CASTROVILLE, Calif. – (March 10, 2010) – Schnucks employees recently got a taste of California when Ocean Mist Farms held an "Artichoke 101" class to educate Schnucks employees about the vegetable coming into peak of spring season.

The class, held March 4 at the corporate office of Schnucks in St.Louis, Missouri was one part of a series the company offers to all employees to gain knowledge on wide variety products and commodities Schnucks offers its consumers.

Limited to 60 spots, the Schnucks staff who attended the class was from all different areas of the company including store level and corporate office positions.  In addition, Mike O’Brian, Schnucks director of produce, and the entire produce team attended in support of the class.

About 90 minutes in length, Artichoke 101 covered everything "all about artichokes" from field to fork.  Harvest videos, shown as an effort to "bring the fields to Schnucks," and the class learned how to trim an artichoke for cooking, how to remove the fuzz from a cooked artichoke and experienced a product tasting featuring a recipe for an “easy baked artichoke” straight  out of the oven.

"We’ve put on many Artichoke 101 classes, but the Schnucks warm welcome and genuine interest in our topic was really appreciated," said Kori Tuggle, company marketing manager. "It was a great opportunity to have a diverse audience that really wanted to learn about artichokes."