A Bhalo Story
Bhalo = Good
Bhalo ( Bhālo ) is the Bengali word for 'good' & was something I would hear frequently as a child. From my dad & family - to tv in India, the word stuck with me. Not knowing the language fluently, but knowing this word helped me understand the nature of a conversation. Bhalo was exclaimed when food was particularly good... or regarding the behavior of my sisters and I 😂.
Bhalo, to us, represents good food practices. More of the good, less of the bad - with a little more good for good measure 😉.
Values.
Most all foods used are purchased certified organic from local farmers. Any non-organic items will be specifically noted on the product page, and will be on the Clean 15 List, & we certainly do not use any non-organic foods from the dirty dozen list!
We use the freshest, highest quality, organic local fruits and vegetables from California's Central Valley.
We'll highlight the farms and companies used in each product made, linking each of their websites so you can check them out.
From picking particular foods, to their mindful processing & all the way down to the packaging used, the client and Earth are our true focus.
What We Offer.
We offer a variety of snacks and meal prep foods, which we sell in subscription boxes. The 3 boxes are :
Bhalo Snack Box, Bhalo Meal Mixers Box and the Big Bhalo Combo Box - which features snacks and meal mixers together.
*Snacks include; fresh fruit pieces (apple, pear, orange, persimmon, etc.), V&GF grilled cheese bites, spiced sweet corn and much more!
*Meal Mixers/Meal Helpers include; pan roasted mushrooms and onions, guacamole pucks, hummus scoops, chili, falafel, and the list goes on!
Organic California Produce.
Specifically, the Central Valley of California, the climate and soil in this area allow farmers to grow some of the highest quality organic fruits and vegetables in the world. We're fortunate enough to have this beautiful produce available, as well as some pretty great seeds, nuts, grains, mushrooms and dairy, available to us year round. So we thought of a way we could share some with you all. Wherever you are in the world, we're offering a taste of organic California - in a fantastic new and fun way.
Fully degradable packaging.
The packaging is omnidegradable, meaning it will break down wherever microbes are present; underground, above ground and in the water.... Another great feature of the packaging is that it will not degrade on the shelf or while being stored, like all the other “compostable” or “eco-friendly” packaging available.
Packaging was so important to us that we spent months searching and finally we found one suitable for our needs, the qualifications were : a high moisture & oxygen barrier enough to keep our products fresh - yet friendly to Earth in all ways. The ink and adhesive on labels are even biodegradable and non-toxic.
The Process.
All products are hand made, by me ( Anjuli ), with over 20 years of culinary experience as the driving force. Everything is made with love, just as the farmers used while growing / picking etc.
Our foods are vacuum freeze dried, removing almost 100% of it's moisture. (so be sure to stay hydrated while eating our snacks) This processing allows the product to keep 97% of its nutritional value, unlike dehydrated foods, where the heat damages around half of the valuable nutrients.