the organic food blog

Organic Fresh Produce Market Report - 22nd July 2010 Delivery

Fruit News ...

• Citrus fruits are at their best right now. Navel Oranges, Ruby Grapefruit, Mandarins, Lemons and Limes are all sweet, juicy and full of flavour and wonderful texture. All should be in abundant supply from this point forward for the rest of the season. 

 

• Strawberries now coming in stronger supply from Pim's are superb and a real winter treat. At $7.99 a punnet, they are also starting to come down in price and will continue to do so in coming weeks.

• Kiwi Fruit, Paw Paw and Custard Apples are all wonderful and add some gorgeous tropical variety to the limited selection of fruit available at this time of year. Custard Apples are particularly good value, now down to $3.99 each. Passionfruit are lovely, with plenty of juice, but only for the very devoted fan at this point, as they are yet to sweeten fully and still quite tart.

• Pink Ladies are the pick of the apples at this point in the season. Granny Smiths and Fujis have good flavour, but are both losing a little of their crunch. We will continue as we always do, to monitor the quality of the apples and will look to switch growers if we find better quality elsewhere.
  

• The quality of Pineapples is improving after a rough patch a few weeks back and Mini Lea Watermelon is also very good.
  

• Walnuts and Pecans (in the shell) are now available to order in any quantity (minimum is now only 100g rather than the previous 500g minimum). These are wonderful Australian-grown nuts, with a super-sweet taste. You really haven't tasted a pecan until you've tasted an organic nut straight out of the shell.

On the Vegetable front ...

• Globe Artichokes, Parsnips and Swedes signal winter is here and we hope to see Brussel Sprouts and Eschallots from next week. 

• Squash, Celery, dark green leafy vegetables including Kale, Rainbow (Swiss) Chard, Silverbeet, English Spinach and Chinese Greens are all wonderful. The curly, Scottish variety of Kale is now available in addition to dark blue-green leafed Russian Kale. 

• Our new season Potatoes are now coming from Queensland. New Season Dutch Creams and Desirees are now available, joined by Chat Sebago Potatoes. These are a floury variety, great for boiling, mashing or roasting and well-priced at $2.49 per kg. 
  

• Lebanese Cucumbers and Shelling (Garden) Peas are still unavailable, but we should see some in the next few weeks.
  

• Broccoli, Cauliflower, Celery, Eggplant, Round Beans, Shallots, Brown Onions, Dutch Cream Potatoes, Red Capsicums and Yellow Squash are all lovely right now.

Organic Fresh Produce Market Report - 15th July 2010 Delivery

Fresh Produce News for this week’s Deliveries, 15^th July 2010 ...

 

Fruit News ...

• Pink Ladies, Granny Smiths and Fuji Apples are all still sweet, with good crunch. You may have noticed the apples - coming from arguably Australia's best apple grower, Forest Orchards in South Australia - are not as perfect-looking and uniformly shaped as they have been in previous years as the grower experienced challenging weather earlier in the season, but quality is still great.

• Citrus fruits are at their best right now. Navel Oranges, Ruby Grapefruit, Mandarins, Lemons and Limes are all sweet, juicy and full of flavour and wonderful texture.

• Strawberries are superb and a real winter treat. At $8.99 a punnet, they are still pricey, but prices will ease as supply increases in coming weeks.

• Kiwi Fruit, Passionfruit, Paw Paw and Custard Apples are all wonderful and add some gorgeous tropical variety to the limited selection of fruit available at this time of year. Custard Apples are particularly good value, now down to $3.99 each.

• The quality of Pineapples is improving and we will have them back this week. Seedless Watermelon is also very good.

• Walnuts and Pecans (in the shell) are now available to order in any quantity (minimum is now only 100g rather than the previous 500g minimum). These are wonderful Australian-grown nuts, with a super-sweet taste. You really haven't tasted a pecan until you've tasted an organic nut straight out of the shell.

 

On the vegetable front ...

• You know winter is well and truly here, when Globe Artichokes, Parsnips and Swedes start showing up. These vegetables are all available from this week.

• Squash, Celery, dark green leafy vegetables including Kale, Rainbow (Swiss) Chard, Silverbeet, English Spinach and Chinese Greens are all wonderful. The curly, Scottish variety of Kale is now available in addition to dark blue-green leafed Russian Kale. 

• Our new season Potatoes are now coming from Queensland. There will be a gap on Desirees for a little while, while we wait for them to be ready. Meanwhile, Sebagos will be back this week ... a floury variety, these are great for mashing.

• Lebanese Cucumbers and Shelling (Garden) Peas won't be available this week, but we should see some in the next few weeks.

• Broccoli, Cauliflower, Celery, Eggplant, Round Beans, Shallots, Brown Onions, Dutch Cream Potatoes, Red Capsicums and Yellow Squash are all lovely right now.

 

This week's Mixed Seasonal Box ...

Plenty of staples for making winter warming meals in this week's box, including Pumpkin, Potatoes, Onions and English Spinach. Lovely Apples, Mandarins and Kiwi Fruit make up just some of the fruit selection.

Please have your order to us by 10:00pm Tuesday, 13th July. Orders can be placed online or let us know if you are interested in putting in place a standing order, so we can arrange a delivery as often as you like, customised to contain whatever you like, without you having to lift a finger!

Food Matters Official Trailer

via www.youtube.com

"Let thy Food be thy Medicine and thy Medicine be thy Food." -- Hippocrates ... this really is a must-see movie for anyone who wants to take control of their health and the health of their family. It just makes so much sense.

Organic Fresh Produce Market Report for 1st July 2010

Gmail - ecofy Fresh Produce News for 1st July 2010 Delivery - vasa.srbinoski@gmail.com

Here is this week's fresh produce report, highlighting just how great citrus fruits (Navel oranges and mandarins in particular) are at this time of year. For the freshest Certified Organic Produce delivered to your home or office Sydney-wide, go to the ecofy website.

Mushrooms, green tea may lower breast cancer risk | Health | Reuters

via www.reuters.com

Another study that points towards the potential health benefits - and in particular, the cancer-fighting properties - of vegetables in our diets .

Garlic - Safe Ways to Store and Preserve

WHAT IS GARLIC? Garlic (Allium sativum) is a member of the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae), which also includes leeks, onions, and shallots. It is a perennial with an underground bulb (head) composed of pungent bulblets commonly called cloves. Approximately 90 percent of the garlic grown in the United States is grown in California. California Early and California Late are the two major commercial varieties. California Early has white skins and is planted in December for harvest in July and August. The largest garlic variety, Elephant Garlic, has a very mild-flavored clove and is a close relative of the leek.

via cecalaveras.ucdavis.edu

Did you know that you can store garlic for 3-5 months in cool (less than 15 degrees C), dry, dark, well-ventilated conditions? A warning too that as a low-acid vegetable, garlic will support the growth of the bacterium Clostridium botulinum (which causes the potentially lethal illness botulism) when given the right conditions! These conditions include improper home-canning, oil infusing, moisture and storage at room-temperature.

Organic Soil Quality Nearly Doubles Flavinoids in Tomatoes

On June 23, 2007, the American Chemical Society's Journal of Food and Agricultural Chemistry published compelling results from the LTRAS (Mitchell et al., 2007). The team found that the level of quercitin, the most common flavonoid in the human diet and the major flavonoid in tomatoes, increased 79 percent as a result of organic management, and kaempferol levels rose 97 percent. In addition, and significantly, the longer a field was managed organically, the bigger the margin in flavonoid levels between organic and conventional plots. 

via www.organic-center.org

Organic Versus Conventional Food: UK Govt. Report Flawed

A report issued yesterday [PDF] by Dr. Alan Dangour of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the UK, claims that there is no substantial difference in nutritional content between organic and conventional food. The report was based on the review of fifty years worth of research papers on the subject. But reading it makes one wonder if influence caused a misreading of the findings, and in addition, if the agency has addressed the wrong questions entirely.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Biological Farmers Of Australia

Download WHY ORGANIC BROCHURE_AUGUST07

The Biological Farmers of Australia is one of the larger certifiers of organic and biodynamic produce in this country. This brochure is their nice glossy - thankfully paperless - overview of organic farming and its benefits. 

via www.bfa.com.au

Australian Conservation Foundation

... an organisation worth supporting

via www.acfonline.org.au