Grow and Behold
Glatt Kosher Pastured Meat and Poultry

Grow and Behold is a dynamic young company specializing in OU certified Glatt Kosher pastured meats, all raised on small family farms.

According to Naftali Hanau, company CEO and founder:
“We adhere to the strictest standards of kashrut, animal welfare, worker treatment, and sustainable agriculture. We pay our farmers fair prices, generally above the national averages, ensuring that they can support their families while raising food for our customers. We work closely with our farmers to determine the best practices for raising animals in ways that support the natural environment and respect the natural instincts of the animals. Grow and Behold works with producers to ensure the highest standards of care for animals and people, all along the supply chain from field to fork. We’ve been blessed with spending years on organic farms, where watching food grow reminded us daily of the miracles of creation… Having our animals raised, processed and consumed as nearby as possible means we’re treading lighter on the earth, leaving less of a carbon footprint.” 

Naftali is a shochet (ritual slaughterer), m’naker (ritual butcher), farmer and professional horticulturist. He grew up around the corner from the kosher butcher in Rochester, NY, and has been a carnivore from a young age. He learned shechita (ritual kosher animal slaughter) in Crown Heights, NY, and Scranton, PA, and has studied at butcher shops and slaughterhouses across the country.  He holds a degree in horticulture from the New York Botanical Garden School of Professional Horticulture has been a Greenhouse Manager at Adamah, a Jewish environmental farming program in northwest Connecticut, worked on several organic farms and owned his own landscaping firm. Anna Hanau, who is Grow and Behold’s Communications director, is a farmer, writer and a Jewish educator. Formerly a vegetarian, she now eats meat when she knows how it’s produced and where it came from.  Anna worked for 10 years at Hazon, and word has it that she keeps a flock of chickens in her Brooklyn backyard.

So how does the meat taste? In one word – exceptional. When we grilled rib steaks they were tender and flavorful.  We pan–fried sweet Italian sausage (nitrite free) and added it to our Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup. Everyone loved it. The sausage added a delicious mild, smoky flavor. The ground beef formed a juicy, flavorful hamburger which we enjoyed on a potato bun.

We are now intrigued by Grow and Behold's newest product Rose Veal.
We asked Anna, what makes this veal different from all other veals?
Her reply:
Finally, veal that your taste buds and conscience can truly enjoy. Our delicious Rose Veal comes from animals raised outdoors on pasture, with plenty of room to graze and move around. They are never forcibly confined, as is common in conventional veal. Instead, these animals nurse from their mother until 6-8 months, and then enjoy a diet of grass and locally-grown grain (including hay and haylege, fermented grain).Rose Veal is generally quite lean and should be cooked to rare. Brining definitely improves texture and flavor. 
There are many more products available from this company that we look forward to trying. We applaud Grow and Behold for its mission, its standards and its commitment to humane sustainable practices and the environment, while adhering to the highest standards of kashrut. 

Grow and Behold offers buying clubs in several cities across the U.S., and ships meat and poultry throughout the U.S.  To learn more, visit them at GrowandBehold.com. Friend them on Facebook.com/GrowandBehold. Follow them on Twitter: @growandbehold 

Enjoy these scrumptious recipes from Grow and Behold:
Rose Veal Roast with Pocket
Lamb Roast with Rosemary and Sage

January 16, 2012