| BOSTON ORGANICS: Delivering fresh organic produce to your door |
| Weekly Newsletter: 8/30/10 RECIPES · THIS WEEK'S BOX · BLOG · @ FACEBOOK · @ TWITTER |
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ADD-ON SPECIALS HEIRLOOM TOMATO PINTS! LOCAL PICKLING CUCUMBERS! LOCAL HEIRLOOM TOMATOES! MAINE WILD BLUEBERRIES! VERMONT MAPLE SYRUP STRAWBERRIES |
NOTES & NEWS
We talked last week about how the growers we work with in western Mass were having a problem of plenty: the hot, dry weather was speeding up the development of many crops, and everything was coming ready at once, not to mention that irrigating everything during hot weather takes a lot of man hours. This past week's Noreaster was a farmer's relief, getting some water from the sky into the fields. The storm cooled the whole region down, and dropped some much needed rain on the fields out west. But it looks the whole region will have hot, cloudless weather until Hurricane Earl makes an appearance at the end of the week, so the tomato plants will are back in high gear. Many of you will find salad tomatoes from Atlas Farms in South Deerfield MA in your box this week, and you can still pick up 2 pound bags of heirloom tomatoes as Add-Ons here. We also have a new heirloom add-on: small heirloom tomato pints from Atlas Farms! Some of you who have gotten add-on heirlooms (see above) have encountered some of these smaller tomatoes, they range in size from golf balls to roma tomatoes, and they are all delicious. You can get a mix of Red Zebras, Mr. Stripeys, Black Cherries and Juan Flammes in a pint container on our Add-Ons page. Atlas Farm will be providing the Green Leaf Lettuce and Kale this week. A quick note on late season local lettuce: as the days get shorter and the days cooler (eventually!), lettuces from the northeast do start to get a bit smaller. Such is the nature of the growing season around here! We do work with our growers to both get moderate sized heads of lettuce and use what they are able to produce given the conditions. If you've got any questions about lettuces, our email box is always open! This week, mixed sprouts from Jonathan's Organics in Rochester MA return. These can be used in everything from stir fries to salads, and cook much faster than bean sprouts. Check out a quick recipe we borrowed from Jonathan's here. We're also getting a new variety of edamame this week from Pedersen Farms in Seneca Castle, NY. They're a late season bean called Besweet, and they are sweeter and bigger than the previous varieties the Pedersens have sent us. It's just a variety switch, you can still use this edamame like any other! And, pickling cucumbers from Atlas Farms will find their way into many boxes this week. Those 3 pound bags of pickling cucumbers that were such a hit last week are still available as add-ons here for all of your pickling needs! Preserved properly, these pickles can last you right through the winter. Finally, we're still getting tasty sweet corn in by the bushel from Lakeside Organics in Hadley, MA, and we've got a quite good, staff-approved Jamie Oliver recipe for corn stir-fry for you here. In local fruit news, Paula Red apples are done for the season, replaced this week with their parent varietal, McIntoshes, and Gala apples. Our local apples are still supplied by the fine folks at Dwight Miller Orchards in East Dummerston, Vermont. As soon as you take a bite of these apples, you'll be whisked back to memories of childhood autumns of apple cider donuts and hayrides! (Though this has only been tested with Boston Organics staff, we're sure it will happen to you too.) We have a surprisingly easy apple cobbler recipe here. A reminder: early season apples prefer to be refrigerated! They last longer this way. The local McIntoshes and local Galas will be supplemented with Gala apples from the West Coast. Stone Fruit Note: Regular readers of the newsletter see this often! Stone fruit (including nectarines, peaches, plums and pluots) ripen best under refrigeration. If you put stone fruit on the counter to ripen at room temperature, there's the real potential they'll accelerate past ripe to too squishy when you're not looking. The best thing to do is keep your stone fruit in the refrigerator until you're ready to eat them, if you'd prefer to have the fruit warm up a little, put them out for at most a couple hours before you take a bite. Wild Blueberry Update: It looks like we'll have to wait until at least the middle of the week for more wild Maine blueberries. We had expected them available earlier, but they're just not ready yet. The blueberries are proving to be quite unpredictable, possibly due to the exceptionally dry weather that was interrupted by the record rainfall last week. Briefly, blueberries take on a lot of water when it rains, increasing their size and turning them even more into little water balloons, very susceptible to getting squashed. After it rains, it takes blueberries on the bush a day or two to return to their usual "toughened" state. Our grower up in Maine, Ben Perrin said the blueberries should be ready to pick soon. He thinks we have another 2 1/2 weeks of availability before the first frost hits. These particular Maine blueberries are really good. You can freeze the five pound box and take out berries as you need them: put them frozen into pancake batter in the morning, into your hot cereal, into pie or smoothies. They will last as long in the freezer as you can resist eating them all. Orders for the boxes are filled on a first-come, first-served basis! Do make sure to get your box while they are still available.. For these 93 degree early September days (!), read below for some suggestions about ensuring your deliveries are kept fresh if you're not able to receive them immediately. As a reminder, if there is ever anything missing from your order or if there is a quality issue, please let us know. Your feedback will help to make sure that you are receiving the best possible service we can provide. Enjoy your produce and have a wonderful week! Call or email us any time with greetings, suggestions or questions about the service.
Thank you!
Dogma Box Update: A box consisting of items sourced as close to Boston as possible. TIPS No-Lists! You can create a new no-list right up until 12PM on the day before your delivery, so feel free to change it whenever you would like to! On occasion we may receive a mix of lettuces (red/green leaf/romaine) and/or a mix of summer squashes (patty pan, yellow squash, zucchini). If you strongly dislike a particular type of summer squash or lettuce, we recommend adding zucchini and/or all types of lettuce to your no-list. WARM WEATHER! Even though September is here, we've still got daily temperatures in the 80s and 90s. We want your produce deliveries to stay fresh! Let us know if you need to move your drop-off location indoors or to a shaded area until it cools down around here. If you would like to leave a cooler out for us, your delivery driver will transfer as many items as possible from your new box into your cooler to help keep things fresh. If you would like to leave a cooler out, please leave a note on it that says "Boston Organics Delivery" and leave some icepacks in there too! Recipe Search! You can now search for past recipes on our blog. Simply type in the main ingredient into the search bar, and all past newsletters that have relevant recipes will be returned. We plan to improve on this, but it is a start. We are always looking for recipes and cooking tips to share. Please email them to us at service@bostonorganics.com, or feel free to post them on our Facebook Page. (For those that submit a recipe/tip, you may find a surprise in your delivery!). For more produce storage tips, please visit the storage tips section of our website. Stir-Fried Corn with Chilli, Ginger, Garlic and Parsley Get the kernels of corn off the cob by removing the husk and run a knife downwards to remove the kernels. Heat up a wok or frying pan, add olive oil. When it's hot, add corn, ginger, chilli, garlic, fresh parsley and soy sauce (the lattermost to taste). Add or subtract different herbs to your preference! (Mildly adapted from the always excellent, perennial favorite Mr. Jamie Oliver ) · Apple Cobbler Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss apples, sugar and salt together, and divide equally among 4 individual oven proof bowls. Combine butter and flour with fingertips until mixture is crumbly and has the texture of oatmeal. Add brown sugar, allowing lumps to remain in mixture, and distribute evenly over apples. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve warm or cold with a scoop of ice cream. (Adapted from a RecipeLand.com recipe.) · Sprouts & Rice Put a heavy 3 quart stainless steel pot on the stove on high, immediately pour sesame oil into pot. As soon as the oil is hot, pour in the three cups of rice and 4 oz of Munchin’ Mix. As soon as you smell the sesame oil beginning to toast, pour in the cold water and add the salt. Bring to a boil, turn heat to lowest position, cover pot and cook for 1 hour. (Adapted from a Jonathan's Organic recipe) · Summer Squash Fritters Grate squash into a colander and toss with 2 tsp salt, let sit 10 minutes. Squeeze out liquid. Mix squash with other ingredients and pan-fry spoonfuls of the mixture in olive oil, flattening with a spatula, 3-4 minutes per side, until golden. Drain on paper towels & season with salt. (Mildly modified from a Wild Things Farm recipe ) · |
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BOSTON ORGANICS GUARANTEE Produce items and item sources are subject to change without notice due to the nature of the produce market. Click here to view our policies.
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