Organic olive oil is fairly easily available mail order but until recently it was hard to find more unusual single variety organic olive oils to buy online. We met Christos Oikonomou, the founder & owner of Narrow Leaf Organic Olive Oil at a recent London Bloggers meeting.

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 Fruit

Well, we discovered that drinking fruit juice is not at all the same as eating whole fruit, and that so called fresh ‘not from concentrate’ fruit juice is not what it seems.

First, the worst thing about industrial ‘fresh’ Orange Juice:

Flavour Packs : The Secret Ingredient In Your Orange Juice

That’s right, they are adding back flavour and smell to stored orange juice and they don’t even have to mention anything about it on the label. This is because the things they add back are ‘derived’ from natural oranges. This can’t be right, can it? And don’t even get me started on what they do to apple juice to stop it turning brown.

But it gets worse. Just read what that innocent looking orange juice can do to your health:

And now, the health implications of even the best type of bought orange juice:

In April 2008 a study in the journal Diabetes Care, looked at the diets of 70,000 women as part of the ongoing Nurse’s Health Study, and found that unlike daily consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, which was associated with an 18 per cent reduction in the risk of diabetes, consumption of fruit juice even in small daily amounts, was associated with an overall 18 per cent increased risk of the disease.

Juice, unlike the whole fruit, contains all the sugars but less of the cofactors found in the whole fruit that help the body metabolise them. This association was strong and independent of other health factors and was higher for those who had a daily glass of orange juice (which raises the risk of diabetes by 24 per cent) than those who had a daily glass of cola or other sweetened soft drink (which raised it by between 6 and 15 per cent).

This was the first study of its kind and such findings are challenging to much that we think we know. For instance orange juice is almost universally hailed as a healthy drink because of its useful levels of antioxidants, but few realise that it contains the same amount of sugar as a glass of cola. If your diet is already high in sugar – like most of those in the Western world, orange juice may simply add to that burden without conferring any real benefit.

…

So is organic orange juice a better option? The answer is yes – and no. Growing organic oranges does not involve the use of pesticides and fertilisers and therefore it may have a lower carbon footprint and lower impact on the environment. However if it comes in a carton or bottle it will have gone through the same industrial process as non-organic juice and is therefore still less nutritious than eating an actual orange or squeezing juice from an organic orange for yourself.

Organic standards of course do not legislate for how the workers are treated. Your organic fruit juice may well still have been picked by an exploited child who should have been in school.

If you absolutely need orange juice, then squeezing it fresh at home from an organic fruit may be your healthiest and most environmentally friendly option.

– Behind the Label: orange juice

So we should all be buying those expensive juicers and making our own OJ then? Well no, not really. Although freshly squeezed juice is lovely, and better than the processed stuff, juice really isn’t all that good for you in many ways. Juicing allows you to consume far more than you ever would if you were eating whole fruit. When was the last time you sat down & ate 5 or 6 oranges at a sitting? That’s an awful lot of fructose (fruit sugar) for the body to cope with, before we even think about what the acid might be doing to your teeth.

Ironically you might be better with old fashioned home-made lemonade than ‘healthy’ juice. I’ll post my recipe for my Nana’s Home-made Still Lemonade later and I might also include her Lemon Barley Water as a bonus.

Ideally, though, eat your organic fruit as part of a meal and drink water if you want a cold drink. Keep it in a covered jug in the fridge, flavour it with a slice of lemon or lime and a sprig of mint. Serve it in pretty glass with ice and it will feel like a treat.

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

Bean and Fennel Bake

You will need:

• About a cup of cooked beans. I like Aduki beans for this. Please don’t use tinned beans they go to mush too quickly and don’t give the right texture.
• About 2 cups of fairly finely chopped selection of organic veggies from your box. Ideally about 1/4 inch dice. I’ve used onion, leek, celery and carrot today. Other possibles include swede ( better known as turnip if you’re Scots like me!)
• 1 large fennel bulb chopped a little larger.
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Herbs to taste – today it’s thyme and parsley. Rosemary would also work and some people (not me!) like sage. Marjoram might work better if you are swapping the shoyu gravy for tomato sauce (homemade of course!)
• 1 cup of shoyu gravy (2 tablespoons of shoyu or good soy sauce added to a white sauce made with  boiling water not milk. See below)
• About 4 or 5 good sized potatoes mashed with a tablespoon of olive oil
• Optional – cheese about a tablespoon of parmesan or gruyere added to the mash.

Method

1. Heat a little olive oil over a low heat in a skillet, deep frying pan or similar. Add the veggies, fennel and garlic and cook gently with a lid on. Sometimes described as ‘sweating’ the vegetables. Cook till the juices start to run and the veggies soften. Not something you can wander off and leave! Keep cooking, checking and stirring occasionally for about 15 mins till the veggies are all nice and soft but still have some crunch. You might need to taste them, just to make sure of course! Remove from the heat.
2. Make a shoyu gravy. In a small sauce pan heat 3 teaspoons of olive oil. Add 1 tablespoon of flour (organic white or gram are both good). Cook gently stirring all the time until it makes a solidish mass & comes away from the sides of the pan. Add 2 tablespoons of Shoyu and stir well. I like to use one of those wooden spoons with a pointy edge and a hole in them, a balloon whisk is good too. Gradually add about 1/2 a pint of boiling water. You can use vegetable stock or water left over from cooking other veg instead, if you have it. Stir it all the time over a gentle heat till it thickens & will coat the back of a spoon.
3. Add the sauce to your cooked vegetables. Mix really well so that everything is coated. Resist the temptation to eat it now! Or is that just me…….
4. Top with your mashed potatoes. Roughen the top with a fork and add extra cheese or butter if you are feeling indulgent.

At this point it will keep for later or even tomorrow, if you pop it in the fridge. You could even freeze it! Just move it to the fridge the day before you want to eat it.  Make sure you get it out of the fridge a good hour before you want to cook it.

5. Pop it in a medium oven for around 40 minutes till heated through and the topping has gently coloured, golden brown is ideal. Watch it for the last 10 minutes or so as it’s a short step from golden brown to cinders!

Enjoy!

I tend to serve it with some sort of greens, the first of the sprouts are in boxes now and they are perfect with this!

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.
    

In 2009 we posted 16 blog posts on the Organic boxes blog, and munched our way through about 47 organic boxes ourselves, as well as three half cases of red wine, some bread and eggs.

In 2010 we hope to continue expanding the world of organic vegetable box delivery schemes.

This is what I like to do with the sprouts

Sprouts Recipe

Wash the sprouts and cut off any damaged bits. With these top quality organic sprouts the amount cut away really should be minimal. Maybe a a piece of stalk here or there and one or two outer leaves, but there is no need to cut off every stalk or peel off all the outer dark green leaves. Try to keep as much of the organic goodness as possible.

Add to boiling unsalted water and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave for another 5 minutes, then drain, retaining the liquid for making gravy with.

Place the cooked sprouts in a shallow ovenproof dish then sprinkle roughly crushed walnut halves over the top. Add slices of blue cheese over the walnuts then put it in a hot oven or under the grill until the cheese has melted to a bubbling sauce and some of the walnuts have toasted. The sprouts should still have plenty of crunch and the special slightly bitter flavour with which they are associated is complemented by the rich cheesy nutty combination.

Whether you are having a vegetarian special or a meat based Christmas dinner, the walnut and blue cheese sprouts from the organic boxes will be a serious rival to the main item. If you are vegan however, I don’t think there is any alternative to blue cheese so I’d suggest using some toasted sesame oil and either vegetarian cheese substitute or tofu.

photo credit johnsu01 recipe by Organic Vegetable Boxes.

So I had in my vegetable racks and fridge:

Two sacks of lovely potatoes.

Two enormous cauliflowers

Enough broccoli to sink a battleship

Just the right amount of onions, probably

Half a field of carrots

Lots of lovely lovely leeks

A couple of nice dark green cabbages

I may have forgotten something but if so, I’m sure it was delicious

Now then, Riverford claim about the roots and greens box “The veg has a good shelf life, so if you’re feeling extra thrifty try a fortnightly delivery.”  which is what I effectively had to cope with. I chose to cook one of the cauliflowers first, grated some carrots for a salad and started to munch my way through the broccoli. Potatoes keep for weeks in the dark so I didn’t worry about them too much.  After the end of teh first week I could see an of the two boxes end in sight. The second cauliflower had developed a mouldy patch but only in one isolated segment, the rest was fine. The carrots were in extraordinarily good condition. Supermarket carrots go limp after a couple of days when kept out in a room with variable temperature but these were still crisp and juicy. The leeks lasted well two. No need to peel away several layers of yellow leaves, just trim the ends a little bit.

The controversy has been raised: is it better to keep the bunched carrots with the green feathery top foliage intact or cut them off?

I think the greens help to transpose moisture away from the carrot roots so they dry out more quickly but Linda thinks keeping the greens on will mean they last longer. Probably we’ll eat them with a couple of days anyway but it’s important to know what is really the best way to keep these special vegetables in tip top condition for even a short time.

What do you think is best and what do you do with bunched carrots from your organic vegetable boxes?