Top Tomato is family owned and operated with over 55 years of experience. It all started back in 1960, when Vito De Filippis began farming cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli on 40 acres in Uxbridge, Ontario. At that point, most of the produce was sold to smaller supermarkets and down at the food terminal.
Vito’s son Dominic is now the owner and operator of Top Tomato, along with his two sons Antony and Vito. Nowadays, using patience and innovation, their farm has expanded to a much larger scale with a wider range of products including broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, beans, peas, and even artichokes! Growing artichokes in Ontario was a process of trial-and-error throughout the better part of a decade until they learned the best way to grow them in the Canadian climate and started to see amazing yields.
10 years ago, Top Tomato implemented a food traceability program as well as participate in yearly audits. Through these tools, they can trace every single seed they planted and use the continuous feedback through their program to make adjustments and produce even better tasting products!
More recently, they’ve worked to reduce their waste by investing in reusable, washable shipping containers. They also pride themselves on being a great local employer, and are constantly striving to provide growth and opportunities for their staff – some of whom have worked for them for over 20 years!
Ontario Honey Creations is the sister company of Toronto Bee Rescue, both of which are family-run businesses, co-founded by Sarah Allinson-Chorabik and her husband, Peter. One of the coolest things about their product line and operation is that they dedicate a portion of all their sales towards their free honey bee swarm removal service offered by Toronto Bee Rescue! This service aims to humanely remove honey bee swarms from residential or commercial spaces and relocate them to more suitable locations.
As part of a community of chefs, farmers and foodies, we cannot emphasize enough how important initiatives such as the Toronto Bee Rescue swarm removal service are. Honey bee colonies are facing alarming collapse – Ontario alone faced a 58% winter mortality colony collapse over 2013/2014. The work Sarah and Peter do through the Toronto Bee Rescue is something we whole-heartedly support here at 100km Foods. We all need honeybees! Not only because their ecological role is crucial for pollination, but also because, well, honey is just the most delicious thing ever!
Ontario Honey Creation’s apiaries are located throughout Toronto and the GTA, and they harvest separately based on time of year in the spring, summer and fall. One of their apiaries is right in the Rouge Valley, so their products truly couldn’t be more local!
They use the honey they harvest to create artisanal honey vinegars, through a static fermentation process, which are then aged for six months before bottling. The garlic in the Honey Garlic Vinegar is also grown on their own family hobby farm. We now carry four distinct varieties of these vinegars – the original Honey Vinegar, Honey Apple Vinegar, Honey Raspberry Vinegar and Honey Garlic Vinegar.
Paul, Grace and the office staff tried out these vinegars and we were all impressed by the flavour and deliciousness of these products that we decided right then they would be our next feature. icon on our website, or to the brand new category of honey vinegars to add them to your cart and try them out!
Thanks so much to Ontario Honey Creations, and in particular Sarah Allinson-Chorbik, for providing us with such fantastic information about their operation!
Located in Norfolk County, Pristine Gourmet is owned by Jason Persall, a fourth generation craft farmer. A little over ten years ago, Jason carefully integrated virgin cold pressed oils into their 1000 acre family cash crop farm.
He designed and built a press mill to craft his own virgin canola, sunflower and soybean oils from non-GMO seeds grown on the farm. Jason, his family, and the team at Pristine Gourmet share a passion and unparalleled dedication towards creating pure, clean, high-quality oils that capture the flavours of the region. Their products are used in hundreds of restaurants and retail stores in Ontario, Quebec and Western Canada and have received glowing reviews from a variety of mainstream media, including features in The Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, and Ontario Grain Farmer to name a few.
We’ve been working with Pristine Gourmet since 100km Foods began, and are proud to say our partnership with them has been foundational for our company. We carry their oils, as well as their amazing wine vinegars, edible beans and pulses, most of which are available year-round.
Their Sunflower, Soybean, and Canola oils are the flagship line of their products, and are pressed from non GMO seed and free of solvents and preservatives, which allows for their clear, full flavours.
The Virgin Cold Pressed Canola Oil crafted by Pristine Gourmet is not your average canola oil. Dark golden colour, with a bold robust flavour makes this a favourite amongst top chefs -- not to mention that it is the lowest in saturated fat of all the oils. Pristine’s canola oil can be used in raw or cooking applications.
Pristine’s Virgin Cold Pressed Sunflower Oil is the lightest coloured of the three oils, with a flavour that transmits a sense of eating sunflower seeds in the summer sunshine. This is a highly versatile oil, useful in salad dressings, for frying, and in many other preparations.
Pristine’s Virgin Cold Pressed Soybean Oil has a unique, delicious nutty flavour of the three oils, with a rich yellow colour that retains its natural antioxidants after being pressed. The soybean oil is also high in poly- and monounsaturated fats, low in saturated fats and trans-fat free.