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THE MERCHANTS OF SPICE
North America’s largest organic spice wholesaler calls Reno home.
WRITTEN BY ANN LINDEMANN
PHOTO BY JEFF ROSS
Housed in an unremarkable-looking warehouse north of Reno is a remarkable business that rivals the United Nations in its global representation. Upon entering High Quality Organics, you won’t hear the cacophony of foreign languages or see a colorful riot of exotic garb. But take a deep breath and you’ll smell the aromatic evidence of organic farmers from virtually every region of the world.
High Quality Organics is the largest provider of wholesale organic herbs, spices, and botanicals in North America. Although it’s not a household name, this Stead-based company’s flavorful ambassadors can be found in countless big-name organic consumer products and more than 5,000 different custom spice blends.
Commitment to Quality
“Our vision is to be the leader and innovator in sourcing and providing the highest quality organic ingredients for food companies of all sizes,” explains CEO Boligala Raju.
But peel away the market-speak and you’ll find a company that is led by a team truly walking the organic lifestyle talk. A native of India, Raju reminds people that the organic movement is not as new as some may think.
“I grew up on an organic family farm that has been in our family for five generations,” Raju says. “Organic agriculture has been a way of life for me, and it’s why I’m totally committed to our mission here at High Quality Organics.”
Indeed, Raju and fellow HQO executives travel the globe, cultivating relationships with farmers. From Asia and Europe to the Pacific Islands and South America, each and every supplier is regularly inspected and audited.
“We cover the globe … and quite frequently,” notes Fred Alejo, HQO vice president. “We meet and work with growers in terms of educating them on everything from the quality to food safety expectations of the U.S. market.”
Among other tasks, the team monitors pesticide spray drift from neighboring non-organic farms, and with luck they’ll find some healthy-sized creepy crawlers.
“If we see massive spiders, we know that they aren’t using pesticides, and it’s also good when we dig up the soil and find massive earthworms,” Alejo explains.
All this globetrotting not only ensures food safety, but also helps to build a consistent supply for spices that are in high demand, he says.
Top Choices
And what are the most popular spices?
“I’d say black pepper, nutmeg, chili peppers, turmeric, and ginger,” Alejo says. “But we’re always looking into new ones such as lucama, which is a fruit from Peru that is really popular in Italy now for flavoring milk-based products like ice cream.”
The lion’s share of the producers is small, but the ripple effect in these remote areas is huge. For instance, due to a profitable relationship with HQO, an organic mustard grower in India was able to build a much-needed water storage tank and buy farming equipment.
Back in the United States, HQO is bursting at the seams with a 60,000-square-foot warehouse and a 30,000-square-foot production area where products are dried, roasted, and milled to client specification. Importantly, before they are ever brought into the facility, these products are tested for harmful pathogens and metals, and during production, food safety specialists make daily testing rounds.
Evolution of a Spice Giant
HQO was created in 2009 from the merger of two organic industry leaders, The Great Spice Co. in Southern California and Reno’s Organic Herb Trade Co.
“Before the merger, the two companies had six million in sales collectively,” Alejo reports. “The first year after the merger, HQO had $10 million in sales, and last year it went up to $20 million. There was never a plateau or drop during the recession.”
HQO employs between 85 and 90 people, and has plans to hire more in 2013.
“The company is dedicated to Reno — no ifs, ands, or buts about it,” Alejo says, adding that a new state-of-the-art, LEED-certified facility is on the two-year wish list.
Alejo attributes the company’s success to a variety of factors, including its size, which provides an economy of scale in terms of competitive prices, and its rigorous food-safety programs.
But in the end, the heart of the business is in the people, Alejo says.
“The high quality of our product is a direct reflection of the long-term relationships that we developed with our international growers,” he says. “And the emerging consumers and younger generations have much more global awareness of the impacts of the products they buy and consume. Organic products fall right in line with having a greater global and social conscience.”
Culinarily challenged edible Reno-Tahoe contributor Ann Lindemann is busy fine-tuning her flavor profile knowledge thanks to her new friends at High Quality Organics.
Climb the Spice Wall at Nothing To It
Do the contents of your spice cabinet date back to the Carter administration? Experts say that after a year or two, those dusty jars should be tossed, as their potency has long since resigned.
The answer to this spicy dilemma is to buy high-quality spices in small amounts at Nothing To It Culinary Center in Reno. Offering more than 60 varieties of spices, the kitchen store is home to culinary inspiration by the tablespoon. Prices range from 65 cents per tablespoon for a curry blend to $2.95 per tablespoon for black truffle sea salt that is sure to wow dinner guests.
With tantalizing blends such as rosemary garlic for chicken or a steak rub redolent in chipotle and cayenne, Reno-area home cooks sometimes forego the cookbook and head straight to the spice wall at Nothing To It for inspiration.
Nothing To It Culinary Center, 225 Crummer Lane, Reno, 775-826-2628, http://www.Nothingtoit.com
