We have added a new recipe database as well as a place for you to keep current on our specials!  Our new recipe database offers 1,000s of great recipes that are easy and affordable.

Keep current on the happenings and community events Fresh Madison Market is involved in by seeing all of our press releases and event announcements now featured on the site.  You can also peruse our department offerings, meet our department managers and check out the brands we carry in store by linking to the manufacturer’s sites just by clicking on their name.

We still make it convenient for you to contact us and we encourage you to do so!  Fill out our survey and give us your feedback…we love to hear your ideas, suggestions and comments.  Enjoy the new website!

Online shopping is so easy…just go to our “Online Shopping” tab, set up an account and start shopping! You’ll find the same products that are in our store, at the same low prices! After you place your order and pay online, we will deliver your groceries within two hours after we receive your order. You can do your shopping online up to 7 days in advance of when you want your groceries delivered.

In addition to online shopping, we are also offering our exclusive Shop N Stop feature! You order your groceries online and rather than having us deliver your order to your home, you just call us five minutes before you arrive at our store, pull up to our entrance on Lake Street, and one of our store employees will bring out your order and load them into your car!

In case you find yourself, or know of someone, without computer access, you can call our toll free number, 1-877-933-3003. A customer service representative will help take your order and payment, and we’ll deliver just as we would if you placed your order online!
(Phone orders available 7am-4pm, Monday through Friday)

I hope that you will take advantage of our new ordering features. Free up some time and have us take care of your shopping and delivery! We are looking forward to it!

Click here

For the redesign and redevelopment of www.freshmadisonmarket.com, we will be creating a Web site that will remain familiar to their customers but will allow greater flexibility and functionality. The goal of the new Web site is to enhance usability and interactivity while supporting the future growth of the market and its online presence. In addition to the design, we will deploy an open source Content Management System (CMS) that will provide Fresh Madison Market with 24/7 access to automatically update content so the site remains as new and “fresh” as it proudly boasts about its products.

Some recent arrivals by customer request in my International Cheese Case are:

* Appenzeller and Emmentaler from Switzerland
* Jarlsberg & Jarlsberg light from Norway (also available sliced in the deli)
* Manchego from Spain
* Marquis de Lafayette Brie & Camembert Tins from France
* Halloumi, Kasseri, Feta, and Barrel-aged Feta from Greece
* Brie Fleur De France from France
* Life in Provence Roquefort from France
* Eplorateur and Delice de Bourgogne from France
* Moondara soft cheese flavored with everything from Chili spice, Apricot & Almond, Honey & Pistachio, to Melon & Mango.

Lunch just got better!

I am very happy to see so many people going after the fresh grilled panini sandwiches. Some of our favorites are Ham & Muenster, Turkey and Cheddar, and the Reuben. We will be adding some new ones and trying some new recipes like Pizza Panini, BBQ Chicken Panini, Chicken Caesar Panini, and a Blue Cheese & Scallion Roast Beef Panini. Feel free to offer suggestions or comments about which ones rock, and which ones need work.

One of our most popular departments is the organic and natural dairy department. In the past month, we have added thirty new products in this department alone! Look for items like seitan, all-natural cookie dough, organic string cheese, vegan cheese and sour cream, as well as tofu cream cheese!

The bulk food section is one of store’s biggest sellers and I am happy to announce that we are expanding our bulk food space by 40%! By the end of next week, you will see more bulk food bins and thus, a greater selection for you!

Another commitment of mine is to offer you as many local products as possible. We now carry bakery items from three local bakeries – Greenbush Bakery, Nature’s Bakery and the Silly Yak Bakery! We are also in the process of expanding our cheese case in the coming month to carry even more cheese and dairy products made right here in Wisconsin!

A new service I’m excited about is that we are now offering CITYWIDE DELIVERY! When you shop in our store and spend $40, we will gladly deliver your purchase free to your home when you request it from our cashiers!

If you don’t need delivery, remember that we have heated, underground parking (entrance on Lake Street) and we will validate your first thirty minutes when you spend $25 in our store!

We’ll keep adding and changing our items and services as we see demand/need shifting. If you don’t see something you’re looking for, please ask! We’ll try to get it for you! In the meantime, we will keep listening and thinking of ways to make your experience with us an enjoyable one! I hope you enjoy our new products and delivery service!

All you do is enter on Lake Street, take a ticket and come into the garage. Find a spot in the heated lot and bring your ticket with you. Look for the green FRESH sign that leads you to the elevator. The elevator will take you straight into the store! No battling the cold weather, snow, slush or wind…you never have to step outside! After shopping, remember to give your cashier your parking ticket so it can be validated.

When returning back to the garage, find a kiosk and put your ticket in. Your payment will be recorded and your ticket will be given back to you. Before leaving the garage, you must deposit your ticket in the reader and you’re on your way! It couldn’t be easier!

I want your shopping experience with us to be hassle-free! I hope you take advantage of our underground parking garage and will come see us often.

Wow! Super Bowl weekend just flew by! We received a couple of orders for things like sandwiches, wings, and trays. I’m glad to know that you are thinking about us for your catering needs. We will soon be launching a few catering menus in the coming weeks, so please check out what we can do and have us supply the provisions for your next event! We can also tailor the menu to whatever you may need—whether it is with a per-person budget or a set budget. A five-minute conversation over the phone is all it takes to make your catering event a success!

On cheese…

I am very happy to receive suggestions from our customers for the cheese case, and I’m glad that you are enjoying the flavors that we offer. I had a gentleman ask me about Cabot, a sharp Vermont cheddar cheese line and I’m happy to say it will be available in my cheese case in the next week or so. Someone asked me for the Laura Chenel’s Goat Cheese ; it’s one of my favorites, and is now in my cheese case in front of the deli island. My favorite suggestion so far has been for Krakovskaya Salami, which The Hungarian Girl called a “super bowl food” in her blog. Polish salami just seems like a natural winner in Wisconsin! So kudos to all you cheese heads who are as passionate about the wonderful world of cheese as I am! And if you are looking for something, odd or otherwise, let me know and I will help you find it.

We are constantly looking at ways and items that not only differentiate ourselves from the other grocers in town, but also to make our store THE store you want to shop. For example, in our bakery, we are now carrying great tasting cupcakes and cheesecakes from the Dream Factory®, which is from the bakery of The Cheesecake Factory! You can purchase the cheesecakes either by the slice or the whole cake. We are the only store in Madison where you will find these desserts. In our grocery aisles, we have expanded our gluten-free items as well as our ethnic offerings. We now have an expanded inventory of Asian and Indian products due to the high demand of these products.

Our salad/soup bar has been a great draw for us and we are constantly adding to that to offer you the freshest, tastiest salads, soups and hot entrée items. We are also adding more fresh, made from scratch bakery items that we make every day in our kitchen. In the coming week, we will be labeling all of these products with an “Exclusive recipe from the Fresh Madison Market” sticker so you know the bakery item you are getting will be fresh and homemade!

We are also looking for ways to make it easier for you to shop with us. We are now accepting American Express in addition to MasterCard and Visa. We’re working on adding on-line shopping to our website and will soon be offering delivery not only to the downtown area but also to our customers outside of the downtown area.

Chef Greg is working on his cooking class schedule and catering menus. His classes will not only be educational but fun and affordable. Once those are finalized, it will posted on our website and in the store.

Thank you again for your warm welcome and shopping with us. We are proud of our store and proud to be a part of the downtown community. As always, we welcome your feedback and questions. Hope to see you soon!

Speaking of HFCS, do you know what it is? How it’s made and why there is a fuss about it? You can Google it and see all kinds of articles and rant telling one story or the other. Rather than siding with one of them, I will just state some simple facts here about HFCS – what it is, how its made, and what it does.

The sugar normally contained most in corn is glucose. In order to make HFCS, an enzyme is added to change a certain amount of the glucose into fructose, which is just another type of simple sugar that has a much stronger sweet flavor because of its chemical make-up. Different percentages of fructose to glucose ratios are used in different products. For example, HFCS 55 is about 55% Fructose and 45% Glucose, commonly found in soft drinks; HFCS 90 is 90% Fructose and 10% Glucose, which is massively sweeter in flavor and is used only in very small amounts and in very special applications. The reason that HFCS exploded into replacing simple cane or beet sugar in the US is because of corn’s explosion into the American food supply. It is much more lucrative to mass produce corn than it was to process beets or import cane sugar.

If you want to learn a little more about why it came about and what part corn has played in American history, I urge you to check out King Corn, which is a documentary about these two friends who cultivate and harvest one acre of corn and dig up some dirt on how corn is subsidized by government funding. For you bookworms out there, check out Michael Pollen’s books and articles to learn more about the workings of food, the secrets behind the food industry, and the food culture of America in general.

Though I don’t like to reference Wikipedia, because it’s Wikipedia, here is a link to some information on HFCS.

At Fresh Madison Market, we hope to offer some healthy alternatives and pay attention to products you are looking for–from alternative proteins, grains, and starches to good old fashioned fresh veggies, great food for you to nourish your mind, body, and life with.

This week’s food & wine chatter !

You might have heard of the terms “nose” when someone talks about wine. If a wine has a strong musk or scent, it is said to have a lot of nose. The combination of bleu cheese, Italian red wine, and dark chocolate makes you think it could have a lot of foot instead. Speaking of that, have you tried the combination of Chocolate and Bleu Cheese ? That’s a pretty strong combination.

If you don’t like bleu cheese or if you want a friendlier cheese, it might be worth diving into double and triple cream brie. Examples are St André, Délice de Bourgogne, or a true crown of the brie world in my opinion, Explorateur. The first two are very nice examples of cheese to break you into Bries. They offer a very rich, delicate and non-offensive taste to a new taster. As long as you stay away from the rind, they are rather mild to the nose and have a very pretty taste. Explorateur has a bit more of a nose to it, but is very complex and beautiful. All three cheeses will play nicely with sweet apples, honey, and a nice Viognier that is bright and clean.