Grub Market

KCET’s “The Public Kitchen”

Recipe: Quick Pickled Vegetables from Farm Box LA

Short quote: Farm Box LA, a newish organic produce delivery service that brings hand-picked items from local farmers markets to your front door.

Shopping at the farmers market can be a dangerous affair — simply because all the fresh, in-season produce looks so tempting. If you bought a rolling cartful of fresh veggies with the full intention of enjoying crudités as snacks all week — but already feel daunted by all the crunchy fare — Reisha Fryzer can help.
Reisha’s the owner of Farm Box LA, a newish organic produce delivery service that brings hand-picked items from local farmers markets to your front door. For $50, Reisha delivers a reusable boxful of what’s good at the market — with enough produce to feed one or two people for an entire week.
Of course, customers’ healthy eating habits get derailed at times — which is why Reisha, who holds a chef certificate from the Epicurean Culinary School in West Hollywood, also offers a pickling and jamming service. Unenjoyed fruits and veggies can simply be placed back in the delivery box to be picked up — and turned into locally-made jams and pickled veggies for $10 a jar.
Try your hand at pickling your own veggies with Reisha’s recipe. She recommends using firmer vegetables — such as carrots from Finley Farm or fennel bulb from Tutti Frutti Farm — and having fun with the recipe by swapping out spices or vegetables.

Quick Pickles

Ingredients
4 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
ginger, small piece julienned
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
pinch of salt

Instructions
Place carrots upright in a large picking jar or a few small jars and set them aside. In a medium saucepan heat the apple cider vinegar, sugar and desired spices and salt over medium heat until simmering. When liquid is about to boil, pour it over carrots. Let it cool and then seal and store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks submerged in the liquid.

My L.A. Lifestyle

"Let food be thy medicine, and let thy medicine be food."
Hippocrates

Interview by: Laura Pardini – Realtor

Contributor’s website: City Style LA

I first saw Reisha Fryzer at a Daisy Swan “Entrepreneur” seminar featuring a select group of independent business owners. I was there that night because our very own talented Travel Expert writer; Natalie Compagno, was one of the guest speakers along with Reisha. I thought Ms. Fryzer’s business was unique, globally conscious and helped to fill a very important piece in a person’s life: a balanced and nutritious diet. Here is our interview with Reisha Fryzer, Owner of Farm Box LA. Enjoy!

1) Tell me about your business?
My business is called Farm Box LA. Every week, I deliver to your door a Farm Box full of a wonderful variety of freshly picked produce that I personally select from local farms and farmers markets. There’s nothing better than eating food that tastes the way it’s supposed to – as if just harvested from the earth! Along with the Farm Box, you can check my blog and receive weekly recipes to go along with some of the Farm Box week’s produce.

2) How did you get started?
I was living in Malibu and discovered Vital Zuman Farm and began to work there as a volunteer. I then began learning my way around other local farms and farmers markets. A logical next step was to learn how to make the best use all this freshness, so I earned my chef certificate at the Epicurean Culinary School in West Hollywood, and supplemented that with vegan cooking classes. With all these tools at my fingertips, it made sense for me to turn my love of agriculture and the slow food movement into a business that could bring this healthy way of eating to my neighbors in Los Angeles. That was the start of Farm Box LA. I created the company to share my love of eating fresh, healthy, seasonal, organic, pesticide-free produce with my fellow Los Angelenos who would love to eat that way too. And probably would, if they had the time to visit farms and farmers markets often enough to make sure they always have an abundance of the freshest, best produce possible. Not to worry. Farm Box LA will bring the farm to you.

3) Can you discuss the importance of supporting our local farmers?
Yes Yes Yes… To start with, our topsoil is depleting at a rapid rate. And it takes 500 years to restore just 1 inch of lost rich topsoil!! I also believe in supporting our local economy. We have plenty of land and unemployment to grow and eat all our food. Why would we want avocados from Mexico when we have the Best avocados in Southern California. Also it is important that we create a beautiful world for our future generations to enjoy!

4) What do you consider the best things to do in Los Angeles?
Going to any Farmers Market and buying fresh what I need for the days meal! I love engaging in conversations with the farmers. Each of the farms’ produce variety can change a bit each week, so its good to ask them questions. I lived in Paris a few years ago and found it amazing how the Parisians shopped daily for their produce and each home only has a small fridge (and usually no freezer). I didn’t want to lose this lifestyle. And well if you can’t make it to the farmers market, that’s where my company Farm Box LA comes in.

I also enjoy going for a bike ride on Malibu Road and swimming at the small public beaches on the road and then lunching at Malibu seafood (which is only a short bike ride away).

Waking up and attending Tej’s, 9am Kundalini Yoga class at Golden Bridge.

Walking my dogs at Griffith Park.

Vegan Cooking classes with the Spork Sisters & Zuddha girls.

Lastly, starting my day Planting and harvesting fruits and vegetables in my backyard. We are so lucky in Southern California to have great weather and can grow produce all year long. A small garden on a balcony or backyard will provide you with not only delicious treats but a great education!

Check out the website article which includes pictures too: http://mylalifestyle.com/2011/10/let-food-be-thy-medicine-and-let-thy.html

Wall Street Journal

Short quote: “Farm Box offered more bonuses than any of the other services”

In deep winter, the greatest challenge for a committed locavore may not be coming up with yet another way to eat root vegetables, but the icy slog to the farmers market. Luckily, there are a number of services that deliver organically and locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables.

With community-supported agriculture programs (CSAs) and farmers markets rising in popularity, farm-to-kitchen-table eating has never been easier. As of last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recorded more than 6,100 farmers’ markets across the country, up from 1,755 when it first began tracking the markets in 1994.

We tested companies in four cities to check out their promises of “local” and “organic” produce. With each service, we chose the standard size order, which amounts to a week’s worth of fruits and vegetables for a two-person household; and we specified the “seasonal” or “local” box when available.

In Los Angeles, we signed up for Farm Box LA, requesting the produce be left on the porch in case we weren’t home. Farm Box bills weekly through PayPal, but you can ask to pay with cash or check. We emailed to ask if we could use American Express instead and owner Reisha Fryzer emailed back to confirm and called to set up our account.

After the first delivery, customers are encouraged to put a $50 deposit on two reusable containers that get swapped out with each delivery. Ms. Fryzer said that since she was making extra deliveries the next day, she would drop off our produce in paper bags.

The fruits and vegetables arrived for the most part in top condition. A trio of sweet, funny-shaped kiwis, two large Asian pears, multicolored fingerling potatoes and a kohlrabi—common in Kashmir but sometimes difficult to find in L.A.—were part of the mix. However, the lettuce had to be thrown out after wilting in the sun between its morning delivery and the time we came home that evening.

There was no information about where the produce came from in the bag, though on the Farm Box blog Ms. Fryzer lists the farms she buys from each week at farmers’ markets in Hollywood. She said the yet-blank “Farms” section of the website will soon include photos and information about the farms. The website includes recipes and news about different produce. Farm Box offered more bonuses than any of the other services: They will take any unused produce to a local food bank or farm to use as compost; or they’ll jam or pickle it for you for $10 a jar.

In New York, we ordered from Urban Organic, a Brooklyn organic-produce delivery service, that says on its website says, “We try to give our local farmers as much of our business as possible.” But the standard box included items like bananas and citrus, which clearly didn’t come from anywhere nearby, and beets from California. Owner Charles Pigott said our delivery arrived during a week of heavy snow, which resulted in substitutions for local items. Usually Urban Organic buys from farms like Lady Moon in Pennsylvania for its leafy greens; kale that week came from Joe Heger Farms in California, Mr. Pigott said.

For delivery, we gave instructions to get the employees at the shop next door to unlock the entryway of our walk-up. Another option: Some customers mail in an entryway key. Delivered in a cardboard box, the soft greens (lettuce, spinach) appeared a bit frost-bitten from the cold, but the hardier stuff (oranges, apples) looked market-ready. Tucked into the box was a newsletter with a list of the week’s produce, news and recipes.

With the $25 membership fee and varied delivery charges ($1.99 for Brooklyn and Manhattan, but up to $4.99 elsewhere), Urban Organic isn’t the service to try if you aren’t a regular produce eater. There’s a $1 charge for substitutions. But referrals are rewarded with a complimentary box.

In Chicago, we ordered a box of mixed fruits and vegetables from Irv & Shelly’s Fresh Picks and via the website, included a $4 tip for the delivery person. The produce arrived in a Styrofoam cooler, inside a larger plastic bin with an ice pack to keep the produce cold. Irv & Shelly’s promise organic produce and local produce in the months when that’s possible, and the box—heavy on root vegetables—reflected that. Most of the produce came from Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. The collard greens were from California, and the bananas from Colombia. A printout in the box listed the items in it, and another had preparation tips, plus a list of participating local farms. Owner Shelly Herman said the company works with more than 100 local farmers, and uses an organic broker for produce outside the region. She said they offer bananas from South or Central America and avocados year-round, in hopes that customers won’t make an extra trip to the grocery store for them and use more gas.

Again, there was a tricky apartment situation: The building’s entryway door was locked and the driver hid the box in a gangway on the side of our building, leaving us a voicemail. The tips of the collard greens were slightly frozen after sitting outside in the cold.

Our Seattle delivery from New Roots Organics arrived in a large storage bin lined with food-grade cardboard. All the produce was loose, except for a bunch of carrots and a plastic pint container of mini peppers. Spinach and chard came bundled but un-bagged. Pears weren’t quite ripe, which was nice as we could eat them later in the week after finishing the other fruit.

Prices rose by $4.50 a box, effective this week, but we found the volume of food still reasonable for the price. (We paid $35 for a box now priced at $39.50). Consumers can set preferences (i.e. ask the service to never deliver certain produce items) and also swap out up to five items per order.

A flier in the box listed contents and weight, which helped us spot a glitch: We were supposed to receive four Pink Lady apples, but got Gala instead. We considered this a minor problem, however.

Though New Roots stresses local and organic sources of food, the literature in the box didn’t indicate where the fruits and vegetables actually originated. The site says produce comes from California, Oregon, Washington, and sometimes, Mexico. It also offers a link to four provider farms in Washington state explaining what those farms grow. New Roots says it sources through one wholesaler in Washington state and one in Oregon, which buy from networks of local farms, through farm cooperatives and direct from the grower.

Owner Carolyn Boyle says in winter it’s difficult to pinpoint for customers the exact origin of produce, since some farm partners and distributors operate multiple orchards, but in summer, New Roots tries to be more specific about origin. In the future, she says, her service may also offer organic honey and eggs.

—Lori Barrett, Jane Hodges and Priyanka Mattoo contributed to this article

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