Eat Organic Veg instead of Contaminated Irish Pork
Organic Veg instead of Pork
Slowly but surely the demand for organic veg is on the increase. Every time there’s another animal food scare in the news another group of enlightened people decide that enough is enough and resolve to change the quality of their family’s food intake for good.
The latest one is Irish pork. News just breaking is that all of the republic’s pork products have been recalled:
All Irish Pork Products Recalled
All pork products made and sold in the Irish Republic since September have been recalled over fears they are contaminated with toxins.
The FSAE seem to have acted fairly quickly to take the necessary action:
Laboratory results of animal feed and pork fat samples obtained this afternoon (6 December) have confirmed the presence of dioxins. The food industry is therefore required to recall from the market all Irish pork products produced from pigs slaughtered in Ireland.
But behind the headlines there’s also this worrying concern about Irish Beef too:
In a news conference, led by the Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith and the Minister for Health Mary Harney, it was also announced that 38 beef farms are also being investigated and movement from all affected farms is now restricted.
The recall has been backdated to September 1st.
It’s a disaster for the pig industry in Ireland as well as for the health of people in Ireland, the UK and anywhere else that has been importing Irish pork products. Between April and July this year, the UK imported 230,000 tonnes of pork and bacon from markets including the Irish Republic but it is unknown exactly how much of that was at risk of having been contaminated with the toxic PCB substances. Organic pigs will have been fed on organic pig food rather than industrial waste so the risk there is minimal, but the movement marches onwards towards including more organic veg as part of either a vegetarian, vegan or omnivorous lifestyle choice.
Storing Organic Vegetables from Organic Vegetable Boxes
It’s always a difficult job to keep the organic vegetables out of weekly organic vegetable boxes fresh and usable for the whole week. Sometimes we forget about some of the organic vegetables that are sitting in the fridge for too long. To avoid this and make use of the organic vegetable boxes properly, here are a few tips that I follow :
* Green chillies : Don’t put the raw green chillies straight in the fridge. To keep them fresh for a long time remove the stems and put them in a ziplock bag or in some storage box.
* Carrots: Cover the carrots with a damp cloth and put them in fridge. They can keep for a whole week like that instead of going soft and limp in a few days.
* Herbs: Bunches of coriander have to be one of the common one to go bad before you get to use it all. To keep them fresh I store them in a salad container so the leaves don’t touch the icy wall at the back and get frostbite. You can use the same tip for greens too.
* Brocoli: When you store brocoli look for dark green buds with no yellowish color. And store them in a airtight container or in a sealed bag and it will last up to a week. Don’t store more than a week.
* cucumbers: Pick the ones that have no soft spots or visible bruises. It should be dark green and firm, So it will last longer in the fridge when you store it in the air tight bag. It will stay fresh up to 5 days, but really it’s probably better to take it out of the plastic wrap and use it sooner rather than later.
When you are stocking organic vegetables in your refrigerator, make a list of them and stick it in your fridge door. That way when you are trying to make up your mind on what to cook you can quickly decide on what to use first and avoid wasting vegetables that go bad faster. I hope these tips are useful for making the best use of your precious vegetables from the organic vegetable boxes.
Organic Vegetable Boxes from Ethical Superstore
If you look at the Organic Vegetable Boxes with delivery schemes available nationally, two or three large suppliers are mostly visible. Riverford, Abel & Cole and Farmaround for a start, all cover large parts of the country with excellent organic vegetable boxes delivered. If at all possible though, it’s clearly better for everybody and the environment if locallly grown vegetables can be delivered to doorsteps minimising transport energy, storage time and food miles.
Ethical Superstore have recently introduced a system to provide a small range of local organic veg box schemes as a trial, with an additional national vegetable delivery scheme to cover most of the remaining areas of the mainland UK.
We at Organic Boxes blog would be interested to hear from customers who tried this method, whether by registering for a regular organic vegetable box scheme or ordering a one off hamper.
Christmas Organic Boxes - not just for vegetables!
If you have just started to get organic boxes delivered you might be wondering what happens about deliveries over Christmas. Schemes vary with how they approach the holiday season. Most make a final Xmas organic delivery sometime around the 21st to 24th of December and then re-start normal deliveries after New Year. Some schemes do additional Christmas boxes that you can order to top up your normal organic delivery.
** Check if Abel & Cole deliver organic boxes in your area **
Special Christmas Organic Boxes
Abel and Cole do special Christmas Day organic boxes. These have all the vegetables you need for up to 6 people for the big day itself and should be ordered in addition to your normal vegetable box.
You can also order your turkey or goose and various other joints of meat and all the trimmings to be delivered in time for the big day. You can even get a side of organic salmon - yum! The meat and fish come in special cool boxes with ice packs. The contents are guaranteed to keep fresh uncooked till Boxing Day if popped in a fridge. You can also freeze stuff if you need to keep it a bit longer.
Then of course there are all the extras, like organic Christmas puddings, mince pies, there’s even a gluten free Christmas cake from the Village Bakery at Melmerby (I’ve had one of those before and they are yummy!)
Abel and Cole also do a special Christmas wine case. This gives you six bottles which are good selection of organic wines specially chosen to compliment traditional Christmas food.
Dates for ordering organic boxes
Ordering early is a great idea. If you know you are going to want an organic Christmas it is much easier to sort it out as soon as you can.
Abel and Cole are accepting Christmas orders already and their site warns that there might be limited supplies of some things. This means it is even more important to get your order in soon. They say:
The final day for placing, amending and canceling Christmas orders is approximately 17th December
Take the stress out of Christmas - order it online!
I think using an organic boxes delivery scheme in this way is ideal for taking the stress out of the Christmas preparations. I still cringe at the horrors of trying to find organic food in the supermarkets in the holiday season. It’s not easy at the best of times but somehow everyone is so stressed the supermarkets become nightmarish places, with limited supplies and mile long queues.
How much stress would it save you to find the whole lot delivered to your door? No danger of forgetting the sprouts, or some other vital ingredient.
Bliss- Christmas just lands on your doorstep like your normal organic boxes!
Organic Boxes in Season - Early Winter
Organic Boxes in the Early Winter
What’s in season over the early winter months ?
organic boxes
Here’s what you can expect to find in your organic boxes in the early winter.
A list of what could be the ingredients for the world’s greatest stew!
Organic Vegetables from the boxes
Romanesco and white cauliflower,
red, green and savoy cabbage,
purple, white and orange carrots,
leeks,
Ramiro Pepper
red and white onions
pumpkins,
squash,
beetroot,
brussel sprouts
celery
celeriac
turnips
parsnips
curly black and Russian kale,
Isle of Jura, Orla and other main crop potatoes
sweet potato
flat leaf parsley and other hardier herbs
Organic Fruit from the Boxes
Apples
Pears
Oranges (just coming in)
Fair trade bananas
So there you are - these are the sorts of things you might expect to find in your organic boxes of fruit and vegetables over the next couple of months.
Organic boxes - delicious things to do with sweet-corn
Organic Boxes - What to do with those less obvious veggies?
You might be put off the idea of organic boxes because you are not sure what exactly to do with some of the lovely vegetables, beyond the obvious. Let’s be honest, there’s a limit to how often any family wants to eat corn on the cob. So, what to do when the sweet-corn builds up in the veg rack? Easy, just get creative! There are lots of great recipes for sweet-corn on line - this is just one of them.
Sweet-corn Fritters
These are seriously yummy - serve them on top of a green salad (half a bag of salad leaves, cucumber, and chopped green pepper.) or hide a bit of grilled bacon between 2 of them for a great brunch. You can add some chopped green or red pepper to the mix as well if you like. See below for a more grown-up suggestion!
I’m going into cups now but you don’t need to be too precise. These are tea cups not big mugs.
- 1 cup of plain flour.
- 2 cups of organic sweet-corn kernels (4-6 cobs)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup of milk, soya milk is a possible alternative.
- 1 tablespoon baking powder.
- A pinch of paprika (enough to cover the handle end of a teaspoon)
- 1/2 cup of sliced spring onions or shallots.
- Parsley or your choice of mild herbs chopped,
- vegetable frying oil.
Method:
- Cook the organic sweetcorn cobs gently in boiling water for 10 mins. Allow to cool. Now strip the kernels off by running a knife down the cob. Turn and repeat all the way round. Put to one side.
- Sift flour, baking powder and seasonings into large bowl
- Make a well in the centre.
- Beat together the eggs and milk in a medium sized bowl
- Gradually add to the dry ingredients and mix well to make a lump free batter which can be quite stiff
- Add the corn, onion, and chopped herbs and mix. Don’t hang about at this stage.
- Heat a couple of tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan until hot but not smoking.
- Drop a tablespoon of batter into the pan. You should get about four blobs into the pan at a time.
- Cook until you see bubbles appearing and popping on the surface.
- Turn and cook for another couple of minutes till both sides are golden brown.
- Do the same with the rest of the mixture - keep the ones you’ve done warm under a low grill or in a low oven.
Serve on a yummy green salad or on top of wilted spinach or other greens.
OK - that’s the family friendly version 
I prefer to add a couple of chopped green chillies to the batter and serve it with a spicy tomato salsa, and maybe some cucumber raita to cool things down. Serve with some good bread and more of the salad leaves.
Problem Items in Organic Boxes
So what’s your problem veg? What builds up in your vegetable boxes? Leave a comment and we’ll try to come up with some enticing recipes to make sure you use and enjoy every last leaf of your organic vegetable boxes!
Organic Boxes and Market Stalls
Look at these wonderful organic boxes of very special vegetables on a stall at Borough Market in South London. They are not only organic but also “Biodynamic” which raises the game up one notch again for market gardening. The root vegetables are particularly dense, hard and heavy, with a more intense earthy flavour.
If you can’t get to a farmers market or speciality shop for regular supplies of organic vegetables then it’s often more convenient to have a regular weekly delivery so that you can rely on organic vegetables every week.
16 reasons to buy organic boxes
I read on the VeganBits blog a post about contamination levels in fruits which is a bit shocking but really just gives 16 strong reasons for eating fruit and vegetables from organic boxes or other sources of untainted food.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has compiled some information about pesticides and produce.
The produce ranking was developed by analysts at the not-for-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce.
The EWG has ranked fruits and vegetables according to their pesticide load (100 represents the highest pesticide load). According to their rankings, here are the Un-Sweet Sixteen… these fruits and veggies have rankings over 50…
RANK
FRUIT OR VEGGIE
SCORE
1 (worst)
Peaches
100 (highest pesticide load)
2
Apples
96
3
Sweet Bell Peppers
86
4
Celery
85
5
Nectarines
84
6
Strawberries
83
7
Cherries
75
8
Lettuce
69
9
Grapes - Imported
68
10
Pears
65
11
Spinach
60
12
Potatoes
58
13
Carrots
57
14
Green Beans
55
15
Hot Peppers
53
16
Cucumbers
52
In case you’re wondering, there were two vegetables which scored a 1; onions and avocados. Tomatoes weren’t too shabby either at 30, so it looks like salsa is a good thing
Nearly all of the data used to create these lists already considers how people typically wash and prepare produce (for example, apples are washed before testing, bananas are peeled). While washing and rinsing fresh produce may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not eliminate them. Peeling also reduces exposures, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the peel. The best option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic boxes when possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.
Organic Boxes in season: Autumn
It’s reasonable to assume that when you buy organic boxes they will be full of seasonal produce but do you really know what’s in season this month? We are so used to supermarkets with their shelves full of air freighted produce from all over the world. Do you still know roughly what to expect at any given time of the year? I did a quick straw poll of a few friends and was surprised by their answers. Only the vegetable gardeners really knew what was in season now. Someone even thought that Spring greens were in season!
“Well, they are. In Sainsburys!”
In season now - things you might expect to find in organic boxes in September and October
organic boxes - Autumn vegetables
Autumn Organic Vegetables in The UK
With most basic organic box schemes you can expect some staples, (usually carrots, onions and potatoes) plus some more interesting seasonal vegetables. Most companies offer a variety of organic boxes to suit different needs. Some, like Abel & Cole, let you specify anything you don’t want included or add extras.
- Aubergine
- Beetroot - not just for putting in vinegar! Recipes soon.
- Broccoli - the big green one not the purple sprouting Spring kind
- Cabbage - Several kinds :green pointed, not so hearty as later cabbage, first of the red cabbage, small round green ones just starting to appear.
- Carrots
- Cauliflower - just starting to appear.
- Celery
- Courgettes - larger than August, more like small marrows
- Kale - this is a winter staple but might be just starting to appear.
- Leeks - big thick ones are now in season. Think hearty soups like leek and potato.
- Potatoes - main crop varieties like Cosmos
- Peppers - mostly red now
- Spinach
- Sweet corn - modern varieties ripen well in the UK, peak season end of September/early October
- Sweet potatoes - great alternative to ordinary potatoes
- Squashes - mostly butternut but pumpkins and marrows later.
- Swiss Chard
- Tomatoes - big fat ripe ones for cooking, still some cherry ones too.
- White Onions - not so strong as later but moist and crunchy
Autumn Fruit in the UK - things you might expect in organic boxes in October
Not all organic boxes include fruit but it can be a good way of making sure there is fresh fruit available to your family every week without fail.
- Apples - just starting to come in, gorgeous fresh, early English apples. Often small just now but full of flavour.
- Pears - English varieties, not just Conference but other more interesting ones. Hard when they arrive a few days in the fruit bowl and they’ll be delicious. Or you could always make Pears in Red Wine (I’ll add a recipe section soon!)
- Plums - if you are lucky the tail end of the English plums might still be around. Yum!
A few imported extras you might find in your organic boxes in October
People running organic box schemes are mostly realists and they know that families sometimes want things out of season. You can expect that despite being imported these extras will still be fresh, organic and will not have been air freighted.
- Bananas - OK, so these are imported but most families want them! Getting organic ones delivered is a real bonus.
- Grapes - these are seasonal, and in season right now, even if brought over from Spain. Enjoy!
- Oranges - not really at their best yet but still welcome.
Next Month - What to Expect in Winter Organic Boxes
This will list some of the vegetables and fruits you might find in organic boxes in the next few months.
Organic Boxes Beat the Credit Crunch!
Organic Boxes Save Costs
Organic boxes can actually save you money as well as save the planet, according to the Manchester Evening News. A recent article suggests that many people are cutting back on buying organic in supermarkets and are looking round for cheaper solutions.
Organic Boxes - 5 ways they save you money
Organic boxes are one way of continuing to eat well whilst still saving a few pounds.
- You still get healthy organic produce but don’t pay a hefty supermarket premium.
- Produce is often locally sourced so uses few food miles. Who do you think pays for all those transportation costs?
- It’s usually fresher than anything you find in the supermarkets and so it keeps better, meaning less waste at the end of the week.
- Your box will be full of seasonal produce which will still have its maximum nutritional value - more vitamins for your money.
- There are no nasty surprises at the checkout. Your bill is the same from week to week so it’s easier to plan your spending.
Abel and Cole - “hundreds of new customers every week”
Ella Heeks from Abel and Cole, one of the major delivery services for organic boxes says that although some people are feeling the pinch many are still making organic food a priority
“A lot of people are feeling the pinch financially and it’s definitely a challenge for businesses at the moment, but we’re still welcoming hundreds of new customers every week”
Ella thinks this is because people are returning to home cooking and re-learning the art of planning a week’s meals for the family rather than relying on expensive takeaways and cook chill meals.
So if you want an affordable treat that helps to keep your family healthy then organic boxes are a great idea.
** Check if Abel & Cole deliver organic boxes in your area **
(photo credit -Wordridden)
