HomeAccess to Good FoodWhat happened to Arrowhead Mills and Walnut Acres?

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What happened to Arrowhead Mills and Walnut Acres? — 22 Comments

  1. Oh my GOD ,I’m so sad to read this ,i will no buy anymore arrowheads Mills products,i don’t believe in this changes neither,i found out late,but thanks so much for this investigation,maggie from ormond beach,fl

  2. Six months after I graduated from Northwestern University. I came to New York City.
    I grew up I. Montana with delicious. healthy food and cooking. I began to taste. explore, and purchase my way around NYCity. Natural Foods were being brought I to NYCity by the original Natural and Organic Foodstore. The Good Earth. I shopped there. and I was offered the job of Sales Manager. and after a while, as Manager.
    The Townleys, who owned that store. gave me free rein and sent me everywhere
    I never met Frank Ford of Arrowhead Mills, but I talked with him on the telephone.
    I met the Keene’s at a weekend NOFA conference at the lakeside Mohonk Mountain House, near New Palz, New York, and returned to the city sitting on a wooden box in
    a truck ( sans comfort and before seat belts) with a huge order, case after case of Walnut Acres quart jarred tomatoes (transcendent). I also loved their spiced apple butter (reputedly cooked over a wood fire. and stirred with a stick. as the Keene’s had done I. Their missionary days. before Pennsylvania and Walnut Acres. Walnut Acres had perfect mayonnaise, delicious soups, and pretty much anything else they offered.

    At the same conference (it was organic foods heaven) I spent the evening hours learning product by product the depth of wonders of Shiloh Farms ( they are still there, still Shiloh owned. though both their Whole Wheat Pastry Flour and their
    Cookies and fruit cake recipes are no longer in the line (but their seeds, dried beans
    and dried fruits remain dependably sourced and available.

    I was introduced to the Hain Brothers at an NNFA Convention in Portland Oregon (Hain by someone from Lehman Brothers, and Actor Eddie Albert who I knew because he (like many a health conscious film star), shopped at Good Earth when in New York). Good Earth was a Destination Organic Food Store in NYCity in the 1960’s and 1970’s, produce. meats, chicken, fish, baked goods, certified raw milk, vitamins and supplements. eggs from Pennsylvania farms (when I observed to Aurthur Nungesser, who brought us incredible eggs in all sizes from puller to small, large, extra large. and jumbo, that the large eggs (I bake; most baking recipes are standardized for large eggs). that his large eggs looked smaller than those my mother had baked with in Montana, he shook his head and said that the FDA had recently re standardized large eggs as a courtesy to the farm label, as most producers could no longer meet the old egg weight standards.

    I agree with you totally about the Arrowhead Peanut Butter. It was also aflatoxin (fungus) free, perfectly roasted, and delicious.

    We have also lost Heinz Grotzke (whom I also met at that NOFA Conference. Mr Grotzke owned and farmed Biodynamically his Farm, Meadowbrook Farms.
    For twenty plus years I used his herbs herb blends and herbal teas. He tried to sell the business to someone “young enough to get down on their hands and knees to tend to the plants”. But he had no takers, and his knees. he said, could not handle that work anymore. Heinz Grotzke’s Meadowbrook Herbs were transcendently better than any since. I miss them bitterly. The original Mease, Pennsylvania bread makers, were there with their Sprouted Grains Breads — Wheat. Rye. And one other. But so one died, or they both retired. and Kaput No more.

    I bought an amazing Montana Hard Wheat Bread Flour from the Ted Whitmer family in Montana. Someone died, no more, no more. Oh, and since you are in California, you will understand that I also mourn the demise of Rancher Wachtenspeil’s TimberCrest Farms perfect organic dried fruits , of all kinds. (That hid me hard. No one matches them….)

    (Perhaps you know the answer to this question ?
    What became of organic monnuka raisins? They has disappeared I. Natural food stores in New York City.

    May you all there continue to thrive. I now work with private nutritional clients, and am writing the cookbooks that no one else can or will write.
    Feel free to use my name. Sincerely. Lisa Cosman. NYCity

    • Thanks for your first hand experience with many early organic foods, farms, and businesses. I will be looking for more information about these as well. A Google search showed sources of organic monukka raisins. I hope you find what you are looking for.

      I hope we can turn around the trend toward inferior quality food, but sometimes I am doubtful.

  3. My understanding is that when WA was bought by Cole, it was found out to be a fraud, nothing was organic. Is that true or false?

  4. i was a fan of arrowhead mills brownie mix and hain decide to discontinue it for gluten free only which is not acceptable taste or texture. im certain they do it only for monetary reasons (im sure gluten free costs less to produce). the gluten free thing is a ridiculous hoax fad.

  5. Is there any alternative to ordering organic food by mail? Some of us cannot get out and about or even have local access to organic food . I remember Walnut acres my mom had a shop and sold
    their food. I noticed lots of food for sale on Etsy but I’ve been disappointed in the few times I’ve ordered. There’s lots of food you can make payments on QVC but it is not organic. No one to take w acres place? How sad a sign of the times, thank you. They even had canned organic hamburger, remember?

    • Yes, I remember Walnut Acres organic hamburger and much, much more. All were excellent quality. There are sources to help find local organic food and pastured meats. If you are in the Houston area, look at the Local Food & Milk page on the website of the Houston chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Some of the sources deliver to various areas around Houston. If you live somewhere else, hopefully you can find a chapter of the WAPF in your area. You can also look at Real Food Houston’s Resources list for online sources of nutritious food and other healthier products.

  6. I think Walnut Acres was my first introduction to organic food. I was a mail order customer. Somehow a group of us who wanted to mail order from Walnut Acres were put in touch with each other. We ordered independently and had our orders shipped to a single drop-off address. I loved their food and have long missed it. So sad to learn what happened to them.

    • Used to order from them, too, and looked forward to getting those shipments! I actually forgot about that small detail until I read this! Weren’t they based in PA? We were in Jersey. Definitely loved their products. I think I actually went to their storefront once…?

  7. In my downsizing I found a note card from Walnut Acres hand signed by Bob and Runt Anderson from 1991. I was going to send the card to Walnut Acres for nostalgia sake. That year I was reading Mother Earth News regularly and very interested in organic food but none was available in my small town and I think Walnut Acres was the only catalog offering it.

    I wrote Walnut Acres a note saying I only DREAMT of some day being able to afford their products and couldn’t wait because everything looked and sounded great. I thanked them for offering this good food to the public.

    A week or two later, I received a big box from them filled with some organic products they offered in the catalog!!! All handwritten, it said SWEET DREAMS and Bon Appetite! Signed by Bob and Runt Anderson. There was also a side note that said Carrie was both of their grandmothers names and a special name in their families!

    How cool was that?? I thought they were the owners in a small mom and pop organization, so not sure who the Anderson’s were, but I was so impressed with the whole organic grass roots movement.

    I’m so sad to hear about the plight of Walnut Acres.

  8. Walnut Acres food was the best. I owned a small health food store back in 1972 and my goal was to sell only organic foods. There was a farmer who was definitely an organic farmer and sold his flours, grains etc locally. My customers thought his flour made the best bread ever. I ordered the Walnut Acres products. One of the favorites were their cereals, My family still talks about the Soy carob flour and what good pie crusts it made. Today, so many products disappoint me even when the are labeled “organic” Of course, if the consumer has never had the delicious products that remember they can’t compare the difference. I loved hearing from those who remember Walnut Acres and feel so lucky that I am old enough to have enjoyed really organic foods.

    • I agree. Everything I ordered from Walnut Acres was excellent quality and tasted good too. I often remember their foods and wish I could still order from them. I haven’t found any equivalent source of organic food, especially prepared foods, since Walnut Acres closed.

    • Bob’s Red Mill quality reliability is questionable. Their old-fashioned organic oats were found to be very high in glyphosates. I recently spoke with them and asked for documentation that they are taking the term ‘organic’ seriously and being stringent with overseeing growing the grains and production. They said they were 3rd party lab tested but would not share the lab reports. They expect you to just believe them, without proof. We need to be a united voice to hold these companies accountable in providing safe food in these uncertain times.

      • We have a Resources list on Real Food Houston that lists some good sources for organic grains. I have put an asterisk in front of those I have ordered from. I usually use Jovial Einkorn flour. I also order many foods from Azure Standard. They sell organic flour and grains. For already made sourdough bread products, I recommend Organic Bread of Heaven. Our purchase is like a vote. If we buy quality food from reliable companies our vote is registered. I am a volunteer chapter leader (Houston) for the Weston A. Price Foundation. If you want to support quality food and the farmers and producers who supply it, I highly recommend that you become a member.

  9. Thank you for this article. I used to buy their great products and wondered why Whole Foods and Fairway weren’t carrying them anymore. Very sad. I hope Kombucha makers fair better : )

  10. Today is January 10th, 2022 I have a 1lb. bag of Arrowhead Mills”Organic Green Lentils” that’s dated: “Best by 17 Dec. 2016 A1 01:24 That was approximately 5 years and 1 month ago. I gave the bag a gentle squeeze and it appears to still be air tight. Do you think they can still be used ? I mean…they’re dry lentils what could go wrong with them over time ? I know that they probably wouldn’t put a best by date on them if there wasn’t a reason, BUT some companies put best by dates on things just to get you to by stuff over a period of time.

    • If the lentils were stored in a freezer or refrigerator, they probably still have some nutrition. There are conflicting reports about using very old dried legumes. Some say they would have very little nutrition left. While they are not unsafe, they might be harder to digest. You could try soaking and cooking slowly for a while.

  11. Having been recently totally disgusted with King Arthur Flour for putting a lab-made fungal alpha-amylase additive into their organic AP and bread flours, I am searching for a replacement. Have known about Arrowhead Mills for decades but what is important is who they are now. They are now owned by Hometown Food Company and based on the other brands this company owns, I would not trust Arrowhead Mills for safe, high-quality organic flours or anything, for that matter.

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