Wholly Wholesome

Our products are distributed throughout the US. You can typically find them in stores like Whole Foods and independent natural and health food stores, as well as in the natural foods sections of larger chain stores.

We encourage you to click on the Where to Buy link, located on any page of our web site. Enter your zip code, town or state to obtain a list of stores that we know of who carry our products.

Of course, if you know of a store – or if you own a store – that carries Wholly Wholesome products and it's not listed in our database, let us know and we will add it!

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No, not at this time. While we are always exploring ways to make online sales feasible for our products, we have found online sales to be cost-prohibitive due to the nature of our products. Because our products contain no preservatives, they have a very short shelf-life when thawed. Also, many of our products need to be shipped frozen because they are intended to be baked at home. With respect to direct-to-consumer sales, in many cases, the cost for shipping and handling our products far exceeds the price of the products themselves.

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Not at this time. However we are actively exploring the development of gluten-free line of Wholly Wholesome products.

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We use palm fruit oil (also known palm oil, palm fruit shortening) in our pies, pie shells, pie crusts, crumble cakes and cheesecakes. In order to achieve the desired texture in these products (for example a nice, flaky pie crust), a solid (i.e. saturated) fat needs to be used. Because palm fruit oil is naturally semi-solid at room temperature, it does not require hydrogenation and therefore contains zero trans fats per serving.

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Photo credit: CIRANDA®

No. While palm fruit oil and palm kernel oil are from the same plant – the oil palm tree – each is derived from a different portion of the fruit. The fleshy orange fruit portion is the source of palm fruit oil (also known as palm fruit shortening), while the white kernel (in the center of the palm fruit) is the source of palm kernel oil.

Physically and chemically different from the highly saturated palm kernel oil, palm fruit oil products contain a balance of polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids and essential substances such as linoleic acid, tocopherols and tocotrienols, which act as natural anti-oxidants against damaging free-radicals.

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No. We use only palm oil derived from the fleshy part of the fruit.

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Our main source of palm oil comes from suppliers located in South America, in Brazil and Columbia. Our suppliers work with hundreds of independent family farms that had previously lived off of non-sustainable extraction of timber and subsistence crops such as corn and beans.

Our suppliers are committed to achieving high environmental performance through practices and policies including zero-waste, nutrient cycling, water efficiency, conservation of biodiversity, and energy and emissions efficiency. No GMOs or pesticides are used, and the palm oil is refined without chemicals. Our suppliers are also committed to the development and well being of their employees and wider community.

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Evaporated cane sugar (ECS), also known as evaporated cane juice, is an important ingredient in Wholly Wholesome products. Oftentimes on our ingredient panels, you will find ECS listed as Organic Cane Sugar.

Unlike the highly processed and refined white sugar most consumers are familiar with, our main source of ECS is produced in Florida from sugar cane harvested and milled in the same day, using these simple and natural steps:

1. Extraction – Sugar cane is pressed by a series of rollers to extract the juice.

2. Purification – A clarification tank is then used to remove field sediments and small pieces of cane fiber.

3. Filter – The juice is then filtered to remove any finer field particles.

4. Evaporate – The filtered juice is then heated with steam to evaporate the natural water, creating a concentrated golden syrup.

5. Crystalize – The resulting syrup is then “seeded” with tiny sugar crystals, and slowly boiled in a large vacuum pan. Boiling causes the crystals to increase in size, forming a mixture of crystals and molasses.

6. Separate – A fine mesh rotating basket is then used to separate the crystals and molasses.

7. Dry – The golden crystals are cooled and circulated with warm, dry air, and then are ready for packaging.

This process is considered a single crystallization process versus the double crystallization process used on refined sugars. An added benefit of the single crystallization process is that it yields higher levels of vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) than conventionally processed sugars. The single crystallization process also gives ECS a richer golden hue which complements many baked goods’ final appearance and flavor. This process also consumes less energy and generates fiber which is recycled as a clean source of renewable energy.

This single crystallization process has earned a Carbon Free certification, which verifies that a product’s carbon footprint is rendered neutral through greenhouse gas cutting measures. Our supplier’s sugar cane fields are also rotated every three years with rice crops to maintain a natural environmental balance. Of course the organic evaporated cane sugar is grown without pesticides or herbicides.

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