Blooms is working on a new project that will help promote the local production of food to help us rely a little less on imported products. In addition, we are hoping to provide a BETTER product at a lower price, by avoiding the high import duties. We are looking for farmers (large or small) in Trinidad that are interested in raising all-natural chickens for us. If you are someone (or know someone) that may be able to help, please watch. Farming partners will be asked to abide by a series of guidelines for the production of this chicken and those guidelines will be verified on a regular basis. We will be able to advise the farmer in the setup of their farm and possibly make ourselves available to assist financially. In exchange, Blooms will provide a guaranteed purchase order for your chickens on a weekly basis. We are the market for the chickens, we are just looking for the supply.

There is so much chatter in the news today about developing and diversifying the Trinidad economy away from oil. We also all know that we need to rely less on foreign imports, especially when it comes to food. Here is an initiative that kills two birds with one stone (no pun intended). There is no reason that all-natural (or even organic) chicken cannot be produced here in Trinidad. We have plenty of farmland, access to raw materials and a climate that is perfect for farming. Help us stop TALKING about changing the way we do things and start DOING something about it.

BOP is a company that supplies kimbop to Blooms on Saturdays!

Bop means “rice” in Korean but since Korean meals always include rice bop also means just “food”. We at bop make food that is good for you and package it to be gentler to the environment. The food is delicious and healthy and made fresh every morning. Packaged in 100% compostable boxes made from corn you can feel good knowing where it is from and where it is going.

Kimbop is rice and various fillings wrapped in seaweed. It is a traditional lunch for picnics and busy days lovingly made by Korean moms. Flavourful and easy to eat and
share.

bop currently offers 4 different kimbop varieties: spicy Korean beef, spicy tuna/avocado, tuna/avocado, pumpkin/avocado.

Bop products are sold fresh at Blooms on most Saturdays.

Bop’s Facebook Page

Carnival season is here. If you are a food service vendor, right about now you are most likely looking for delicious and easy food options that you can service quickly and for a reasonable price. Fetes vendors, you need items that are easy to eat and easy to serve.

Our specials this year accomplish this and will drop your food cost for your catering or fete gigs.

Please note that these items are for WHOLESALE purchases and minimum purchase amounts will apply.

1. Pork Baby Back Rib Special

We have USDA Pork Baby Back Ribs on special at $22TT/LB. Each rack contains approximately 12 ribs and 12 racks come in a case. Cases weigh (on average) 44lbs.

These are easy to cook and easy to serve. Cover with a special BBQ sauce and you have a crowd favorite.

2. Crawfish

Extra Jumbo Crawfish are pre-seasoned and pre-cooked. Curry and serve with dumplings or simply heat and serve. This is not your normal ‘fete food’ and is sure to impress.

Price is $26TT/LB. 5lb bags. 2 bags per case for a 10lb case.

Please emails us at: sales@bloomsimports.com to order

LINX or CASH only.

The difference between large and jumbo shrimp depends entirely on where you buy them. The terms describing the size of shrimp like “small”, “medium”, “large” and “jumbo” are not regulated, and can vary. Especially when buying shrimp on the side of the road in Trinidad. The way to truly know the size of shrimp you are buying is by the number–called “count”–with which they are labeled.

The count gives you the number of shrimp you can expect to get in one pound. The fewer shrimp per pound, the larger and more expensive they are. If you only have 10 or 15 shrimp that make up a pound, those shrimp will need to be larger. Fewer shrimp in the pound, but they are larger.

Some of the standard sizes you’ll find are:

61-70, 51-60 Really small shrimp, often used for shrimp salad. Often labeled Tiny, Extra Small and Small. We sell these at shrimp pieces and they can be viewed here.

41-50 –  Labeled medium or medium large. I’d use these in pasta or mixed seafood dishes. Our 41/50 shrimp is commonly used by Roti Shops to make their Shrimp Curry. The size is bite sized and larger shrimp are not necessary. You can purchase these shrimp de-veined and cleaned by clicking here.

31-40 These are readily available, often labeled large, and my go-to size when budget is a consideration. Click here for more info.

21-25, 16-20 Often labeled jumbo, these are a great choice when shrimp, prepared with few other ingredients, are the main course. When serving grilled shrimp or simple sautéed shrimp for dinner, each diner might get 4-6 of these. This is our most commonly sold sized of Shrimp here at Blooms. You can purchase these by clicking here for 16/20 and here for 21/25.

10-15, usually 10 These are a treat; an indulgence as expensive as they are impressive looking. They may be referred to as colossal. You can purchase these shrimp here.

We have quite a few customers that are visiting Trinidad via their sailboat, yacht or commercial vessel. Some are chefs for large merchant ships and others are just cruisers sailing through Trinidad. While we may not carry all of your supplies needed for the voyage out, we can certainly help you in the meat department. Most of our meats are USDA certified and individually packaged in small serving sizes, which are usually very important of cruisers and chefs.

Take your time and browse our selection online, place order order and we will deliver the products to the marina you are docked at. We can accept US dollars, TT dollars and credit cards.

The good news is that if you are one of these customers, we can now delivery directly to your boat (assuming you are docked!) No need to order online and book transport from your marina to Diego Martin. As long as your order surpasses our minimum outlined in the delivery information section, we will be happy to deliver it to your boat.

If you need ship chandler services for larger vessels, please contact us at sales@bloomsimports.com, as we can forward you onto a company here in Trinidad that can help.

Attention Sando and South customers!

You asked and we have listened. Blooms will be doing the first ever “Online Order Meat-up”, this Saturday, November 29th. The plan is to take online orders this week and drive down to San Fernando where you can pick them up. If you place your ham order via our website by Friday, November 28th, you can collect and pay for your ham in San Fernando the following day. Hopefully this will help save the drive to Diego Martin for many of our customers in South.

Our friends at Dream Lounge have been kind enough to offer us their stunning facility to set-up and hand out ham orders.

For those of you that haven’t been yet, Dream Lounge is an elegant restaurant that serves a wide-variety of great food.

They serve many Bloom’s products and Chef Allan knows what he’s doing when it comes to cooking them.

They are open from 8am for breakfast, Monday through Saturday, so get a Christmas ham and some killer breakfast in one shot. Or come a little later in the day and grab a beer on the patio.

Dream Lounge is located on Gulf View Link Road, between Gulf View Mall and San Fernando NAPA, in the same complex as Better Value and the Gulf View Industrial Estate.

We will be in San Fernando from 10am until around 2pm and we will have freezers plugged in to keep your hams as cold as if you purchased them directly from Diego Martin. You can pay with Linx, Credit or Cash when you collect, not when you order. Please remember that you need to order your ham first, to take advantage of this free service.

So, a few things to do:

1. Place your ham order to reserve your ham and spot in the van.. For more info on our hams, check here.

ORDER A HAM

2. Please spread the word to any friends/family you have in South. If this works, we are hoping this can evolve into a monthly or weekly run to help save a trip or two for South customers, which would be awesome!

3. Give Dream Lounge a call to book your holiday function or make a reservation for dinner. We are very thankful for helping us with the great spot. Here’s more info on booking Dream Lounge.

We get a lot of request for a Wagyu Beef. We recently found a reliable supplier, so it’s on it’s way!

WAGYU is a Japanese beef cattle breed – derive from native Asian cattle. ‘WAGYU’ refers to all Japanese beef cattle, where ‘Wa’ means Japanese and ‘gyu’ means cow.

Wagyu were originally draft animals used in agriculture, and were selected for their physical endurance. This selection favored animals with more intra-muscular fat cells – ‘marbling’ – which provided a readily available energy source. Wagyu is a horned breed and the cattle are either black or red in color.

The Wagyu Beef we import into Trinidad is Akaushi. Akaushi (Japenese for “red cow”) is a Japenese Wagyu breed of cattle. The beef produced by Akaushi cattle is richly marbled with fat and produces a very tender, flavorful, and expensive variety of steak which is used in Kobe restaurants.

Beef originally carrying the title of Kobe were simply cattle from herds in the Kobe area of Japan, and could be any of four breeds of Wagyu cattle: the Akaushi (Japanese Red), the Kuroushi (Japanese Black), the Japanese Polled and the Japanese Shothorn.

Currently, the largest purebred group of Wagyū outside Japan is a herd of Akaushi cattle located in Texas. In the 1990s a shipment of cattle was brought to the US to establish the program. Previously, the only way to purchase Wagyu was from farmers in Japan. The first group was raised from a Japanese imported herd of 11 which was guarded by off-duty  Texas Rangers to protect from interbreeding for over 12 years until the herd grew to over 5,000 cattle. No unauthorized brushin’!

The meat contains high concentrations of oleic acid, a heart-healthy fatty acid. Akaushi beef has a high ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fats.

Blooms is hoping to expand our range of Wagyu products. If you have suggestions on cuts you would like to see, please email us at: sales@bloomsimports.com

Select Your Lodge Cast–Iron Skillet. Pre-order Now Open

​Blooms will be bringing back the Lodge line of cast-iron cookware for this holiday season. Lodge produces an amazing line of heavy-duty cast-iron products that last a lifetime.

Instead of bringing in these items and hoping we pick the ones you will want (we underestimated demand last year) we are offering customers a pre-order special. This allows you to select your product and guarantee we will have it for you when the shipment come in. Once they arrive, we will call you to let you know it’ ready.

These make great gifts for the holidays and they will be in Trinidad well before Christmas. They are also must haves if you don’t have one already. Cast–iron pans can get extremely hot and make incredible pan-seared steaks and burgers.