Veg Box News 23rd – 29th September

Veg Box News 23rd – 29th September

Thank you for the feedback last week on the new-format newsletter. If you ever want to check back through these for ideas and inspiration, they’re now being posted to the blog section of our website every Saturday at the same time.

The business news this week is that we’ve launched a Make Your Own Box option for new and existing subscribers! A veg box is a great way to ensure seasonal variety and culinary excitement within a consistent budget, but it doesn’t work for everyone. Now you can have a fully customised shop without subscribing to a veg box, if you wish. If you know anyone who you think would use this service, please do let them know – the webshop is now very well stocked, and if you live in our more rural delivery areas (hello, Bradwell!), the other side of town (hello, Charnock!), or are just plain busy, it’s a really useful and economical way to shop.

We’re building up our pantry supplies with a selection of condiments this week. We’ve added French and English mustard, sweet chilli sauce, vegan and non-vegan mayonnaise, and tomato ketchup, all of which are organic. And not organic, but local and independent, we’ve got Sheffield stalwarts Henderson’s Relish.

This is a really warm and comforting curry which was actually inspired by the tinned kale and coconut dahl we stock from Geo Organics. Kale and coconut make a surprisingly good pairing, with sweet potato as a hearty base. This makes it sturdy enough to take it in to work for lunch on its own, but not too heavy to eat with rice or naan (or both). It can stand up to pickles and much spicier dishes, and is all-around a very versatile and cosy dish to have in your repertoire!

A note on spice levels, which are optional – the garam masala brings complexity and depth, but if you want a serious dose of fire you’ll need to add your own.

1 onion
1/2 to 2/3 a bag of kale
500g sweet potato, peeled and chopped into inch chunks
Tin of coconut milk
Tsp Seasoned Pioneers organic Indian garam masala
Chilli and a squeeze of lemon to taste
Tbsp of cooking oil – rapeseed is good here!
Optional: whatever version of chilli you have around

Choose your pan – make it a decent size with a heavy base. Finely chop and fry the onion in the oil until it’s translucent, then turn the heat right down and add the garam masala and chilli (if you like). Let the spices infuse for a minute or two while you peel and chop the sweet potato into one inch chunks. Roll them in the oil, spices and onion and then add the coconut milk. If the liquid doesn’t quite cover the sweet potatoes, add a splash of water to top up the pan. Leave to simmer.

Now, at home I wait until ‘about the right moment’ and sling in the kale, which makes this a one-pot special. However the responsibility of writing a recipe other people can actually follow has got to me, so I’m going to recommend that you de-stem, shred and steam the kale until it’s edible*. Then when you can comfortably get a fork into the sweet potatoes, but before they have collapsed, mix in the kale. Take off the heat but give it a few minutes to get used to its new role, then dish up.

Squeeze a little lemon juice over the top to give it a bit of zing, and enjoy! And if you need to stretch this out on day two, you can add in a tin of chickpeas for variety.

*kale times vary by type. You’re looking for a softly wilted leaf that you can still chew, but not for ever.

-Ella

Sadly the colder nights are beginning to hit the local summer bounty. I’m hopeful that we can still have enough of the following to last the week

• Courgettes 4.20kg (might be getting a bit small now!)
• Cucumbers 4.68kg
• Kale/Cavolo nero 2.38ea
• Loose beetroot £3.18kg
• Lettuce (90% local…may need a tiny top up elsewhere)
• Pointy cabbage (£2.10)
• Beet spinach £2.28ea
• Chard (some rainbow some Swiss) £2.28ea
• French Beans (£8.90kg)
• Runner Beans (£6.50kg)
• Also modest amounts of cherry tomatoes (£10.90kg) and a very few large tomatoes, sunshine dependent! (£5.80kg).

Low temperatures hit the Isle of Wight tomatoes abruptly last week. Like the local supplies they are still managing to produce some cherry vine and cherry plum but the large vine are unavailable (apologies to anyone who didn’t get theirs last week!). The price of European ratatouille veg (courgettes, peppers, tomatoes and aubergine ) have remained very high throughout the summer due to their fierce weather conditions so whilst there will be some French and Spanish large vine coming in (we hope) the price will have to remain at £6.80kg.

Leeks are back on the menu (£4.68kg) from our preferred farm Polybell in Doncaster to complement their lovely broccoli which has been consistently good the last few weeks. Cauliflowers are limited and still high in price but were nice specimens (our supplier spotted some non-organic ones for sale in Kent for £5.50 last week! Our £2.98 is a bargain in comparison!).

I’ve decided it’s getting more mushroomy  in temperature so we will have a very few UK Lion’s Mane (26.90kg) available from Monday PM while stocks last and some Dutch oyster mushrooms (£19.90kg) on Monday and Wednesday PM.

The fruit department is transitioning from predominantly southern hemisphere to northern which can leave a few gaps and limited varieties. There will be a few new season Spanish persimmon (aka Sharon fruit  £5.90kg), lemons, grapefruit and satsumas coming through which may still have a hint of green (prices tbc). There are also South African Nadorcott clementines at £3.90kg. There are still Spanish mango (£5.90kg) and pomegranate (£5.30kg) plus French Muscat de Hambourg grapes.

There are a few Marjorie’s Seedling UK plums and UK apples (see below for varieties). Our supplier Organic North took a trip to Mole End Farm orchards and had a very interesting chat with their owner-you can take a look at this here. We’ve been stocking Mole End apples for the better part of a decade and have always impressed us with their quality!

Our apple varieties this week are: UK Pirouette, Robin, Red Windsor, Red Pippin Red Devil, Santana, Meridan Cox (a Falstaff Cox mix) and a few Bramley. We won’t have these all out at once so ask if you would like something specific!

The local offerings are:
Matt & El- Spinach, Chard, kale, cuc’s & courgettes, French beans & runners and little Hokkaido squash. Maybe a few Rajka apples and grapes!
High Riggs (Tues pm onwards) All Limited! kale, a few salad bags green peppers, celery and fennel
Nick@SOGs (Tues and Thurs am onwards)- Chard, kohlrabi, cucumber and kale
Moss Valley- Kales and chard

UK Fruit & Veg: Celery, Chestnut Mushrooms, Potatoes, Cherry Vine Tomatoes, Vine Tomatoes, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Pointy Cabbage, hard red & white Cabbage, Plums, Apples.

& Other Highlights: Sweet Potatoes, Bell Peppers, Oyster Mushrooms, Apples, Lemons, South African Navels, Grapefruit, Peruvian Hass Avocado, Spanish Passionfruit, Mango, Frogskin melon, Plums, Pears, Grapes.

The local growers were kale strong this week so we have got assorted varieties from all of them to cover all boxes. Additionally there will be broccoli and the first red cabbage of the season from Polybell farm in Doncaster topped off with some Spanish sweet potatoes.

The UK boxes will have Shropshire sweetcorn rather than sweet potato but otherwise the same.

The No Potato boxes will also have the aforementioned sweetcorn. Larger Pot and No Pot boxes will have new season leeks, again from Polybell in Doncaster. XL boxes will have local chard, most likely from Moss Valley Market Garden.

We have got a decent dollop of local Hazelhurst (@SOGs) Red Windsor apples but they have been limited by not quite enough sun to ripen them, so we will be topping up with assortment of Kentish varieties (see the shop chat for a video with the growers).  As mentioned in the shop chat there is a definite hemisphere swing in the fruit department which leaves the options a little limited and some of the new season stuff too expensive and most likely a little under ripe! There will be Dutch and Spanish Conference pears, a pomegranate, South African clementines and Brazilian lime. There will be Spanish mango in the Larger boxes.

Here are the contents of this week’s boxes. All weights are approximate and contents may vary depending on availability.

A  UK Potatoes 1.2kg UK Brown Onions 400g UK Carrots 400g Local Assorted Kale 250g UK Red Cabbage 750g UK Broccoli 300g Sp Sweet Potato 500g G  UK Potatoes 1.2kg UK Brown Onions 400g UK Carrots 400g Local Assorted Kale 250g UK Red Cabbage 750g UK Broccoli 300g UK Sweetcorn x2   D  UK Potatoes 1.5kg UK Brown Onions 400g UK Carrots 400g Local Assorted Kale 250g UK Red Cabbage 750g UK Broccoli 300g Sp Sweet Potato 500g UK Leeks 400g   L  UK Potatoes 1.5kg UK Brown Onions 400g UK Carrots 400g Local Assorted Kale 250g UK Red Cabbage 750g UK Broccoli 300g Sp Sweet Potato 500g UK Leeks 400g Local Chard 250g         K DR Bananas 800g UK/Local Apples assorted 800g Sp/Hol Conference Pears 650g Sp Pomegranate SA Clementine 600g Br Lime x1

B  UK Brown Onions 400g UK Carrots 400g Local Assorted Kale 250g UK Red Cabbage 750g UK Broccoli 300g Sp Sweet Potato 500g UK Sweetcorn x2   T  UK Potatoes 1kg UK Brown Onions 300g UK Carrots 300g Local Assorted Kale 250g UK Red Cabbage 500g UK Broccoli 300g Sp Sweet Potato 400g   E UK Brown Onions 400g UK Carrots 400g Local Assorted Kale 250g UK Red Cabbage 750g UK Broccoli 300g Sp Sweet Potato 500g UK Sweetcorn x2 UK Leeks 500g   M UK Brown Onions 400g UK Carrots 400g Local Assorted Kale 250g UK Red Cabbage 750g UK Broccoli 300g Sp Sweet Potato 500g UK Sweetcorn x2 UK Leeks 500g                         Local Chard 250g Q DR Bananas 800g UK/Local Apples assorted 800g Sp/Hol Conference Pears 650g Sp Pomegranate SA Clementine 600g Br Lime x1 Sp Mango