geese are sourced from Mary’s Geese and are raised free range and natural, without hormones or antibiotics.
 
People often associate lamb as an Easter dish but many countries around the world celebrate Christmas with roast lamb. Lamb is particularly popular in countries such as the Middle East and India where pork or beef is hard to find. At Sheridan, we only sell lamb raised by Anderson Ranches based in Brownsville, Oregon. Their lamb is grass fed and all natural, containing no added hormones and antibiotics.
 
So this holiday season, take a walk on the wild side and try something else other than the usual turkey, ham or beef and see what people from the rest of the world are eating for the holidays.

A Bloody Good Orange

We have a rule here at Sheridan—if an orange bleeds when you cut into it, eat it!
 
On the outside blood oranges look like any other orange apart from the occasional red blush on the rind. The skin is rough and fragrant with a ‘true orange’ scent that is hard to mimic. The flavor of the blood orange can be described as Valencia orange on steroids. Highly aromatic and citrusy, blood oranges are juicy and sweet with just the right amount of tartness.
 
The one characteristic that sets the blood orange apart from regular navel and Valencia oranges is its red flesh. The intensity of the redness can vary depending on variety with round Moro and egg shaped Sanguinelli blood oranges being the reddest and elongated Tarroco being the least red.
 
Although the juice and flesh of these oranges can look like real blood, the color of the blood orange is due to a pigment called anthocyanin common in other red fruits and flowers but not typically found in citrus. A natural mutation of the common orange, blood oranges probably originated in Southern Mediterranean, where they have been grown since the 18th century. They are now the primary orange grown in Italy.
 
Blood oranges are available at Sheridan from December through April and we currently have the Moro variety in stock. These are typically intensely red and flavorful. Try adding segments to fresh salads and using it in place of regular orange. Blood oranges also make delicious marmalades although be careful to not use too much pith as they can be bitter.

All Your Sheridan Favorites Delivered To Your Doorstep Via Instacart.com

Use promo code sheridanholidays2019 and save $15 off $75 when you shop Sheridan's storefront on Instacart.*
*Promo code sheridanholidays2019 valid through 12/31/19 or while supplies last. Limit one per new or existing account. Not applicable on alcoholic items. Not available in all zip codes. Valid only on Sheridan Fruit Company's storefront on Instacart.com. Cannot be combined with any other offer. No cash value and may not be redeemed for cash. Not valid on past purchases. See store for complete details.  

Click here for a list of our weekly specials available in store and on Instacart.