Monday, February 23rd, 2015
The organic shallots in this week’s Dogma Box come from Emylou Farm, a family-owned organic farm that’s been a member of the Deep Root Organic Coop for several years.
Though shallots look kind of like oversized garlic cloves, they are actually more similar to a white or yellow onion. While you can use an onion in place of a shallot, if a recipe calls specifically for a shallot, it’s for a good reason.
Shallots are generally sweeter than onions and pack a lot of flavor in a small space without the acidic bite of a fresh onion. They also have a slightly softer texture, which allows them to incorporate more smoothly into soups and sauces.
Locavore Recipe of the Week
One of our favorite things to do with organic kohlrabi in the winter is to shred it into a crunchy slaw. We especially love this recipe for Purple Slaw, and we’re in luck because Red Fire Farm is bringing us a few heads of red cabbage and big bulbs of purple kohlrabi this week!
A food processor or mandoline makes this recipe extremely easy to make, but it’s also entirely possible to shred the vegetables by hand. This Purple Slaw goes great with burgers and sandwiches, but you can also use it in salads, spring rolls and tacos.
This Week’s Local Produce
Potatoes
Picadilly Farm
(Winchester, NH)
Rutabagas
All of the fruits and vegetables we deliver are grown without synthetic pesticides and are USDA certified organic. Interested in receiving produce that’s both organic and locally sourced all year round? Check out our Local Dogma Box.
Similar to a CSA or farm share, our Local Dogma Box is filled with the best organic produce from local and regional farms and brought right to your door each week. It’s the easiest way to eat like a locavore!
Monday, February 16th, 2015
We are fortunate to have a vibrant community of customers who remain committed to our mission to provide access to fresh, organic produce in a sustainable way. But this winter has been difficult, not only for us, but for many small businesses in the Boston area.
In many ways the local food economy is struggling under the devastating effects of this season’s weather. Having to close a restaurant or cancel a delivery is more than an inconvenience for small businesses that tend to operate on narrow margins.
Edible Boston recently asked its readers to “make a pledge to SHOP LOCAL this year,” and we think this is a fabulous idea.
As you continue to support Boston Organics this winter, let’s also consider the dozens of other family-owned companies that rely on our patronage to survive. Together, we can support companies that are doing good things in the Boston area; not just this month, but into the spring as well.
Organic Produce Update
While New England continues to get pummeled by winter storms, organic farmers in Florida are enjoying balmy weather and a sizable citrus harvest. We have organic blood oranges in a few of the boxes this week and most of you will find Minneola tangelos and Royal mandarins in your delivery. Also known as Temple oranges, Royal mandarins are one of the largest of the “zipper fruits,” citruses with skins that are easily peeled. Royals tend to have a few more seeds than a Clementine, but they feature a uniquely rich, almost spicy flavor.
Our local organic farmers continue to brave the winter weather and icy roads to bring us their best organic storage crops. This week, Deep Root Organic Coop has a nice haul of parsnip and turnips while Red Fire Farm has some scraggly celeriac to share. Those three roots happen to go splendidly in this creamy root vegetable soup recipe.
The half-and-half and all vegetable boxes include another healthy dose of organic Brussels sprouts this week. Felicity M., a member of the Boston Organics Community, recently shared this recipe for Brussels Sprout Hash with us and we’re excited to give it a try! If you test it out, remember to snap a photo and use the hashtag #BostonOrganics when you post it to Twitter or Instagram.
New Add-ons
Whether you’re snowed in or facing off against mother nature’s latest cold snap, we have four new organic grocery items to brighten your day!
Tuscan Pizza Company makes delicious pizza dough using all organic ingredients and we’re now offering both their original recipe and their whole wheat organic dough as an add-on. You can make a meal in minutes—just grab some Appalachian Naturals Organic Tomato Puree and Neighborly Farms Organic Cheese and you’ve got the fixings for a fancy homemade pizza using all local and organic ingredients.
If you prefer a white pizza, you might want to make this Savoy Cabbage and Sunchoke Pizza using fresh veggies from this week’s boxes!
Enjoy your box and have a delicious week!
Sunday, February 15th, 2015
The snow keeps falling, but the organic veggies keep coming from our network of local growers throughout New England.
This week’s collection of sweet root vegetables from Winter Moon Farm and Deep Root Organic Coop are complemented by the addition of crisp cabbage and crunchy Empire apples.
We also have fragrant basil from Happy Valley Organics! Grown in a solar-powered greenhouse, these fresh herbs are a welcome winter treat from central Massachusetts.
Locavore Recipe of the Week
Making homemade pizza is a tasty and fun way to spend a Boston snow day. Grab a pound our new organic pizza dough and put your local organic veggies to work in this recipe for Cabbage and Sunchoke Pizzas.
If you’re looking for a simpler way to use you local organic ingredients, you can create a classic Margherita Pizza with a handful of fresh-cut basil from Happy Valley Organics and Appalachian Naturals Organic Tomato Puree!
This Week’s Local Produce
Potatoes
Spaghetti Squash
Picadilly Farm
(Winchester, NH)
Sweet Potatoes
Cabbage Celeriac Kohlrabi
Sunchokes
All of the fruits and vegetables we deliver are grown without synthetic pesticides and are USDA certified organic. Interested in receiving produce that’s both organic and locally sourced all year round? Check out our Local Dogma Box.
Similar to a CSA or farm share, our Local Dogma Box is filled with the best organic produce from local and regional farms and brought right to your door each week. It’s the easiest way to eat like a locavore!
Monday, February 9th, 2015
Deep Root Organic is a cooperative of about 20 farms throughout northern Vermont and southern Quebec. As their name suggests, they are known for growing some of the finest organic root vegetables in New England.
This week, Deep Root is bringing us organic parsnips, rutabagas and turnips. Each one has its own distinct flavor and texture, but all three are delicious in soups or simply roasted with some olive oil, salt and herbs.
Locavore Recipe of the Week
This recipe for Rutabaga with Caramelized Onions and Apples is all about using naturally sweet ingredients and taking them to the next level.
The trick is cooking everything slowly on a low heat to draw out the flavor. But adding a little extra brown sugar to the mix doesn’t hurt either!
This Week’s Local Produce
Red Beets Golden Carrots
Radish Medley
All of the fruits and vegetables we deliver are grown without synthetic pesticides and are USDA certified organic. Interested in receiving produce that’s both organic and locally sourced all year round? Check out our Local Dogma Box.
Similar to a CSA or farm share, our Local Dogma Box is filled with the best organic produce from local and regional farms and brought right to your door each week. It’s the easiest way to eat like a locavore!
Monday, January 26th, 2015
A crucial component of Thanksgiving feasts, sweet potatoes are often forgotten once the holiday seasons have passed. But sweet potatoes are some of the healthiest and most versatile vegetables available during the winter, so it should be no surprise that they’re making a comeback in New England winter cooking.
One baked sweet potato contains more than two times your recommended daily allowance of Vitamin A, a third of your recommended Vitamin C and only 140 calories. Sweet potatoes are also naturally fat free and cholesterol free; making them a healthier alternative to regular potatoes.
In fact, sweet potatoes, which thrive in hot, tropical climates, are only very distantly related to the traditional Irish potato. Columbus brought sweet potatoes back from the West Indies well before Europeans discovered Irish potato in the Andes Mountains.
Sweet potatoes are also entirely botanically different from yams, even though the names are (mistakenly) used interchangeably. While sweet potatoes are the edible roots of a morning glory flower, yams are technically a tuber like the Irish potato. Yams also have rough, scaly skin and contain significantly less Vitamin A than a sweet potato.
While American farmers grow 1.25 million tons of sweet potatoes each year, yams are rarely grown commercially in the United States and are almost never seen on grocery store shelves. North Carolina is responsible for well over one third of all sweet potato production in the US, but the farmers in our network of New England organic farms grow a sizable harvest every fall and winter.
If you were to eat a freshly harvested sweet potato, you might be surprised by its bland flavor. Sweet potatoes are generally cured in a hot, high humidity room for several days after harvest to increase their shelf life and prompt the sweet potatoes to release an enzyme which converts the roots’ starches into sugars.
This process is put into overdrive when you cook a sweet potato, heightening its flavor to the point of perfection. Sweet potatoes can be boiled, steamed, baked, roasted, microwaved and mashed. They can be used in side dishes, soups, entrees and even baby food.
The possibilities are endless, but here are 4 of our favorite ways to eat sweet potatoes. Click on the photos below to get the recipes:
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| Sweet Potato Soufflé | Sweet Potatoes, Apples and Braising Greens |
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| Sweet Potato Fries with Fried Sage | Jeff’s Famous Sweet Potato Quinoa Black Bean Burgers |
Sunday, January 11th, 2015
Our noses are tingling with excitement over the amazing assortment of organic produce from our local farmers this week. Or maybe we’ve just eaten too much hard-neck organic garlic from Red Fire Farm.
It’s hard to pace yourself when the central Massachusetts farm produces such beautiful fresh garlic. Hard-neck garlic also has slightly larger cloves than the more familiar soft-neck garlic.
This may mean that each head has fewer cloves, but each clove is packed with such a rich garlicky flavor, so you only need a little bit to season your food and make your kitchen smell like an Italian cucina.
Locavore Recipe of the Week
Homemade potato chips are generally healthier for you because most people don’t add artificial chemicals or preservatives. But when you make chips out of other root vegetables like Picadilly Farm’s sweet potatoes or Nature Circle Farm’s beets, you’re also giving yourself an extra dose of nutrients.
The thinner you’re able to slice these veggies, the crispier the chips will be. But if you don’t have a mandolin, a vegetable peeler can help you get the same effect with just a little bit more effort.
Try this recipe for Sweet Potato and Beet Chips with Garlic and Rosemary Salt made with local and organic ingredients!
This Week’s Local Produce
All of the fruits and vegetables we deliver are grown without synthetic pesticides and are USDA certified organic. Interested in receiving produce that’s both organic and locally sourced all year round? Check out our Local Dogma Box.
Similar to a CSA or farm share, our Local Dogma Box is filled with the best organic produce from local and regional farms and brought right to your door each week. It’s the easiest way to eat like a locavore!
Monday, January 5th, 2015
The first full week of the new year may bring us a little cold weather, but that won’t stop us from bringing you the best of what our local partners have to offer.
While it’s definitely the season for southern citrus, we’re pleased as punch that Dwight Miller & Son of Vermont is still sending us crisp Empire apples so we can keep delivering you local fruit.
Additionally, this week we’re excited to offer 2lb. bags of potatoes from Nature’s Circle Farm in Houlton, Maine. One of the most versatile vegetables, potatoes can be enjoyed in innumerable ways. Keep these spuds close at hand for a quick baked potato, breakfast hash browns, twice baked potatoes, comforting soup or homemade fries.
Locavore Recipe of the Week
One way we like to prepare potatoes is to make the classic German dish Himmel Und Erde. This recipe traditionally combines two items that we’re lucky to grow right here in New England: starchy potatoes and sweet-tart apples.
Himmel Und Erde (meaning Heaven and Earth, where apples and potatoes grow) can be served by itself or alongside sausage or pork. Our version also contains turnips, giving it a more complex flavor.
Looking for a tasty, comforting dish this week? Try making Himmel Und Erde for yourself.
This Week’s Local Produce
All of the fruits and vegetables we deliver are grown without synthetic pesticides and are USDA certified organic. Interested in receiving produce that’s both organic and locally sourced all year round? Check out our Local Dogma Box.
Similar to a CSA or farm share, our Local Dogma Box is filled with the best organic produce from local and regional farms and brought right to your door each week. It’s the easiest way to eat like a locavore!
Wednesday, December 24th, 2014
It’s not always easy to find a rainbow of color in regionally grown produce in the middle of winter. Our local offerings this week, however, contain a gorgeous medley of reds, greens, purples and oranges.
Boxes will be brimming with winter favorites like rutabagas, parsnips, sunchokes and beets. Some boxes will contain purple kohlrabi, which when sliced into sticks make a snappy addition to vegetable platters. And don’t be surprised if the somewhat scary-looking celeriac pops out at you—looks can be deceiving. Learn more about the mild, fragrant root vegetable.
If you’re in the mood for radishes, we not only have a beautiful blend from Winter Moon Farm, but the Local Dogma Box contains Daikons, a popular and versatile Asian variety. While many people will roast them or shred them into a slaw, we suggest trying this recipe for Sweet Pickled Daikon Radish.
This Week’s Local Produce
All of the fruits and vegetables we deliver are grown without synthetic pesticides and are USDA certified organic. Interested in receiving produce that’s both organic and locally sourced all year round? Check out our Local Dogma Box.
Similar to a CSA or farm share, our Local Dogma Box is filled with the best organic produce from local and regional farms and brought right to your door each week. It’s the easiest way to eat like a locavore!
Sunday, December 14th, 2014
Nothing livens up a meal like sprouted greens, and the organic pea shoots grown at Jonathan’s Sprouts in Rochester, MA are some of the freshest sprouts you can find.
Toss a handful of locally grown organic pea shoots into a salad or soup to give yourself an extra dose of fiber, iron, and vitamin C. And with 3 grams of protein per serving, these sprouts are also an easy way to make vegetarian stir-fries a little more filling.
This week, Bruce and Jenny are bringing some cute fingerling sweet potatoes from their farm in southern New Hampshire.
Picadilly Farm spans 40 acres in the Connecticut River Valley, but Bruce and Jenny cultivate organic produce on only 26 acres each season. By rotating their crops, the organic farm can grow more nutrient-rich veggies and maintain their naturally fertile soil.
Locavore Recipe of the Week
We have an awesome recipe for you this week: Locavore Latkes. Winter Moon Farm’s organic red beets and Atlas Farm’s rainbow carrots will make it to your door just in time for Hanukkah. Order organic eggs and oil and you’ll be ready to celebrate the festival of lights like a local lover!
This Week’s Local Produce
Carrots
Potatoes
Deep Root Organic Coop
(Johnson, VT)
Parsnips Daikon Radishes
Scarlet Turnips
Dwight Miller Orchards
(E. Dummerston, VT)
Empire Apples
Happy Valley Organics
(Whately, MA)
Thyme
Jonathan’s Sprouts
(Rochester, MA)
Pea Shoots
Cabbage
Picadilly Farm
(Winchester, NH)
Gilfeather Rutabagas
Fingerling Sweet Potatoes
Porter Farm
(Elba, NY)
Onions
Red Fire Farm
(Granby, MA)
Purple Kohlrabi
Winter Moon Farm
(Hadley, MA)
Beets Celeriac
Radishes
All of the fruits and vegetables we deliver are grown without synthetic pesticides and are USDA certified organic. Interested in receiving produce that’s both organic and locally sourced all year round? Check out our Local Dogma Box.
Similar to a CSA or farm share, our Local Dogma Box is filled with the best organic produce from local and regional farms and brought right to your door each week. It’s the easiest way to eat like a locavore!
Saturday, December 6th, 2014
For Bostonian locavores, the holiday season always corresponds with the beginning of root veggie season. Our farmers are battling temperamental temperatures and racing against the clock to harvest their crops before the ground freezes over.
This week we have a mix of colorful organic radishes from Winter Moon Farm and plenty of potatoes from Atlas Farm. Both farms are located along the Connecticut River in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts.
Dogma Box customers will also get the first sunchokes of the season from Red Fire Farm! Though this much loved tuber comes from the roots of a sunflower plant, it tastes strikingly similar to an artichoke.
We recommend you also order a bottle of Dwight Miller’s organic apple cider vinegar so you can use your sunchokes, carrots and parsnips to make Emeril’s Roasted Root Vegetable Medley.
Get the recipe here.
This Week’s Local Produce
Carrots Parsnips Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Deep Root Organic Coop
(Johnson, VT)
Daikon Radishes
Scarlet Turnips
Dwight Miller Orchards
(E. Dummerston, VT)
Empire Apples
Happy Valley Organics
(Whately, MA)
Basil
Cabbage
Buttercup Squash
Porter Farm
(Elba, NY)
Onions
Red Fire Farm
(Granby, MA)
Kohlrabi
Sunchokes
Winter Moon Farm
(Hadley, MA)
Green Meat Radishes Rutabagas
Hakurei Turnips
All of the fruits and vegetables we deliver are grown without synthetic pesticides and are USDA certified organic. Interested in receiving produce that’s both organic and locally sourced all year round? Check out our Local Dogma Box.
Similar to a CSA or farm share, our Local Dogma Box is filled with the best organic produce from local and regional farms and brought right to your door each week. It’s the easiest way to eat like a locavore!