T.J. Maxx: Your New Health Food Store

Have you noticed the international gourmet foods aisle at in Walnut? There are some real treasures to find; that is, if you like the hunt and reading labels.

Of all of the interesting things I have found and liked: chocolate wafer cookies made in Minnesota from an old Czech recipe, spices for pasta made in Italy, JellyBelly gift boxes — incidentally, that is one of the last, true Made in California candies.

I also have tried and liked various hot sauces from around the world, and all-natural cane sugar soda pop on occasion, but my favorite items have some real health benefits and are hard to impossible to find anywhere else near Diamond Bar.

Pink salt

The number one item now according to health experts (and me, of course) is Himalayan Pink Salt. I have given advice to clients of mine to avoid unnatural table salt and to opt instead for natural sea salt. It is much less "salty," and has natural minerals.

Once I saw the pink salt however, I delved into some research.

I found that many “sea salts” are actually bad for you. They can be harvested from polluted areas, can be bleached, and can be super heated to 1200º F to destroy any natural minerals identified as unnecessary.

Himalayan pink salts, on the other hand, are the most natural, cleanest and most pure found on earth. Why? Because they are a fossilized sea salt dried by the sun for millennia before manmade pollution.

The pink color comes from the minerals natural to this mountain salt, and more specifically, the iron content. The color from the minerals have not been removed by refining.

And would you believe 84 minerals and trace elements are found in this unique product? In addition to iron, there is calcium, magnesium, potassium, and copper.

These microscopic mineral particles are easily metabolized, and are used for everything from eliminating toxins, to improving circulation, regulating acid/alkaline balance, proper nervous function, and proper cell function.

We are mostly water after all, but we need our sodium to regulate our water balance. Refined table salt is just sodium chloride, all minerals removed, and is unhealthy for us because we cannot excrete it in high amounts, so it is stored in our bones and organs.

Our bodies recognize naturally balanced minerals, so many of our vitamin supplements are synergistically formulated now, before we understood the complex nature of our absorption process.

T.J. Maxx also carries grey salt from France, a similar product, whose color comes from the clay it is mined from. It is also natutrally processed, retaining its natural minerals. You can find many different salt combinations with garlic, shallots, pepper, too.

Voss water

Water should be bottled in glass. The taste is incomparable to any plastic bottles. The cost is much higher, but as a water bottler once relayed to a chef friend of mine, “The water is free, you just have to pay for my bottle.” Funny, but true. His company also bottles in glass.

Voss is from southern Norway — glacier water from the mountains. It also has natural mineral content. Much like salt, your body needs the trace minerals to process the H₂0. The Voss company says it is among the purest waters in the world because the water comes up naturally from the ground without the use of mechanical pumps.

The water issues from below a rock bed under a glacier, and because of this impermeable layer, it does not come into contact with pollutants.

T.J. Maxx offers the Still and Sparkling versions in the pretty cylindrical bottle, but take note, the Sparkling (or bubbly) version is not natural effervescence. The bubbles are added with bicarbonate after bottling.

Healthier jams

This might come as a shock, but finding jam that has no corn syrup or preservatives, colors, or extenders is not easy. Even one of my favorite stores, Trader Joe’s has only one choice that fits, and it isn’t a true jam — it’s their Fresh Fruit brand of  100 percent all-fruit spread. It’s OK.

(Forget the supermarkets, there are no such jams. I know I could make it myself, but, well, I don’t have that much time.)

If you read labels carefully when buying jam or preserves, you want this: fruit, sugar, and pectin. Lemon juice is acceptable, but not citric acid.

The jury is still out on citric acid. It makes things tart, and in very small quantities it probably won’t hurt you, but anything in a bottle or jar with any tartness will contain it. Bottled lemonade, salad dressings, condiments, any fruit products, candies, spaghetti sauce, etc. contain citric acid. You don’t need it. Buy jam without the citric acid.

T.J. Maxx has a favorite of mine from a local company in Chico, Calif., called Mountain Fruit Co. Mountain Fruit Co.'s Jams and Jellies are all produced by hand in small batches in Chico. The jams and jellies are all natural with no preservatives. All jams contain over 77 percent whole fruit and have half the sugar of other "Low sugar" jams. Many diabetics can eat Mountain Fruit's Jams.

Because of their natural body and flavor, Mountain Fruit's jam can be used in many ways – yogurt, milkshakes, tarts, cheesecakes, etc. They can also be used in baking and as an ingredient in sauces. My family’s favorites are BerryBerry, Rhubarb & Berry, and Apricot.

Candies

This is a tough one. While chocolate is the best from parts of South America, and then processed into candy bars in Europe, buying at a discount store can be a gamble. Sometimes it can be stale or heat damaged. If you find some that look good, you can try, but beware, Trader Joe’s is a better bet.

The same is true with cookies and popcorn, but a lot depends on the way it is packaged. Packaging in the USA is made for longer shelf life, so keep that in mind.

One company I’ve found recently at in Walnut is YummyEarth, and they make organic gummy bears and lollipops made with real fruit extracts.

A family company, their package reads, “YummyEarth was born out of our commitment to feed our children, Jonah and Rose, a diet rich in delicious organic foods that are free of yucky chemicals, pesticides, and dyes.”

The Today Show food editor, Phil Lempert, gave the YummyEarth a strong endorsement, saying “The best lollipop I’ve ever tasted.” There are 50 lollipops to a bag, and eight flavors. A great find!

Coffee and tea

If you have been looking into organic eating, then you might have read about the pesticide content of coffee. It is one of the highest rated crops in terms of chemical treatment.

You must go organic and fair trade. I’m sure you don’t want your morning Joe coming from the sweat of a child or a slave. That said, T.J. Maxx does not carry fair trade coffee, but if you are a Starbuck’s fan, you might be happy to find some at half price.

I have seen an occasional bag of organic at T.J. Maxx, but rarely whole bean; however, this week, T.J. Maxx has a good variety of organic ground coffees.

A good find, though, is the tea. Red Rooibos from South Africa, a naturally sweet tea — fair trade certified and packaged by Bentley’s. I love the Bombay Chai flavor. Roobios turns red when it is fermented, but you can find green as well, made by NUMI, also organic.

Vykasa Organic Ayurvedic Teas are also available in many flavors — my favorite is the Wellness Detox.

Vykasa describes their teas this way: “Organic ayurvedic detoxing tea is a proprietary blend of well known natural health promoting herbs such as rosemary, oregano and spices and herbs of ayurverdic origin with pure Sri Lanka green tea processed in compliance with the traditional Chinese technology.

The smooth flavor of green tea is rounded with the presence of lime, cumin seed, fennel, turmeric and coriander with their renowned capability of detoxifying and thereby of detoxifying and thereby refreshing the whole body.”

Always look to buy loose tea, but if you buy bagged tea, it should be individually wrapped and packaged in unbleached tea bags. Of course, the standard English teas are available, black, orange pekoe, earl grey, and various herbal types, with no tea at all — caffeine free! — like peppermint, chamomile, and organic honey to go with it!

Cooking oil

I would love to say the olive oil is a great deal. Price-wise, it might be — especially in the clearance section. The problem is, like wine, olive oil cannot be heated or see too much sunlight.

The bottles are not kept in a cool dark place. If you can find olive oil in cans, that’s a better bet, but you can’t be sure they aren’t heat damaged. Similarly, on occasion, carries some amazing wines such as clearance wines from closed restaurants, or when a winery changes labels, they will sell the left over cases to Big Lots.

I have found out that some bottles retail for over $100-200. The problem again, is in transport to the store, the wines can sit in overheated trucks, and the wine spoils. In like manner, olive oil can be heat damaged. It is safer to buy olive oil from Trader Joe’s or Costco, just don’t buy plastic bottles. The quality is not as good.

A great new item, and my favorite, is coconut oil. When you buy organic and virgin coconut oil, it is heat damage resistant, naturally. In fact, cooking with coconut oil is the healthiest choice out there right now.

Touted by the health and wellness community as the “absolute best” health oil, it can be used straight from the jar as skin or hair conditioner, in the bath, as a spread on toast, or once in its liquid form, when over 85º F, as a cooking or baking oil.

Its many health benefits will be explained in next week’s column (the list is too long!) But feel free to look it up before I tell you about it, and if T.J. Maxx runs out, Ralph’s carries it, and so does Sprout’s and Henry’s markets.

I hope you learned some interesting things about our local stores, and about some new products from around the world. Just keep the secret: we don’t have enough for everyone in Diamond Bar!