Recently, our Cloverbuds group took a tour of Harris Teeter grocery store in Gainesville.  They gave a great tour!  The kids got to wear hairnets, and how fun is that?  Behind them, you can see the ice table...can you guess why it is called an ice table?  The kids had a lot of chances to taste some different produce they may not have normally tried.  We tried star fruit.  It was similar to an apple or a pear, but not very sweet.  Below, we learned that the potatoes are in a section of the store with no direct light.  This keeps the potatoes from turning green!  Ewww!  Who wants to eat green tomatoes?

Grace liked the star fruit the best, she had about 5 pieces!  At the cheese counter we learned that the cheese sits on refrigerated panels that are almost to a freezing temperature. 

Behind the deli, we had a lesson in how to handle chicken properly.  Our tour guide, and store manager, Jimmy told us that they have a sink in the store that is the only sink to handle chicken.  Nothing else gets washed in there to make sure there is no cross contamination of meats.  He also explained how the skewers held the chicken, and how the rotisserie ’rotated’.  

Next stop was the bakery.  We learned how they make the roses on the cakes.  Most of the cakes and all of the pies are made off sight, but they do have ovens to cook the breads in.  They arrive in dough form.  They are put in the oven to ‘proof’ and then baked.  Some breads are shot with a spritz of water to give them a chewy crispy crust.  The cakes are frosted on sight and decorated.

Next we were on to the cold storage and meats.  Above, you can see how all the meat arrives at the store.  Then it is cut weighed and put in packages.  Do you know what this fat is used for?  They sell it to a plant that makes soap and other cosmetics.

Now you know petting the lobster was cool!!  I don’t think he shared the sentiments though!

In the dry storage area we saw how a crusher like this can make quick work of all the boxes.  The bales are sold to recycling companies.  Well done HT!

Freezer Time!

In here we learned that when they make ice cream, they shoot in the cream mixture and then shoot the rest up with air.  That is why they must maintain a certain temp in the freezer, otherwise the air can escape and you would be left with half a container!

We checked out the dairy case and the break room.

We finished our tour with a trip to the pharmacy...which was followed by hot cocoa and blueberry coffee cake at Starbucks!  Yum!!  The tour was great, and I think we all learned a lot.  Thanks Jimmy!  And Harris Teeter!