Thinking outside the box

Add to this, we are bombarded with headlines about the impending obesity 'epidemic' and bossy instructions about what we can and can not eat. Quite frankly, it's enough to make you want to crawl into a hole clutching a bottle of Pinot Grigio and a month's supply of chocolate.

But before you do, a service in Dorset provides the answer for those of us facing this dilemma and - unlike many of the services that promise to make our lives easier - this one will deliver, literally.

Riverford Organic Vegetables distributes more than 30,000 boxes of organic veg a week throughout the South and West. In Dorset, boxes are delivered to around 2,000 doorsteps a week. Christine Millar and her husband Steve, who live in Corfe Castle, are the local distributors for DT' postcodes.

Christine explained: "We pick up all the boxes from Holton Heath; they come up on a big lorry overnight and we distribute them from there, that happens on a daily basis. We deliver from Tuesday to Saturday. Sometimes, things have been picked the day before, so they're as fresh as they can possibly be."

Riverford Farm is situated along the Dart Valley in Devon and is owned by Guy Watson who started organic vegetable production in 1987. Guy began by delivering his vegetables to local shops, including his brother's farm shops in Devon. The vegetable box business started up in 1993; all the vegetables are still packed at Riverford Farm. A co-operative, which consists of 13 family run farms in South Devon, are able, by planning the cropping together, to grow 85 different varieties of vegetables to keep the boxes interesting and varied all year.

"It goes through the seasons," said Christine, "we've got more autumnal things now like cauliflower, cabbage and the squash, which have been going for a while now."

Amongst the squash are, of course, pumpkins in time for Hallowe'en.

"We have got quite a range of pumpkins and squash," said Christine. "We actually do what they call a squash box which is a minimum of six kg in weight and costs £7 to buy. It's been going for a few weeks and will go for the next month or so.

"The wonderful thing is that they keep; they do not need to be kept at a certain temperature like some vegetables. They sit in the kitchen - they like the warmth - and they keep for months. They look so great, they come in lots of different colours and shapes and they are delicious."

So what can you do with pumpkins and squash, aside from carving them with scary faces? "I've seen a recipe recently of a pumpkin carved out with a cheese fondue in the middle," said Christine. "It looked so good. Pumpkin is also very popular in risotto in Italy.

"Then you can make soup, or have it as a mash like mashed swede. We used to be Riverford customers before we started the franchise and the produce is the best thing I've had in my kitchen."

As for the much-debated difference between squash and pumpkins, it seems to be more a question of cuisine than botany. Squash have a finer texture and milder flavour, while the coarser pumpkin has a stronger flavour, and is generally orange in colour.

The bright orange colour gives us another good reason to eat pumpkins, as they are loaded with beta-carotene, one of the plant carotenoids converted to vitamin A in the body. It is also an important antioxidant. Current research indicates that eating foods rich in beta-carotene may reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer and offers protection against heart disease and other diseases, as well as some degenerative aspects of ageing.

20,000 of the classic' orange pumpkins - the sugar pumpkin - will be harvested at the farm this year, although the exotic-sounding Ghostrider, Atlantic Giant and Sumo will also be available.

"We have got a squash called Crown Prince, which is bluey grey and particularly heavy," said Christine. "Then there's the Kabacha, a roundish one, which is very, very sweet; children like them if they're all mashed up."

As for her favourite, Christine exclaimed: "The butternut squash is gorgeous. It's golden, sweet, gorgeous comfort food. We slice it in half lengthways - it's important to handle them carefully because the skins are quite tough - scoop out all the seeds, then brush the insides with some oil and bake it from an hour to an hour and a half until it's quite soft. Then I take a meat curry, or a prawn curry or some vegetarian mix, add it on to the squash and put it back in the oven for a while."

Christine added: "We've started distributing organic meat boxes in the same way as the vegetables."

As for other changes, she said: "Guy is now setting up a series of network farms in the UK to cut down the miles and to make it local."

While it might seem that having a box of organic vegetables delivered to your doorstep is something of a self-indulgent lifestyle option, Christine argues that the Riverford box is, in fact, extremely good value.

"When we were customers I used to get my box and cost it up to compare it with what I would have paid if I'd bought it in the supermarket," she said, "and the prices are competitive with conventional vegetables in the supermarket. But the freshness of Riverford produce is second to none and the prices include delivery to your door."

Visit www.riverford.co.uk to find out your nearest distributor or to order a box.