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Everything’s peachy! 🍑
These lovely sunny days have certainly brightened things up here in Manchester – but what’s really sweetened our mood? The first of the stone fruit rolling in from sunny Spain!
We’re talking perfectly snackable cherries, juicy white peaches, sun-ripened nectarines and those lovely, golden fuzzy apricots. The whole shebang!
These early varieties are bursting with juice and packed with flavour – a sure sign that summer is well on the way.
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Good afternoon Organic Northerners,
What a run of weather we’re having eh. It’s making for fine-looking early season lists but I’m seeing more photographs of low reservoirs out on my strolls/in my feeds and our growers and their delicate new plants are creeping into my thoughts more and more. A good amount of rain (not a month’s worth in 2 hrs) certainly wouldn’t go amiss in some areas just now.
In a bid to make our wholesaler operation more climate resistant and in the process, elongate the time that we’ll all have jobs, one of the things we’re looking to do is to spread our supply over a more diverse area in the UK. Work with growers from a more diverse set of geographies who experience different weathers, growing conditions and grow in a variety of soils.
Our most recent explorations have been with a guy called Christopher Upton who’s based near Stroud. Chris is a soil scientist and grows on a relatively small-scale using no-till or no-dig principles. Chris’ field research has illustrated that the nutritional benefit of crops can be ten fold of a standard organic crop if the ratio of bacteria in the soil is roughly equal in parts to fungal matter and it’s left undisturbed, as nature intended.
Being so far away from us in Stroud and being small scale makes it logistically difficult for us to list Chris’ veg, no matter how nutritious it might be. However, we’re gonna try and team up with another couple of pals in the area if possible and see if we can wangle a trial delivery or two up to us. If we’re good at anything this end, it’s wangling and our chief wangler, Cathryn is already on the case so watch this space.
Another thing I’d like to shine a light on quickly before the veg goss this week is a project that’s just started at Platt Fields Park in Manchester that’s being run in a bid to educate chefs in the area to get to better know and grow the produce that they’re dealing with. Jo from Manchester Urban Diggers (MUD) has asked us to share a link about it so if you’re local and are interested here you go…
https://www.wearemud.org/store/p/table-to-farm-4x-sessions
The veg updates:
- We were hoping for more rhubarb from Macleod’s next week but unfortunately, they’ve a labour shortage up there so we’re gonna be without for a couple of weeks probs. Bedlam have plenty just now if you still need some though.
- SKEA have bambino and twinner potatoes, Simpson has some new maris bard (small orders only though as very limited) and St Helen’s have cameo and Jackie spuds too. These latter varieties are being cold-stored and should be listed for a good while with us we’re expecting without budding issues.
- Elsewhere, Bedlam have added purple artichokes, Strawberry Fields have parsley and thyme and the Tomato Stall has some juicy beefsteak toms too.
- Lastly from the UK, Kindling have a few broad beans for us to go at (gonna be ace), Simpson has a few boxes of rocket and St Helen’s have some mixed salad leaves too.
- From Portugal, we’ve broad beans, sugar snap peas and shiitake shrooms from Vasco Pinto and from Spain, red kuri squash and cherries from Biovergel, verna lemons from Bioandalusi and galia melons from Ecosur.
- Zann also have cantaloupe melons and from France, Uni-Vert return with a good offering and Dynamis have some interesting additions again too. The pick of the bunch are probs red borlotti beans, yellow momotaro toms and the dried figs.
- On the pantry items front, we’ve salted butter from Calon Wen again, peanut butter from Carley’s, coconut milk, Morgiel’s carrot sauerkraut and fruit juices from Ekolo too. New on this week is some orange juice from Bioandalusi too. This juice is pasteurised and is rich in vitamin C, folic acid, and minerals such as potassium, magnesium, and calcium.
I won’t see yous next Tuesday as I’m in The Peaks learning how to not balls-up being interviewed as part of a Soil Association media training scheme. Olivia James from the Soil Association is coming to work with us the following day too, which should be a sweaty eye-opener for her…doubt they start work at 3am at the Soil Association neither! Apparently, she’s gonna interview us on the day too and if the results aren’t too embarrassing, I’ll be sure to share on here.
Hope you’re all enjoying this beautiful spring weather,
Sean, Mads, Cathryn, Ella and all of us at team ON x
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Mixing it up with the mushrooms.
If you haven’t heard, Dart Valley are now offering a mixed mushroom box that’s packed with firm favourites:
🍄🟫 Lion’s Mane – Known for brain-boosting benefits. Slice it thick, fry it up, and you’ve got yourself a tasty mushroom steak, if you’re that way inclined.
🍄🟫 Eryngii (King Oyster) – These chunky lads are meaty and perfect for shredding, seasoning and chucking on the top of a burrito bowl.
🍄🟫 Shimeji – Delicate, nutty, and versatile. These shrooms are best served with garlic, butter and soy sauce.
🍄🟫 Oyster – High in protein and fibre. These dense, velvety mushlings are great sautéed with an umami miso glaze.
🍄🟫 Maitake (Hen of the Woods) – Packed with flavour and loved for their health benefits. Roast ‘em up or throw ‘em in a ramen.
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