Slow Food Phoenix

09/22/2025

Preorder your 2025 Harvest Medjool Dates now before seasonal price increases! 🌴 Your box of fresh, delicious dates will ship out at the end of September — just in time to enjoy the new harvest. 📦💛

For 75 years, Sphinx Date Co. has provided premium quality bulk dates and date gifts. Direct from Arizona farmers, our Medjool Dates are hand-sorted as we pack to make sure you receive the highest quality selection, fresh off the trees from family farmers!

Preorder today at 🔗 sphinxdateranch.com/products/preorder-2025-harvest-medjool-dates |

09/10/2025

We're working to create a food system that brings joy and justice to every plate, across the globe. You can be an essential part of this work with our "Give What You Can" membership.

For as little as $1, you officially become a Slow Food USA member. That dollar empowers our programs that drive advocacy, promote food education, and build the rich diversity of our planet's food heritage. Every single contribution makes a difference.

Join the movement for $1 and help us grow!

Link to Give What You Can Membership: https://connect.clickandpledge.com/w/Form/95348627-3105-43c4-a0e1-811270361858

09/08/2025

You may have heard by now that Sphinx Date Co. will be moving from our 33-year tenure on Scottsdale Road. Thank you for your patience as we get everything in place for our new location, just down the street! We deeply appreciate all of the messages and visits this summer!

Since 1992, when the Heetland family moved Sphinx to Scottsdale Road, we have occupied the humble homestead with neighborhood pride. As old buildings become new, we’ve witnessed the changing landscape along with our own business’s growth and evolution. After decades welcoming the community into our Scottsdale Road store, the changes are bittersweet and intimidating, but we remain hopeful and excited for this next chapter.

We are excited to announce our new location at 3221 N. Hayden Road, just south of Osborn Road. Locals may know this as the iconic House of Rice that operated for 44 years in this location. We are honored to be in a space that housed another landmark Scottsdale small business for so many years. The small shopping center was built in the 1960s and is a prime example of Scottsdale’s mid century architecture. Since its redevelopment, the center has grown into a neighborhood destination with its anchor restaurants, the Oliver and the Eleanor, paying homage to Scottsdale history.

💛💚 While we don’t have a firm moving date, we expect that during September our Scottsdale Road storefront will close to the public. At this time, we will continue to take online orders and orders for store pickup. Please check our website or social media for updates throughout the month. 💛💚

Next year marks 75 years in business, and we look forward to kicking off the celebration in our new home. Since 1951, Sphinx has been a family-run business deeply connected to Arizona and Scottsdale’s unique agricultural history and exceptional regional specialties. We are proud to represent the state’s agriculture, especially our date growers, and our storefront has become a beloved landmark for visitors from all over the world.

Our customers are truly part of the Sphinx family, and we deeply value the many wonderful stories shared with us through the years. While we are sad to move, we are excited to welcome you into our new home!

Thank you for being a part of the Sphinx family!

With Gratitude,
Sharyn & Rebecca

08/28/2025

Snail of Approval awardee from our colleagues at Slow Food Prescott, you can find Stoic Cider at Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co locations and more around the Valley.

08/26/2025

Navajo-Churro Sheep are our only 🐌 Presidium in the southwest.

Navajo-Churro sheep are the result of selective breeding by Native American and Hispanic people using pastoral practices, with varied environmental influences. Many geo-political, cultural and economic influences have contributed to today’s Navajo-Churro sheep, considered the first domesticated sheep breed developed in North America.

Learn more about this Critically-endangered breed at www.livestockconservancy.org/navajo-churro-sheep

08/22/2025

Here’s some real local flavor: the chiltepin, is not only our local native chili—native in a variety of habitats like in riparian areas, mesquite bosques, and rocky foothills.
Looking more like a small round berry than a chile, the Chiltepin – pronounced “chill tuh peen” – is one of the oldest of the very few remaining wild chiles still available. Considered by many to be the mother of all chiles, it is the only indigenous pepper to the U.S., still growing on shrubs under nurse plants in canyons throughout southern Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico. And it is mother to most chilis, not all (there are 5 domesticated species of chilis, this one is the most common one).

Though folk taxonomy is far from an exact science, chiltepin usually refers to the small round chili as found in our region. But east of here, jn Texas, the same plant is slightly longer and with a point. That is chili tepin. They are essentially the same species, even the same variety.

The name chiltepin comes from the Aztec Nahuatl language – spoken when Cortés arrived and still used today by approximately 1 ½ million people in Mexico – of chiltecpin, “chilli” + “tecpintl”, meaning “flea chile”. The pea-sized scarlet berries are an irresistible snack to the wild birds who are credited with their spread from South America all the way up to the southern U.S. and why they are also known as “bird peppers” in the Southwest.

Today this unique little chile goes by many names - chile del monte, chillipiquin, a’al kokoli (in O’odham), chiltepictl (in Nahuatl), amash (in Mayan), chilillo, chilpaya, huarahuao, and piquen.

On first taste, the heat is intense and unapologetic, coming on fast and strong – the flavor introduces itself later. The heat quickly passes, leaving you with a fruity, mineral flavor.
Grow in full to part sun, with moderate to regular water, will suffer some frost damage most winters if not covered but most often recovers quickly. The more sun you provide the more fruits you will get but also the more you will need to water. Birds also love the fruits and spread them naturally, lending this and many similar peppers to be called “bird pepper”. We have many sizes.

08/21/2025