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Peach Pitt emphasizes local, healthy foods

Summerland market has selection of fruits, vegetables, pies and preserves
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HOMEMADE PIES Heather Bermann, left, and Sandi Kaufhold of the Peach Pitt in Summerland show some of the locally produced foods available at the market. The peach pie Bermann is holding is the most popular of the assortment of pies. (John Arendt/Summerland Review)

A love of good, healthy food has shaped how Sandi Kaufhold runs the Peach Pitt on Highway 97 in Summerland.

“I wanted to provide good food for my family and my grandkids,” she said.

“I want to say at the end of my life that I contributed to the world and I contributed to good health.”

She and her husband Charlie took over the fruit stand seven years ago and have worked to provide organic and natural foods to their customers.

Some of the produce comes from the orchard on the property.

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Shortly after she and her husband took over the market, they received help from Summerland orchardist Lorraine Bennest, who has given them advice on how to manage the orchard and farm.

Fruits and vegetables on the shelves also include items not commonly available, such as organic crimson rose tomatoes and pink-striped eggplants.

All the food she buys comes from farmers whose farms she has visited and whose food production methods she can see.

This includes organic produce as well as honey from hives in the Garnet Valley area of Summerland.

She also has an assortment of pickles, jams and other preserves, produced at the market.

Kaufhold grew up in Saskatchewan, where she planted a large garden each year.

“I’m an old hippie from the Prairies,” she said. “My heritage taught me to put things in jars and save them.”

Among the preserved items she sells are pickled Brussels sprouts, labeled as “frog’s balls,” which were a big hit with her customers.

While that item is a novelty among her customers, Kaufhold said her approach to quality foods is serious business.

In addition to the fruits and vegetables, she also carries soup mixes and an assortment of homemade pies. Her peach pies are her biggest seller.

The pies have proved popular with her customers and she is now producing more pies than she had ever expected.

Kaufhold also carries local foods and other locally-made products, including hats and other clothing.

The market has a loyal customer base, including visitors from around the world who return each year.

“We’ve had an incredible number of tourists this past summer,” she said.

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John Arendt

About the Author: John Arendt

I have worked as a newspaper journalist since 1989 and have been at the Summerland Review since 1994.
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