Quail Mountain Herbs, LLC. grows, packs and ships fresh herbs, edible flowers, baby lettuce, and specialty produce. We also pack dried mushrooms, dried chili peppers and sun-dried tomatoes. Quail Mountain Herbs has been farming herbs, baby lettuce and specialty produce since 1979. We ship throughout the United States and Canada, as well as export to the Far East.

In order to take advantage of local microclimates and soil characteristics, we have assembled a series of farms and greenhouses at several locations. This variety of locations provides us with the options needed to assure the finest quality flavorful herbs, baby lettuce and specialty greens from season to season.

Quail Mountain Herbs grows all the major culinary herbs (20 varieties shipped daily) and over 150 specimen herbs. Our herbs are marketed with recipes, back room handling instructions, and fun colorful posters to stimulate interest in specialty produce. Quail Mountain’s herbs are grown in the Watsonville/Monterey Bay area and California’s Coachella Valley in over 1,950,000 square feet of greenhouses and 200 field acres to assure our customers an uninterrupted supply of safe, high quality herbs throughout the year.

Quail Mountain Herbs is the largest producer of edible flowers nationally. We have shipped herbs and edible flowers to the White House, meetings of NATO ministers, and our edible flowers were featured on ABC Good Morning America and Martha Stewart.

FARMS:

Quail Mountain operates 9 farms in California. Each farm and greenhouse was selected for its unique characteristics, climate and soil type. Each variety of fresh herb has individual growing requirements and Quail Mountain is the only grower shipper of fresh herbs to have assembled the diversity of locations required to deliver excellent quality year round.

In the Watsonville/Monterey Bay area we have 7 ranches, which include 5 greenhouse ranges, totaling over 1,440,000 square feet and over 140 acres of field crops. Three of the farms are on sandy slopes overlooking Monterey Bay and the Elkhorn Slough Sanctuary. The predominant marine influence creates cool summers and moderate winters, where temperatures seldom approach freezing in the winter. Four additional farms are located on alluvial soil of the Pajaro Valley.

Quail Mountain has greenhouses south of Palm Springs, California, in the Coachella Valley. The greenhouses cover over 510,000 square feet, with 47 acres of surrounding farmland. Winters are warm, summers are beyond hot, perfect for basil, tarragon and other warm weather herbs and specialty produce. The greenhouses are heated in the winter with geothermal water from our own wells, eliminating the need for fossil fuel based heating. Quail Mountain Herbs grows herbs during the summer in Gilroy, south of Silicon Valley, from the late spring until early winter on rich warm alluvial soil, perfect for flavorful basil, mint, and sage.

PRODUCTION:

We have the best integrated cooling and packing facility for fresh herbs anywhere in the country. Herbs are brought from the various farms and cooled before processing. The herbs are all packed, after inspection, by our staff in a 55º cooler and moved to an adjoining cold room to await shipment. The actual packing of airfreight and FedEx shipments takes place in a fourth cooler, again at 55º.

Quail Mountain has worked with the University of California, Davis, for over 12 years to perfect our packaging and post harvest handling. We incorporated breathable bags 14 years ago and have matched our packaging to the herbs’ respiration rates to give the longest shelf life available.

QUALITY:

Quail Mountain Herbs has been dedicated to growing and shipping only the highest quality since our inception in 1979. Quail Mountain Herbs assures food safety and freshness each step from harvest to shipment. Each farm has refrigerated coolers to quickly chill the harvested produce. Our packing and shipping facility in Watsonville maintains a HACCP sanitation program, and our herbs are packed in a refrigerated room. Our attention to quality and food safety has earned our herbs and lettuces Kosher certification. Each step, from planting to shipment to our customers, is designed to maximize quality, freshness, and flavor, while keeping the herbs, lettuce, and greens cool to maintain shelf life.

HACCP:

Quail Mountain Herbs has comprehensive GMP’s and food safety procedures in our herb receiving and packing, resulting in a complete HACCP program.

While our fresh herbs are not washed or physically altered during packing, we recognize that packing room sanitation is important to assure food safety. Our HACCP program looks back to include harvesting, receiving, employee training, sanitation, and processing room procedures in a comprehensive system of post harvest handling.

GAP:

Well before our customers sought assurance that Quail Mountain’s herbs were grown on farms that raised produce in a safe environment, Quail Mountain exceeded all safety and sanitation standards. Due to our reputation, we were invited to farm property owned by the Nature Conservancy. Members of our company give lectures on farm management, erosion control, watershed management, and integrated pest management (IPM).

Quail Mountain Herbs has retained PrimusLabs to audit our field sanitation procedures. The results were EXCELLENT. Their audit involves review of our written procedures and actual field audits of each of our farms and greenhouses. The results are available, to the trade, on the PrimusLabs website (www.primuslabs.com).

We welcome tours and inspections by our customers. As part of our commitment to quality and food safety, several of our accounts conduct periodic audits of our Watsonville facility. Our farms also conduct tours for our customers and your consumers. Quail Mountain’s facilities and farms have been visited by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, California Secretaries of Agriculture, Congressmen, Legislators, EPA Washington staff, and chefs from throughout the United States.

KOSHER:

Quail Mountain Herbs has been certified as KOSHER Parve by the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of San Francisco. All of our HERBS, SALADS, LETTUCES, dried CHILI PEPPERS and sun-dried TOMATOES are kosher.

Kosher means fit and proper. Food can be certified as kosher only if it is:

          Packaged, prepared and processed in a facility that maintains strict

          sanitation consistent with requirements of Jewish Law

          The ingredients, fresh herbs, lettuces, and specialty produce, are kosher

          varieties of food without any other additives.

Quail Mountain Herbs was certified after an inspection by a Rabbi representing the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of San Francisco. They make periodic inspections of our packing and processing to assure our customers that Quail Mountain continues to maintain the highest sanitation and quality standards.

All of Quail Mountain’s kosher items are also Parve, a status of kosher food which may be eaten with all other varieties of food, including meat or dairy.