Tree Top Takes Bloggers on a Farm Tour + Cookout at Mom 2.0 Summit 2013

This year was my first time to attend the Mom 2.0 Summit in Laguna Niguel, California and it was an amazing experience!  I had the opportunity to meet with reps of a variety of brands and learn more about their products and the roles they would like to play with bloggers such as myself.  One brand that really stood out to me during my visit was Tree Top! 

I have purchased the Tree Top juices for our family over the years and was excited to meet some of the team members behind this awesome brand for a special event at the Mom 2.0 Summit.  In fact, as soon as I received the invite for this farm tour and cookout, I immediately scheduled it before anything else.  The event took place at the Tanaka Farms in Irvine, California.

Many of the bloggers met up with the Tree Top team in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel and then took a limo over to Tanaka Farms.  However, I was driving down to the conference from the Central Coast and got stuck in the traffic from the Camarillo Fires, so I was a few minutes late.  When I arrived, the team and other bloggers greeted me with hugs and smiles and expressed how glad they were to finally meet me and that I made it safely.

As part of this event, we took a walking tour of the farm and even had the opportunity to pick some of our own produce.  The produce included Snap Peas, Radishes, Spinach, Endive, and Cilantro.  After picking our produce, we headed over to the washing station.  Oh man, it felt so good to have the wind blow the cool mist on us, as it was pretty dang hot outside.  We were all pretty impressed with our pickings and were excited to get cooking.

Once we cleaned up our produce, it was time to head to the preparation station.  Here, we were each provided with a piece of foil to place our entrée on.  I spread out and grouped the veggies, adding to them sliced zucchini and salmon, and then topping them with Olive Oil, Garlic Salt, and Montreal Steak Seasoning.  At first, I was worried I put too much Olive Oil on them, but came to find out it made the entrée that much juicier and flavorful!

Next, we wrapped up our entrée and handed it off to the chef to cook on the barbecue.  Oh man, was I getting hungry!  Drinks were served and we hit the buffet line for some side dishes, including a cooked beet (wrapped in foil and cooked on the barbecue), sautéed onions, and salad.  I had never had cooked beets before, but with the sautéed onions, it was really good!  Oh and the entrée with Salmon was amazing!

At the lunch, I learned a few interesting facts about the Tree Top Apple Juice process.  Here they are:

–       Tree Top apple juice is made from apples that come from the growers who own the company and control the process from orchard to bottle.

–       Tree Top is still owned by a cooperative of 1,100 growers that began more than 50 years ago. 

–       The co-op presses more than a dozen apple varieties each harvest, including Granny Smith, Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Braeburn.

–       Fifty tons of “juicer” apples are washed in a huge rotary drum every hour. 

–       The juice is separated from the solids, which are sold for a variety of uses.  There is virtually no waste from Tree Top’s processing system.

–       It takes 20 apples to make one bottle of Tree Top apple juice.

–       Most Tree Top juice goes from press to bottle in 20 hours. 

–       Quality control standards assure consistency from batch to batch within 1 percent.

–       Tree Top maintains a trained taste panel to guarantee the finest quality in every single batch of apple juice produced.

After this experience, I am definitely looking forward to working with Tree Top in the future and to next year’s Mom 2.0 Summit in Atlanta, Georgia (I even already have my ticket – woo hoo)!!

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