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Wellcome to Caldwell’s

We have the first of the produce from Caldwell’s Vegetables in the large boxes this week: Scottish tenderstem broccoli! The weather is delaying the harvest of more, but we expect to be including Caldwell’s veg in most (or all) of our veg boxes within a few weeks. You can read about our partnership with Caldwell’s Vegetables while they convert to organic farming here.

Egg Shortages

Our egg supplier is experiencing some shortages of eggs, and isn’t currently reliably able to fulfil our standing order of eggs each week. If you subscribe to eggs this may mean you miss a box or two over the next few months. We’ll always be in touch beforehand to let you know as early as possible, and will of course make sure you aren’t charged for any missing eggs. 

The supplier is also having trouble sourcing cardboard egg boxes due to the pandemic, so is currently using recycled plastic egg boxes for some orders. They know, as do we, that avoiding single-use-plastic packaging whereever possible is really important, so this is a last resort and not something we’re changing to on a permanent basis. If you’d like to pause your eggs for a few weeks until these supply issues are solved, just send us an email and we can sort that out for you. 

Covid-19 Updates

You can read our company-wide pandemic statement here, and our biggest Veg Boxes update here. Please keep an eye on the newsletter for any further changes.

Vote for Us!

Ethical Consumer, your guide to making the best possible choices when buying anything from beans to books, has shortlisted some companies to research- and we’ve made the list! We’d love to be included on their site, so please pop over here to vote for us. It only takes a second and will make a big difference. 

Chilled Collections

If you collect your veg box from the shop, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve been storing some of the delicate leafy green veg in a chiller instead of in your veg box. This is just to keep it in tip-top condition even on the warmest days. Please make sure to consult the posters up in-store and add any chilled items to your box as needed.   

Seasonal Changes

It’s worth noting that as the seasons change, we’ll see more leafy greens in the boxes. These are pricier than root veg but might not go as far. If you dropped a veg box size back in root-veg-heavy autumn, now might be a good time to consider whether you might benefit from moving back up. The larger boxes always have more variety, too, so if you’d like to make sure you get the exciting harder-to-source veg, your best bet is the bigger veg boxes. To change veg box size, send us an email!

In the Veg Boxes This Week

Subject to last minute changes

Check out storage guidance for helpful tips and tricks on how to prolong the life of your fresh produce. If you’re wondering where your veg comes from, have a look at these maps. You can also join your fellow subscribers over in the Facebook group for lots of tips, tricks, and recipe ideas!

To contact us, ring 0141 378 1672 or email us at subscribers@glasgowlocavore.org

Click here for Veg Box Contents

The Nice Bit

Well, we have had a few sunny days but for the most part it is still raining. Heavy, comforting rain that taps on the roof and runs down the windows; that makes the leaves on the tree outside my kitchen window glean greenly against the grey. I don’t mind at all, but I know the progress of the summer more by the veg box than by the weather. 

This week’s starring produce is flat beans, which I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t really cooked with before. I’m not sure how they passed me by, but I’m very pleased to have the chance to rectify this situation. I guess almost any vegetable will be new to someone!

Since I’m so ignorant on this particular variety of green bean, I’ll need to rely on others’ wisdom. The flat bean, sometimes called the Romano or Helda bean, is an ingredient in lots of Mediterranean cooking, and is also used in some Indian recipes. 

The most popular way to cook it- and the meal I think I’ll start with- is in a simple sauce of fresh tomatoes. Rachel Roddy has an Italian version here, or there’s a Greek version with dill and rosemary here. I think I fancy this version with anchovies, personally. If you’re not quite feeling the stew-like sauce of these, a drier version here, with pancetta and cherry tomatoes fried whole, sounds quite wonderful. 

If these tomatoey versions don’t appeal, or perhaps if there are some beans leftover after trying the one of your choice, I have a few other options. You can use flat beans as substitutes for other types of green or runner beans, and sautee them simply with garlic, or use them as part of a mixed-veg dish (with whatever you have to hand, I think, despite the specificity of this recipe). A vinaigrette is a simple way to make steamed or boiled beans stand out as a side dish. 

If you’d like to leave Mediterranean flavour profiles behind, we cam turn our culinary imagination to Indian recipes. Although my research suggests that flat beans are a common Indian ingredient, I had a harder time finding recipes to prove it, and have only two to offer up. The first is a sabji to serve with parathas. This recipe sounds like a real store cupboard hero, with only onions, garlic, ginger and spices needed to turn the beans into a meal. The other uses potatoes for something that sounds like exactly what I need to brighten up these rainy, cosy days.

Speaking of. 

Flowers

The incredible ethical bouquets our florist grows in Glasgow are back in full swing, and now is a wonderful time to order some. For a burst of colour you can’t do better. You can add them to your subscription by emailing, or pop them in your basket on the Online Veg Box Shop.

Survey

Way back in those heady days before *the thing*, you might remember we launched the main survey of the Impact Research project we’re running in partnership with the Real Farming Trust and Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience. The survey is aimed at existing Locavore customers, and explores a little about your reasons for choosing to shop with Locavore, as well as what you feel the benefits are. By taking part, you’re not only helping us better understand the needs of our customers, but you’re helping to shape the discussion about future food systems – maybe even more relevant now than ever before.

Enter before the survey closes on 30th June and be entered into a prize draw for £20 of Locavore vouchers- which can be used in the shop or applied against your veg box bill. 

Click through to the survey here!

Good Food Fund

Thank you for your donations to the Good Food Fund, which partners with charities to support those vulnerable to food insecurity. You can donate via subscription, or on the Online Veg Box Shop. You can also choose to donate your veg box to the Good Food Fund when pausing it for a week or longer.