I’m quite keen on the idea of a regular fish box delivery after watching Monty Hall’s excellent TV programme The Fisherman’s Apprentice. The ideas of buying more directly from the producer, having really fresh food, and supporting our coastal fishing fleet are all very appealing. So I thought I’d find out just how easy or hard it would be to get a regular fish box of seasonally caught fish.

We both love fish and Andy, being an adventurous cook loves the challenge of cooking something new so we are quite happy to have a really mixed selection. Most of the suppliers I found also do more specific orders if that’s what you want.

First up, though hardly local to anyone outside Cornwall, is Wing’s of St Mawes, The Cornish Fishmonger. They do a monthly fish box delivery scheme to most of the mainland UK. The fish is delivered on the first Thursday of each month by courier. The best deal seems to be the Cornish Seafood Selection:

Fish box delivery from The Cornish Fishmonger

This box will include 10 portions of fresh fish and shellfish, ideally including oily fish, white fish and shellfish; the variety will depend on quality and availability. Normally we would hope to include a dozen cleaned king scallops, wild black mussels, oily fish fillets, filleted flat fish and white fish. If you any species you dislike please note them in the comments box at the checkout.

10 portions costs nearly £50 once you’ve covered your delivery costs. It is all ready to freeze so it should take care of your fish needs for the month. They do bigger boxes too if you need them.  They have a commitment to freshly caught fish, landed in Cornwall.  Looks good and I might have to try it! (The thought of those scallops, mmmm….)

Next, I looked at Martin’s Fish for Thought site. They offer a wider variety in a way but the only one I was interested in was the Local Frozen Fish Box, 14 portions this time for £50. Martins have a great reputation but the selection was disappointing. It is Cornish landed fish but they don’t do a fresh local fish box only the frozen one. Also the frozen fish box is a bit pedestrian & I worried that it always includes cod, haddock and plaice. They do have Marine Stewardship Council accreditation and a sustainability commitment but still not right for me.

Finally I looked at Fish in A Box, which definitely seems to do what it says on the tin. They are an online fishmonger but they have a commitment to fresh fish deliveries in most of the UK mainland. The box I looked at was their Large Classic Box, 12 portions for just over £50 with free delivery. Now this looks very interesting. You get a selection from the following:

Hake, Loch Duart Salmon, Cod, Red Bream, Organic Salmon, Rainbow Trout, Pollack, Smoked Haddock (naturally oak smoked NOT DYED), Haddock, Plaice, Smoked Mackerel, Herring, Megrim, Ling, Coley, Catfish (rock turbot), Sardine, Whiting, Mackerel, Grey Mullet, Pouting, Flounder, Kipper, Skate, Cod Cheeks, Monkfish Cheeks.

Whole fish chosen from: Plaice, Turbot, John Dory, Trout, Sea Bass, Sea Bream, Torbay Sole, Pink Snapper, Lemon Sole, Gurnard, Brill

Some is Cornish,  some from Scotland, and  some landed in Wales, which is where they are based. I spy some real neglected favourites on that list, including gurnard, megrim and pouting. I have a slight issue with the distances some of this stuff is traveling but it does look tempting. This one I may well have to test too.

They also do a Hugh’s Fish Fight box for £20:

2 x 175g portions each of Dab Fillet, Pouting Fillet, Coley Fillet and Mackerel Fillet. All those fish that are native, in plentiful supply and we should be eating more of!

For now I’m going to stick with buying my fish weekly fresh from local markets in Essex and being careful what I buy. None of the online fish sellers is doing quite what I’d hoped for, buying direct from the inshore fishermen, selling a box of a fresh selection of just what’s being caught now and giving us the chance to support our most sustainable fishing fleet. Now if only Guy from Riverford would get involved. Riverford already have all the infrastructure and know what they are doing. Guy was in the TV programme so there might be hope for a really viable fish box delivery scheme that would tick all the right boxes.

Narrow Leaf Organic Olive Oil is cold pressed from a single variety of olive from the Patrinia tree which is found only in Achaia region in the northern Peloponnese, a small corner of the Greek mainland. It has been used in the past to blend with other varieties to add flavour but is now available on its own. A group of small olive oil farmers who are members of the Local Agricultural Cooperative of Aigio have joined forces to provide this sustainably farmed, single variety organic olive oil.

Tasting the Organic Olive Oil

The aroma is very fresh and grassy and the flavour quite subtle. It is a delicate taste that doesn’t overwhelm food. It has a very low acidity so none of those very strong peppery notes that you might associate with Greek olive oil.

After a few tasty samples Christos asked if we’d like a sample bottle to review for the blog. I happily agreed, thinking dreamily of the lovely salad days ahead

Organic Olive Oil by Post

Yesterday, a bottle of this interesting oil arrived through the post.  It was carefully wrapped in bubble wrap inside a bottle tube. It felt a bit like Christmas but then I love getting organic treats through the mail!

Salad Days

I’m looking forward to using this delicious oil in lots of raw dishes but I think it will also be gorgeous drizzled over grilled fish or pasta.  I’m sure we’ll be making lots of  treats with Narrow Leaf Olive Oil over the coming weeks and I’ll blog about the results.

Of course Andy couldn’t resist making a simple cherry tomato salad with it straight away.

Organic Olive Oil Salad

The ingredients were just what we had to hand, some left from Friday’s organic vegetable box and some from a local shop.  A good salad doesn’t need to be a fussy affair.

I think we can learn a lot from the classic Greek mezze salads. Attention to detail and careful chopping of good quality fresh ingredients makes all the difference to a raw salad.

The vinaigrette had a lovely fruity note from the cider vinegar which we are lucky enough to buy straight from the farmer at our local farmers market. Of course if you can add some really fresh herbs to the mix then that is even better. The fresh taste of the olive oil and the herbs combined with the fruity notes from the vinegar to really bring out the flavour of the little cherry tomatoes.

We made a simple meal of it with a bowl of potato salad made with home-made duck egg mayonnaise. (I must ask him to blog that recipe sometime It was divine!)

Anyway, the subtle taste of the organic olive oil in a mild vinaigrette was a perfect accompaniment to the fresh taste of the salad.

Organic blinis

I used to always make Blinis for Christmas brunch & decided it was time to revive the tradition this Easter. Today was a trial run and I think it was a success. Plate was quickly empty anyway! Easier than you might imagine Blinins are made from a fairly traditional recipe. This translates as – I’ve been making these so long their origins are lost in the mists!

Blinis are made from Buckwheat Flour

Buckwheat is not even distantly related to wheat. It is not a grass or a cereal. Humans have been eating it for over 4000 years and it is basically pretty good for us. It contains protein and is lowish in purines. It is believed to be anti-inflammatory. It grows quickly and doesn’t need a very fertile soil. Apart from all of that it tastes really good! All in all we should probably eat more of it.

I like Doves Farm Organic Buckwheat Flour. It is organic and very reliable. For some reason known best to themselves neither Riverford nor Able & Cole stock buckwheat flour so you can’t just add some to your box. Grr!
If you are lucky enough to have one, your local independent wholefood shop will have it or maybe even the supermarket. Do yourself & the local economy a favour & buy it from the wholefood shop, please.

You will need two days for these blinis. You can do them faster but they will taste better if you do them the slow food way. Most of the time is just waiting so they aren’t really that demanding.
These quantities make about 25 very small ones or 12 three to 4 inch ones.
The three to four inches ones are about right for serving with dips, scrambled eggs & smoked salmon. Little ones, maybe 2 inches diameter, are ideal for canapés (Oooh get me!)
Double the quantities and you can store the left overs in the fridge for a few days. Watch out though, they are seriously moreish and surprisingly easy to eat!

To Make Blinis You will need:

A nice big bowl – old fashioned china, stainless steel. Don’t use plastic if you can avoid it. I don’t like food sitting in plastic too long it picks up flavours. It should fit in your fridge if you are doing the over night version.

A wooden spoon for mixing

A balloon whisk for getting the egg white stiff

A small china or metal bowl to whisk the egg white in

A clean tea towel to put over the blinis overnight

A flat bladed knife for turning the blinis when they are cooking.

Hot plate to keep them warm till you’ve cooked the lot. (watch this,cooked blinis have a strange habit of vanishing from the hot pile while your attention is elsewhere!)

A good heavy frying pan or ideally a griddle (girdle if you are Scots, which I am).

I’m going into tablespoons – weighing things isn’t in my nature and spoons are easier to wash up. You can use fancy measuring spoons but personally I prefer a big old metal one!

• 6 flatish tablespoons of buckwheat flour
• 1 teaspoon fast acting bread yeast (never used this before but pleasantly surprised that it worked well)
• pinch of salt (don’t leave it out the yeast needs it)
• 2 teacups of water at blood heat. (1/3 of a cup of boiling topped up with cold x2) (that’s about 1/2 a pint if you must measure)
• 1 heaped tablespoon of good, organic, natural set yogurt.(Not low fat for once!)
• 1 large free range organic egg (duck is best – chicken will do)

What you need to do on Day 1

1. Mix the flour, salt & yeast in the bowl.
2. Make a well in the middle
3. Add the yogurt to the water, adjust the temperature back to about blood heat. (If you stick your clean finger in it it should feel quite warm but not too hot).
4. Separate the egg and add the yolk to the well in the middle of the bowl. (Keep the white in your small bowl for later)
5. Now add the liquids.
6. Give it a good mix and gradually mix in all the flour. Don’t worry if it seems at all lumpy at this stage. It should be a thickish batter. (Very runny? Don’t panic, maybe the egg was a bit big, just add another tablespoon of flour)
7. Put somewhere warm (not hot we are not rushing remember) & draft free with the clean tea towel draped over the the top for about an hour.

Go and have a cup of tea, check Facebook, wander over to Pinterest or talk to Twitter. Bask in the pleasant yeasty smell that is now emanating from the bowl.

After about an hour, check your bowl. There should be a pleasant yeasty smell and little frothy bubbles breaking the surface.

Now for the hardest bit. Time for a little kitchen workout. Use the balloon whisk to beat the egg white until it is stiff enough to leave firm peaks when you lift the whisk out. You could use a machine but come on, this is slow food and anyway, we all need the exercise!

When the egg white is done, (and no, you don’t have to hold the bowl over your head to prove it is done!) fold it gently into the batter. Use that big old metal spoon and a cutting & folding action. You don’t want to undo all the hard work you just did on the egg white, just mix it in.

Back goes the tea towel and the mixture goes in the fridge until tomorrow.

Meanwhile, back to what ever social media rings your bell, safe in the warm glow of being a domestic god/godess.

Making Blinis Day 2

Remove the batter from the fridge about an hour before you need to cook it. Put it back in a warm, draft free place. It will bubble again, the yeast only having got dozy in the fridge.

Heat your pan, griddle or girdle. Some very fancy people have special blini pans. I wouldn’t bother if I were you. They taste better when imperfectly shaped. Well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Once it is quite hot get a pad of kitchen paper and a tiny amount of organic butter. wipe over the surface with the pad. You are not trying to leave much fat on the surface, you don’t want them to fry!

You want an even heat, not smoking but hot.

Get your big metal spoon and fill it with mixture from the bowl. Drop a spoon full on to the hot surface. It will spread only a very small amount. If you have a big girdle (don’t!) like mine then you can do 6 three/four inch ones at a time. In a frying pan maybe one large one or three small ones.

Watch them carefully. Little bubbles will burst on the surface. This is a very good sign. They will start to look set. Lift up one edge with your flat bladed knife & check they are turning golden brown. Good

Using your knife flip the blini over and cook till that side is golden too. It will be less even

Elizabeth David’s Bread & Yeast Cookery (I’m on my 2nd copy!) has a somewhat similar recipe and lots of information about all sort of other yeasty goodies.

*Most children will eat most fruit & vegetables without any fuss if you introduce them early, make trying new foods exciting and normal and don’t force them to eat things. Obviously there are exceptions but there are far fewer of them than you might think.

Here’s something that might convince you. I’ve lost track of the number of times friends (and clients – I used to be a child-minder) brought their children to my house and gave me a long list of things they absolutely would not eat. I even had mothers prepare a child’s ‘favourite’ lunch so convinced were they that there was no chance he’d eat what everyone else was having. Their amazement on picking up their happy, full child and his lunch, still in it’s box, was often quite amusing.

How was this miracle performed?

Quite simply. I never forced a child to eat. That would just be horrible.

Lunch when I was child-minding was usually a collaborative affair and we allowed plenty of time for it. So many skills and so much learning went on in that time, everything from talking and listening to gross and fine motor skills.  Even quite little people can learn to use a plastic knife to cut up softer vegetables, apples and pears, round bladed scissors to snip chives from the garden or they might collect sugar snap peas straight from the plant. Hands washed and aprons on of course.

The main thing was to end up with several small bowls of tasty, nutritious  food, some they’d tried before and often something new to ‘just try a taste’.

Salad faces are good for getting children to eat vegetables

Then we would  maybe build a ‘salad face’ or we might make home made pizzas. Sometimes we’d build our own sandwiches or fill a tortilla wrap. On cold days we’d make ‘special soup’. This was a clear vegetable stock with the fresh ingredients just added for a few minutes to soften, finished off with rice pasta or tiny alphabet pasta. Serve it not too hot in a child size mug with a teaspoon to eat the bits. Often a fair bit of the raw food disappeared into the cooks before it ever got to be lunch, and that was fine too. On wet, miserable days we’d bake our own bread rolls to fill or eat with soup. Each child got to make and shape their own roll. The smell of fresh baked bread cooling does good things to little appetites!

The magic trick…or  3 secrets.

1. Children will almost always eat what they’ve helped to make and what they make does NOT have to be special kiddie food.
2. Children copy each other, including what they eat. It is much easier to get a group to try something new than an individual.
3. Talk to them. They often understand far more than we realise and tend to respond well to logic. Explain simply when you are preparing the  food that it takes our mouths three or four tries to be able to decide if we like something. Don’t make a fuss or let them see you want them to try something. Always let them spit it out if they don’t like it.

Footnotes:

*Some children really do have serious eating problems. If yours does, get help! Start with your doctor or health visitor. This post is not about that.

*I’m not saying don’t ever make treats or that carrot cake is evil. Just don’t kid yourself that you are doing your children good by stealth.

[Photo Credit CC zeevveez]

After all the hoohaa of the last few weeks dies down some of us are left wondering if our home grown sprouts are really safe to eat. It always seemed slightly dodgy to me to grow something in conditions that so closely mimic a petri dish and not risk growing other less friendly things in there too.

Update from the UK Food Standards Agency:

Since I wrote this post there has been an update from the FSA  (July 1st 2011)

Sprouted seeds should only be eaten if they have been cooked thoroughly until steaming hot throughout; they should not be eaten raw.

It  goes on to say:

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have potentially linked the outbreaks in France and Germany to fenugreek seeds.

and goes on to say:

The Food Standards Agency is continuing to work with the Health Protection Agency to investigate possible links between a UK company and the outbreak in France. Samples of the implicated seeds (fenugreek, rocket, and mustard) from the company are being tested for E. coli O104:H4. Once the full set of test results are returned, the Agency will make these available.

They also say:

The EFSA and ECDC summary concludes that ‘because fenugreek seeds are often sold as mixes of seeds and that during re-packaging cross-contamination cannot be excluded pending outcome of the epidemiological investigation under way, consumers should be advised to ensure that all types of sprouts are thoroughly cooked before consumption’. (my emphasis)

Sprouts are not just tasty they are really good for you. There is lots of evidence that eating sprouts has health benefits so cooking them or even not eating them are not options I want to consider. But it is possible I might have to cook them from now on.

Are sprouts safe?

One of the things I’ve discovered is that commercial sprout growers sterilise their seeds first before they start and  then keep them in totally sterile environments. I’ve got to confess I’ve never done that. Worse still I’ve sprouted all sorts of things (like dried lentils) that were never intended to be sprouted. I tended to think that the packets of sprouting seeds were a bit of a con. Now I know they are more expensive because they are treated to avoid contamination. Ooops!

It seems that problems can arise when:

• They are handled by anyone with uncertain hygiene
• The water they are rinsed in is anything less than drinking quality
• Un-germinated seeds or seed cases are not removed and start to decay
• Sprouts are allowed to form clumps making it harder to remove debris
• The environment they are grown in is open to insect or bird contamination.

Growing sprouts at home

Now, I don’t know about you, but, clean as our kitchen is, it certainly is not a ‘sterile environment’. I am careful about washing my hands before handling food.

I always try to rinse sprouts 3 or 4 times a day but I have to admit to occasionally forgetting. Also I’m not sure I always get them as dry as they should really be after rinsing. It can be hard too to spread them out properly  after they’ve started to sprout.

What with that and my slap dash attitude to what I was sprouting I’m starting to think we’ve been quite lucky!

Commercially grown sprouts

On the Riverford web site they say:

Brett Kellett who grows our beansprouts grows in very small batches which are constantly turned and flushed with water.

Beansprouts are the only crop that Brett grows and the whole process takes place indoors. It is more of a hygienic factory type environment than that of a farm. The young sprouts obtain all the energy they need for growth from the seed, naturally reserved there by its mother plant. Hence, no fertiliser or manure is needed or used.

Brett sterilises all of his seed, before germination. To ensure his hygiene standards are effective, he tests every batch of his product for the presence of bacteria, guaranteeing they are perfectly safe and healthy to eat. There are reports that two of the staff at the German farm had previously suffered E. coli and it is possible that these staff infected the crop. Brett has only a couple of employees, who are fully aware of UK legislation that food handlers must inform their manager and not report to work if they have food poisoning symptoms (not that any of them ever have had).

This sounds wonderfully reassuring. An open and transparent response to people’s worries. Having read this I’m happy. We’ll keep adding a box or two of sprouts to our organic veg boxes and the sprouting pots will have to find a new use.

Note – our latest box came with a sticker passing on the FSA advice to cook them thoroughly before eating.

So – Are sprouts safe?

The answer to the original question seems to be “Yes, sprouts are safe but be sure you trust your supplier” Er, No, see updated answer below

A more up to date answer:

“Yes sprouts are safe if you cook them until steaming.”

photo source

My Nana in her best hat

Now this is not a recipe like those you get in books. This is my ancient Scots Nana’s receipt (yes, she would have called it that). She’d be 115 if she was still around and she baked these scones for her large family where ever she found herself from Dumfries to Detriot and back again by way of Vancouver and all before the First War!
My Nana never weighed anything. She used her hand, her eye and her judgment. So that’s how I make them too.
Don’t be scared. Trust yourself. “It a eats” as my Nana used to say.You mustn’t be too precious about the results. How ever they turn out they will be good to eat. If they are a wee bit burnt just scrape it off.
You will need:
You are going to use your hands for this so extra clean please!

• Heat a heavy based frying pan or ideally a girdle (griddle if you are English) or even a bakestone if you are Welsh!
• A floured wooden board – just use your work surface if not.
• A rolling pin. I use a wooden one.

1. About 1/2 a pound, 2 tea cups, or 3 large potatoes worth, fairly moist left-over mashed potatoes (ideally mashed with a little butter & milk but I’ve done this with soya milk before and it works fine!)
2. Start with a handful of flour (organic white but you can use spelt, wholemeal or even buckwheat). You might need a little more.
3. Optional – a teaspoon of baking powder. It will make them lighter but it’s not easy to get organic.
4. 2 tablespoons melted butter or organic sunflower marg. DO NOT USE REDUCED FAT Sorry to shout but it has too high a water content for baking and even it it claims to be organic is full of things you really don’t want to eat.

That is all. Simples

What you do
I learned to make these by sitting in a corner of the kitchen with a book! My Nana had 10 children and she couldn’t stand them under her feet when she was baking. I’m not sure how many of them learned her secrets but she’d mellowed a bit by the time I, the youngest female grandchild, came along. So long as I was quiet she’d let me stay. One too many daft questions and I was chased out to play.
Make sure your girdle is hot and throw a small amount of flour over it. Spread it round with a wad of kitchen paper or a pastry brush. (Use an old one as it might singe!) The girdle is ready when the flour turns golden brown. Turn the heat down to keep it at the right temperature.
Take the left over potato and place in a china mixing bowl. Squash and squeeze it gently through your fingers to make sure it is totally smooth. Don’t be too rough with it. It should feel quite moist and a little sticky.

In another bowl sieve the flour with the baking powder, if used. Sieve it anyway to add air. My Nana hadn’t the patience to hold it high and bash the side of the sieve with her hand so often shed get a metal tablespoon and whizz it around the sieve.

Once you add liquids the baking powder starts to act so move fairly quickly now.
Take a small amount of flour and mix into the potato along with a dribble of butter. Use you hand to mix it round. Now keep adding flour and butter a little at a time and mixing. You will find that the dough stops being sticky and starts to become smooth and pliable. Catch it at this point. Don’t over handle it or be tempted to knead it. It’s not bread.

Flour your board, rolling pin and your hands. Pop the dough onto the floured wooden board and roll it out to a circle. Not too much rolling, and don’t lean on it, keep it about as thick as your pinkie (little finger). I cheat and use a round board. It helps me to get the shape right.
This dough is fragile but it shouldn’t be too crumbly. If it is you might have added too much flour. Use less next time. You should still be able to pat it into rough triangles.
If the dough seems too sticky use your hands to gradually work in a bit more flour.
I usually use a flat bladed knife to gently cut it into quarters and a fish slice to lift them onto the waiting girdle.

Watch them and turn them once they’ve browned. This will involve a bit of guess work and gently lifting the edge with your flat bladed knife or fish slice.

They smell good and in my Nana’s house they were often buttered and devoured by hungry grandchildren almost at once. She’d fight us off and threaten to ‘pin yer lugs tae the merket cross’ for being theives and scoundrals.

Lift them off the girdle onto a metal cooling grid and leave to go cold.

I liked mine rolled up cold with butter and homemade rhubarb and ginger jam She made much larger quantities than we have here and there were always enough kept back to have fried the next day with a cooked breakfast.

They don’t keep so use the same day or fry them up for breakfast.

Jamie Oliver has had some success transforming the way UK schools feed our children and now he wants to show the US how to feed their children. Jamie’s got his bad points but he’s pretty much a hero in my opinion. OK, so we might see him as being in the pocket of the big supermarkets but his heart is undoubtedly in the right place. If Jamie can persuade people that children can and do like vegetables then he will have done well.

I’m not at all sure how we reached this place where it’s just assumed that children don’t like veg. It seems quite strange to me, I always had more trouble getting them to eat meat! I suppose I was dealing with children who had mostly started off as vegetarian and been weaned onto vegetable solids. My bible was Rose Elliot’s Vegetarian Mother and Baby, I’d read Let’s Have Healthy Children (out of print and not that accurate) and I had a few tricks up my sleeve. Veggies make great weaning finger foods (carrots are obvious but try sticks of celariac or fennel!), mashed avacado is just about a perfect weaning food, and once they are a little bit older salad or pizza faces that they decorate themselves will usually be demolished in double quick time.

Vegetable box

Anyway, listen to what Jamie has to say and then take another look at what came in this week’s vegetable box and see what you can do to make it attractive to your kids. If you are stuck for ideas just leave a comment and I’ll try to come up with something.

The film will be shown around the country and The Soil Association  are looking for volunteers to hand out information and membership leaflets. You can find out the dates and book on the official Food Inc. site

The film is promoting 10 Things You Can Do to Change Our Food System but it’s very US orientated so I thought I’d do us a UK version:

10 Things You Can Do to Change Our Food System

1. Drink fewer sweetened fizzy drinks and cut down sugar in tea & coffee
   
2. Eating in is the new going out
3. Support moves to force fast food outlets to publish calorie and fat content information on menues
4. Get soft drinks machines removed from local schools
5. Meatless Mondays – go without meat for just 1 day a week
6. Buy organic where possible, when not possible go for sustainable local food
7. Protect family farms. Find your local Farmers Market and use it. Buy organic boxes direct from farms.
8. Make a point of knowing where your food comes from. READ THE LABELS!
9. Tell the government that food safety matters to you – join the Soil Association and support their campaigns.
10. Demand job protection for farm workers and food processors, including improved protection when using pesticides and other chemicals, and decent wages.
    

1: Spending Too Much Time in the Aisles

The aisles of supermarkets, large or small, are full of processed, chemically enhanced foods in too much packaging. The supermarket relies on lulling us into a trance. Everything is designed to get us into that semi-hypnotic state were we wander the aisles collecting what grabs our attention, much as our hunter/gatherer ancestors wandered the woods. Except, of course what they were picking up was rather more natural than anything we’re likely to find! There’s a whole area of psychology devoted to the way we shop and every thing in the supermarket is designed to keep us wandering those aisles for as long as possible. It’s simple really. The longer we are there the more we are likely to buy.

The next one leads on from the first but doesn’t sound like a mistake. We all want to know what we’re eating right? Wrong!

2: Reading the Labels

The eye-catching products in the aisles sport words designed to grab our attention. They are full of claims like “healthy”, “fat-free”, “sugar-free” and “low calorie”. These are simply marketing statements to lure you in. Ah, but we’re too clever to be fooled by those, aren’t we? We turn over and pour over the nutrition statement and the ingredients list.Trouble is we often think that if the calories or fat grams are low or there are a lot of vitamins listed we’re OK. Er, no. Those added vitamins can mean that the food has had most of its goodness stripped during the processing or they may even be there to extend the shelf life not for your benefit at all

3: Buying food that contains transgenics
Products containing corn or soy, may be made from genetically modified or transgenic seeds. It is estimated that up to 90% of all soy grown and up to half of all corn is transgenic. These are not identified as such on most ingredient labels. Whatever the arguments for or against no one knows for sure the consequences of eating GM food.

Our supermarket advice

OK I should be honest here. I hate supermarkets and avoid them if at all possible. If you must go to the supermarket:

• Take a list.
• Set yourself a deadline.
• Check the organic section first
• If there’s anything in the ingredients list you don’t recognise assume the worst and leave it on the shelf.
• Only buy basic items and avoid processed stuff.
• Buy your organic food from someone you trust to be as concerned with where your food has come from as you are.

Better yet, buy your organic groceries through your favourite organic vegetable box scheme. Most of them offer a range of groceries at competitive prices. While we are at it let’s just remember that we’ll be saving the cost of driving to the supermarket and the time (not to mention wear and tear on the nerves!) that the trip takes. In most cases you can place your order online and you groceries are delivered with your organic vegetable boxes at no extra cost.

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

You might already have more apples than you can deal with coming from the garden anyway, in which case why not find out how to make cider ?

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.