Articles in this section:
+ The Secret life of...our packaging
+ The Magic of Amys
+ It All Starts with Fresh Ingredients
+ Ever wonder how Tofu is made?
+ Take a tour of our Kitchen

The Secret life of...our packaging

The joy of being served a beautiful meal at someone’s home comes as much from the table setting as it does from the food itself. The host takes great care when preparing the table. Each guest is special and deserves to be treated in a special way.

Rachel imagines every customer as a guest in her home. To know her is to realize how much she enjoys serving her guests, be they family and friends, or the many customers who write her each day. She sets a beautiful table and is considerate of the needs of each guest. And while she can’t experience the pleasure of serving Amy’s customers in her home, she brings a little of herself to your home.

Think of each package as your very own place setting, completely arranged and designed by Rachel. Each is personal and unique. Take a close look. Notice the fresh flowers (they come from her garden), the gold plate from the Indian Meals (a family heirloom from Amy’s grandmother), or perhaps the little elephant next to the Mattar Paneer (a gift from a dear friend)? Everything you see in the photo was carefully chosen by Rachel and has personal meaning to her. Many of the items are mementos from her or Amy’s childhood, while others are collected specifically for their beauty and originality. For instance, the beads that spell “A-M-Y-S” on the Kids Meal were from a bracelet that Amy wore when she was little.

Rachel and Andy share a little bit of themselves to make a connection to the their customers, and make the food more personal. So the next time you sit down at your table to enjoy one of Amy’s meals, remember that you are our guest. We hope that we have done everything possible to satisfy you, and if not, that you will let us know how we might do better.

> Click this image for a closeup!

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The Magic of Amys
Have you ever noticed how something almost magic happens when you cook your own food from scratch? How you connect with each ingredient and feel your way through each step of the creation? How you use your senses to make even the smallest adjustments toward perfection? This “magic” happens every day at Amy’s.

When people learn how we prepare each Amy’s recipe from scratch, they immediately understand something about why the products taste, well, homemade. Amy’s is just a large kitchen where the staff begins each day with the most basic of tasks…hand chopping fresh onions and carrots…building soup stock from fresh vegetables, and proofing doughs for pizza crusts and pot pies. And yes, even our tofu is made in the traditional Japanese method. While our pots may be large (400 gallons!), the techniques for preparing food are much the same as those used in cooking at home.

The sauces perfected, the fillings just right, we begin the fun of the real handwork. Each burrito is hand rolled, each pizza crust hand stretched and topped, and broccoli is hand placed in the pot pies. Hands sprinkle cheese and herbs on the enchiladas and just the right amount of noodles are placed in each can of the Minestrone. We are cooking for you in the same way you would cook for yourself. From choosing the very best ingredients, to baking pastry to perfection, every detail is given full attention.

We like to think of you as a guest in our home and we appreciate you looking to Amy’s when you want all the goodness of a home cooked meal.

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It All Starts with Fresh Ingredients
We feel it is important to know where our food comes from. Fewer people today have the luxury of time to grow their own fruits and vegetables. And most of us don’t even know neighboring farmers who in the past supplied our local markets. We miss that connection as proven by the satisfaction we get from going to the farmers’ markets that grace many of our communities. There’s something about meeting the people who grow the food that creates a sense of “community”.

At Amy’s we value the notion of creating communities. One of the ways we do this is with the farmers who grow our fruits and vegetables. We know most of our growers by name and have been working with some of them since our humble beginnings. Maybe you’d like to know a little of how these relationships work, and the reasons behind why Amy’s products look and taste so good.

Amy’s is fortunate to be nestled into one of the world’s premier growing regions for many crops. Over fifty percent of our vegetables are grown within 200 miles of our “kitchen”. Author John Steinbeck wrote romantically about farming life in the Salinas Valley and the great San Joaquin Valley. These are the “gardens” that produce many of the organic vegetables you enjoy in Amy’s products.

Let’s talk broccoli! Can you believe there is only a 2-day window, during each harvest, when broccoli is at peak flavor and quality? Even though it is a year-round crop in California, organic broccoli is best between November and April when cool weather limits pressure from pests and dry weather. We work closely with our growers to choose the exact time for harvesting the absolute best of the season.

Our onions are sourced from 15 local organic growers. Most of these are family farms that have been with us for many years. Growing onions organically requires careful crop rotation planning. A single field may not be used for organic onions in more than one year out of every four. The onions are delivered to Amy’s fresh, and a small group of people from our kitchen peels them by hand.

Organic leeks are another crop that is grown by local family farmers, just a few miles to the west of Amy’s. Our produce managers will visit the farms throughout the growing season and discuss ideas for new crops and new ways of using fresh ingredients in our food. This is truly a “sustainable” approach to the community.

Oh, and let us not forget to mention about our apples (used in our Country Dinner Whole Meal, our famous single serve Organic Apple Pie and our Toaster Pops). Amy’s selects the“Cox Pippin”, a rare, heirloom apple, that basks in the warm Indian summer sun of Northern California. Doing so produces a sweetness that complements its perfect tartness. It is as much art as it is apple!

We have earned a reputation in the farming community as the company with the most rigid standards for quality and consistency. This is as it should be. Just imagine if you were planning a special meal for your closest friends. Wouldn’t you take the time to select the best of everything? Bright green broccoli, perfect potatoes, sweet tomatoes and tangy onions? Sure you would, and because we think of every customer as a guest in our home, you deserve the very best that nature provides.

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Ever wonder how Tofu is made?
Watch this video all about how we make Tofu at Amy's:

Amy's makes a lot of tofu!
Did you know that tofu has served as the primary source of protein for Asian peoples as far back as 2,000 years ago?  It was actually invented in China and soon thereafter became widespread across the orient.  It is only in the past 50 years that tofu has become known to non-Asian Americans but its popularity is growing rapidly. Americans are eating out more often and exploring the vast array of ethnic food choices introduced by inspired chefs and immigrants who bring their native foods to our communities.

When it comes to tofu, nothing could appear more basic.  Soybeans are crushed to extract their milk which is then thickened and formed into a standard shape.  So what’s the big deal?

You already know that Amy’s prepares each of its products from scratch.  What we haven’t told you is that we also prepare many of our ingredients from scratch as well.  Tofu is a primary ingredient at Amy’s as it appears in many of our products.  We use tofu in different shapes and with varied firmness depending on the product.  For Spinach Pizza we use very small pieces while in our popular Brown Rice & Vegetables Bowl we use larger pieces.  The demand for so much variety of tofu is the key reason we have chosen to make it ourselves, from scratch.

It’s fun to know how things are made so we thought we’d share how we prepare tofu each day at Amy’s.  We adopted methods from trained tofu makers who learned the traditional methods that haven’t changed for over a millennium.  One could say we are tofu “artisans”.  Each batch is hand crafted from the slow stirring of soymilk into curds, to the pressing and soaking of the finished product. 

It all starts with the beans.  We contract with growers who can guarantee us the best quality organic soybeans on the market.  And because they are organic, we are assured that the beans have not been genetically modified.  We conduct rigorous and regular testing to make sure we are getting exactly what we want. Unlike edamame, the popular “green” soybeans that people love to munch, soybeans used for tofu are a unique variety that arrives dried, similar to most beans you buy at the market.  The first step is to soak the beans until they are at the perfect level of hydration. 

The beans are then crushed and heated to separate the solids, otherwise known as okara, from the milk.  The warm soy milk is then slowly hand-stirred while nigari (a natural salt derivative of seawater) is added to form the curds.  (The amount of nigari used will determine the firmness of the tofu) When the curds are at just the right point, they are poured into a press lined with thin cloth.  The remaining water is then pressed from the curds allowing them to bind. 

The pressing complete, the tofu is submerged in a bath of cold water to finish setting up.  There is no fresher tofu on the planet! 

Once the tofu is cooled, it is used immediately for the many meals we produce each day.  We chop it, dice it and even marinate it for a variety of uses.  Tofu is also a staple at our home. Tofu is so easy to use and can be served in countless ways.  We urge you to explore the fascinating world of cooking with tofu and you’ll be amazed at what you’ll discover.

If you would like to know more about tofu, there is the quintessential book called, what else but, The Book of Tofu by Akiko Aoyagi and William Shurtleff.  It is a great source on the subject as it explains the origins of and how to make tofu, as well as a large recipe section that reveal the versatility of tofu.  

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