I've read a lot about CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes recently.
These boxes contain an assortment of organic produce from small farms and I've seen them for sale as subscriptions as well as one off boxes. Obviously the contents of the boxes change all the time so there's an element of surprise which I like as it makes you be a little creative and forces you to cook things that you might not usually make. And of course it saves you a trip to the farmers market as it is delivered to your door.
I have been curious to try one of these boxes for a while so when I saw a variety of them available via Fresh Direct (an online grocery shopping service that operates in and around NYC freshdirect.com) and they were on special offer and I had a 50% off voucher for a Fresh Direct order it seemed the ideal time to try one out.
I chose a box from Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative. Usually priced at $49.99 it was on special offer for $34.99 and with my 50% off voucher the box ended up costing me $17.50
What was in it?
I knew that the box was going to contain 12 eggs, an 8oz piece of cheese, 2 lbs of plain yoghurt and some mushrooms. The seasonal produce was an unknown. My box contained a pint of Sungold cherry tomatoes, a bunch of radishes, some rainbow chard, beetroot and a huge bag of banana peppers.
Dairy.
The eggs were large, fresh and very tasty as was the cheese, which was sharp cheddar made from raw organic cow's milk. The yoghurt has a long sell by date on it and I haven't tried it yet as I have quite a lot of yoghurt already in my fridge.
Produce.
I was expecting the mushrooms to be something more interesting than regular button mushrooms and there were only 8oz of them. The tomatoes were something that I wasn't expecting to find in the box but I love tomatoes in any size shape or form, these were sweet and in perfect condition. Rainbow chard is one of my least favourite greens and there was only five leaves so not enough to make a side dish. Beets aren't something that I buy that often, I don't dislike them but they aren't something I ever crave either. These ones were pretty flavoursome but there were only three of them and two of those were rather small. I've never bought or cooked banana peppers before! After a little googling I decided to pickle most of them and keep some for stuffing which I have yet to do.
What did I make?
I used the radishes and some of the tomatoes, beets and eggs to make Aioli which is a traditional French Provencal meal normally served on a Friday. It is simply a selection of seasonal vegetables with some sort of fish or seafood (most traditionally canned tuna) that is served with a big bowl garlicky mayonnaise. This was a great dinner dish on a warm evening!
As there weren't enough of either the chard or the mushrooms to make anything substantial I used them to make a frittata with some of the eggs. We had this for dinner with some proscuitto and a simple salad.
And finally here are the pickles that I made. Very easy to make, I used a sweet brine and added some red pepper flakes.These are crisp and tasty and we have been eating them in salads and sandwiches and plan to use some on a pizza. I also made some stuffed peppers which I filled with spicy ground lamb and baked in a tomato sauce.
Overall.
Everything in the box was very fresh and the produce was in perfect condition. The cheese was some of the best cheese that I have eaten in a long, long time, it was tangy and rich in taste.
I thought that the selection of produce was interesting, it wasn't what I would have picked up for myself at the market and I like that it made me think about how to use it up and cook creatively.
I do think that the box is expensive however. I only paid $17.50 for it once I had applied my discounts which makes it good value for money but it's contents don't represent $50.00 worth of food (which is the normal retail price) especially when you consider that the produce is all in season so it should be cheap.
I would have been disappointed if I had paid full price for this but if I can get another one at the deeply discounted price I will certainly do so.
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