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The New System is Here!
We hope you’re enjoying using our new website to manage your orders! So far, feedback has been really good, and we hope to keep making it better, so watch this space! If you need help using it, please send us an email and we’ll be more than happy to help!
Kale
We have kale from our own market garden this week, which is very exciting. Please note that as it’s been overwintered it won’t last as long as the kale from our farm picked in November or December, so you may want to eat it within a day or two of receiving it.
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
As March turns over to April, we are entering the hungry gap proper. I daresay that you wouldn’t know it from this week’s veg boxes, though: they’re full of beetroot, parsnips and celeriac in the root veg department, with kale, chestnut mushrooms, and purple sprouting broccoli rounding them out. In a few short months we’ll have all the green splendour our little market gardens, and those of the other small farms we work closely with, but for now we will bridge the gap with stored roots (like beetroot), more recently harvested roots (that’s celeriac) and those few green things that are ready in early spring). It’s easy to be a bit tired of roots and brassicas by this time of year, anticipating the broad beans and asparagus, the radishes and salad leaves that the summer is marked by. The days are longer and brighter, and we’re starting to crave meals that match. It can seem like the root veg dooms us to repeat the hearty stews and roasts that, while comforting all winter long, now seem a little much.
One easy thing that makes a huge difference is eating the root veg raw. Most roots can be shredded or thinly sliced and used in salads for a crunchy texture and fresh, bright taste. Here’s a coleslaw made with beetroot, celeriac, and parsnips- perfectly suited for this week’s boxes. A remoulade makes a perfect side dish to pair with smoked fish for spring lunch. This raw celeriac salad pairs it with apple and pumpkin seeds (as well as bacon, which is easily left out if you’d prefer) for a variety of flavours and textures that will make every bite interesting. Raw beetroot also suits salads- try this spectacularly colourful salad that pairs them with citrus fruit, goat’s cheese and quinoa. Or shred them and make a Morrocan-inspired salad for a different flavour profile. You can find more recipes for raw salads in this old newsletter.
My motto, oft-repeated in these here newsletters, comes in handy once again: local veg doesn’t have to mean local flavours. Drawing on dishes from around the world can break us out of our fixed perspectives and cast a bright new light on familiar veg. Celeriac can be glazed with gochujang or dressed with chimichurri. For beetroot, look to Scandinavia for inspiration- maybe this beautifully pink rödbetsallad could round out a picnic lunch? I imagine that even those who fancy themselves entirely done with beetroot would be tempted to double-dip if faced with this beetroot, yoghurt and lime dip.
At this time of year it’s easy to feel a bit bored, but the same veg can be used in a million ways, can offer us far more variety and interest than it seems like. Imagination and experimentation are rewarded; they are the keys to making the pleasures of seasonal eating feel alive and vibrant all year round. We will munch our way through the hungry gap, with spices and citrus and vinegars, seeds and nuts and cheeses, to help us find something new in a box of old favourites.