Boston Organics Blog!

We have recently discovered that some of the potatoes we’ve been handing out have “hollow heart,” a discolored hole in the center of a healthy potato. Don’t worry, our potatoes aren’t sad. Hollow heart occurs when the potato grows too quickly and tears itself apart, often due to excessive moisture in the soil from too much rain or improper watering. We have contacted the farm and will not be distributing any more potatoes from this shipment.

Hollow heart potatoes are still edible and safe to eat, as long as the splitting hasn’t reached the surface, which can then invite rotting. For those of you who still have potatoes sitting around, you can cut out the hollow piece and eat the good parts! If you do encounter any issues with your potatoes, please let us know so that we can make it up to you.

Feel free to contact us with any questions about this. As always, thank you for your support, and happy eating!

There’s a lot of delicious produce going out this week! We’ve got a Munchin’ Mix from Jonathan’s Organic, broccoli, onions, potatoes, and more. We’re also getting more of that sweet California citrus shipped by train. And if you’re watching the Super Bowl this weekend, we have awesome local salsa for your party! Check out the newsletter!

Toot toot! Our Minneola tangelos and Gold Nugget mandarins came in from California by train this week! Get a discount on our Feb. 4 cooking class at Boston Center for Adult Education, and check out this week’s recipes in the newsletter!

We had a great time at the NOFA/Mass Winter Conference this past weekend! We’re looking forward to the Boston Wine Expo and Be Healthy Boston over the next two weeks, and we also have a cooking class at the Boston Center for Adult Education coming up on February 4th. Find out what’s in this week’s produce boxes and learn a little bit about orange coloration in this week’s newsletter!

We’re getting German Butterball potatoes from Maine this week! We’re also looking forward to carrots, beets, and parsnips from Winter Moon Farm, along with Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and Florida citrus. There are lots of great events coming up over the next few weeks, including a special Boston Organics cooking class at the Boston Center for Adult Education on February 4! Check out the newsletter!

Hey there locavores! Check out what we’ve got in this week’s Dogma Box, a box of produce that’s organic and sourced as locally as possible.

This week’s Dogma Box includes:

• Carrots  -  Winter Moon Farm (Hadley, MA)
• Beets  -  Winter Moon Farm (Hadley, MA)
• Turnips  -  Winter Moon Farm (Hadley, MA)
• Yellow Onions   –  Porter Farms (Elba, NY)
• Daikon Radish  -  Deep Root Organic Coop (Johnson, VT)
• Rutabaga  –  Deep Root Organic Coop (Johnson, VT)
• Rainbow Potato Mix  -  Misty Meadows Farm (Grand Isle, ME)
• Butternut Squash -  Lakeside Organics (Hadley, MA)
• Empire Apples  -  Dwight Miller and Son Orchards (E. Dummerston, VT)

It can take a little more effort to cook all these root veggies from week to week, but don’t worry – we’re here to help! Here are some recipes that you might want to try out with your Dogma Box this week:

Rutabaga and Greens Fritatta - A fritatta is always a great way to use a variety of veggies. This is a simple recipe that calls for rutabaga and cooked greens such as kale or collards. As always, you can adapt this recipe based on what you have on hand. Use your imagination!

Sausage and Turnip Gratin Pasta  - Who said turnips had to be a side dish? You can take turnips to the next level in this hearty recipe (and use veggie sausage if meat isn’t your thing!).

Herbed Winter Vegetable Roast - A great recipe to adapt with any root vegetables you have lying around! This recipe calls for butternut squash, carrots, parsnips, and onion.

Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter Sauce – Sage and butternut squash are a match made in heaven, and this recipe really brings that out.

It’s the first newsletter of 2012! Happy New Year to you and your loved ones, we hope you had a lovely holiday season. Now that the holidays are over, we can get back to doing what we do best: making sure you eat your fruits and veggies! This week’s produce includes purple top turnips, Chioggia beets, sweet potatoes, Roma tomatoes, and more Florida citrus. Also, we’ve got dried black beans available for you to add on to your order, just in time for those hearty winter soups and chilis! Check out more produce news and yummy recipes in the newsletter! 

Every week we put together a local box (called the Dogma Box) to help people eat food that’s both organic AND local! The Dogma Box includes produce that has been sourced as close to Boston as possible, and this week we’ve got some delicious items to satisfy your locavore tastes.

This week’s Dogma Box includes:

• Carrots  -  Winter Moon Farm (Hadley, MA)
• Forono Beets  -  Winter Moon Farm (Hadley, MA)
• Parsnips  -  Winter Moon Farm (Hadley, MA)
• Red Onions   –  Porter Farms (Elba, NY)
• Scarlet Turnips  -  Atlas Farm (S. Deerfield, MA)
• Rainbow Potato Mix  -  Misty Meadows Farm (Grand Isle, ME)
• Mung Bean Sprouts  -  Jonathan’s Organic (Rochester, MA)
• Cranberries –  Jonathan’s Organic (Rochester, MA)
• Empire Apples  -  Dwight Miller and Son Orchards (E. Dummerston, VT)

What are Forono beets?
If you received the beet mix from Winter Moon Farm last week, you may have noticed that some of the beets were long and thin. These are Foronos! They are tender and juicy inside, and their shape means they slice into evenly sized pieces and will roast up perfectly. No need to peel ‘em – all of the beets from Winter Moon Farm are very thin skinned varieties. We have a bunch of recipes for beets on our website, so feel free to check them out!

Cranberry update!
We got the word this week from Jonathan’s Organic that their cranberry growers have packed up and frozen the remaining crop of the season, so this is the last week that we will have cranberries in the Dogma Box. This has been a great season for the cranberry growers on the Cape, and we’re thankful that Jonathan’s helps package and distribute these cranberries so that we can support local cranberry growers as much as possible. If you’re feeling overloaded with cranberries, you can freeze them or dry them so that you can savor that fall New England flavor throughout the rest of the year!

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! For the last week of 2011, we’ve got Forono beets, a rainbow potato mix, Mung bean sprouts, Florida citrus, and much more. Also, it’s the last week that we have holiday add-ons available, so it’s time to stock up!  Get the scoop in this week’s newsletter!

Interested in giving Boston Organics deliveries as a gift?

At the moment we do not have a formal gift delivery program. If you would like to sign a friend or family member up for the service, you can. Here’s what you need to know:

How to Start
Before signing up, make sure that gift recipient is aware of the produce delivery, our policies, & that he/she can receive & retrieve produce deliveries at a specific address on their delivery day. Note: Some dormitories, front desks, and concierges will not accept produce deliveries.

The best place to start is under the How It Works menu on our website. Here you can check to see when we deliver to their location.

On our This Week’s Box page, you can view the boxes that we offer and check out which box might be best for them!

How and when will you be billed?
Billing is run every week that a delivery is made. We don’t have a prepayment or telephone payment option because customers can make changes to their accounts (like box type changes and add-on orders).

Communication
A confirmation email will be sent to whatever email address you enter online.  The email we have on file we will use for pertinent account and order communications, as well as a weekly newsletter.

If you would like to offer a specific number of produce deliveries, please cancel service using the form on our website following that number of deliveries.

Note: If the recipient would like to continue service beyond the duration of your gift, you can coordinate the process with them. They will just need to update the billing information on their account.

If you have any questions, you can always contact us at 617.242.1700 or at service@bostonorganics.com.
Thank you, and happy holidays!