Bananas are an excellent source of nutrition and sustenance for the human body. Unfortunately a lot of people do not make an effort at ensuring they have a reasonable intake of bananas despite the fact that they are easily accessible, affordable and great tasting. In this single fruit, we have plenty of health benefits that are an excellent reason for everyone to go bananas anytime there is an opportunity to do so!

The first important benefit of going bananas is that they provide lots of energy. Eating two bananas before a workout will significantly improve your energy levels and help you achieve much more. This makes a banana rich diet excellent for sports people, children, individuals who engage in strenuous physical work and anyone else whose activity demands a high energy diet.

Iron and Potassium

Bananas are also known to contain lots of iron and potassium which are important for healthy blood, circulation and neural functioning. A regular intake of bananas will ensure that your body is sufficiently provided with these two critical minerals that reduce the risk of strokes and blood pressure problems.

The banana fruit is also a natural relief for ulcers. Those who have ulcers can greatly benefit from the intake of a banana especially soon after having consumed foods that may leave acidity in the stomach.

Hangover Cure

If you do not care for the amazing health benefits, it is very likely that you are high on something. In that case you need to know that bananas can be an excellent morning after remedy for anyone who is inebriated enough not to care about their health. You can either take the bananas whole or you could blend them with yogurt if the headache is too strong for you to chew anything!

As you can see, going bananas is good for everyone. It has plenty of benefits for everyone regardless of age, gender, activity level or state of soberness!

Just as they lead double lives, growing as fruits and often dying as vegetable, tomatoes have double benefits for our bodies. A regular intake of tomatoes will deliver important benefits for your skin as well as your internal body system. These benefits come from the many nutrients and minerals contained in a tomato. A regular intake of tomatoes will deliver Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, E and K. It will also provide your body with potassium, magnesium, manganese, iron, carotenes, lycopene and fibre.

These important nutrients and minerals aid the body by ensuring you have a well nourished and healthy skin while also feeding and cleansing the internal body system. Skin problems such as acne, rashes, sunburn and dull complexions can be resolved through a steady tomato diet. Tomatoes have also been shown to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. They are also especially good at preventing DNA damage, providing protection against thrombosis and reducing the severity of inflammation.

There are many other ways in which a tomato leads a double life. The fact that it is equally good whether eaten cooked or raw goes on to show that the tomato is a real two timer. An important point to always remember when buying your veggies and fruits is to go for organic products. They guarantee you maximum health benefits with zero side effects!

Apples & Then Some

Apples. The vanilla fruit, the lunchbox filler, the breakfast alternative. Whether you’re on the move, sat at home or just plain hungry, apples are a cost effective and hugely beneficial fruit that keep on giving. Loaded with vitamin C and available in huge varieties, apples are enjoyed by millions around the globe in juices, fruit salads, smoothies, dinners and alcohol.

So how do apples make me a better person?

I’ve eaten fruit my whole life. I’ve never rejected fruit and veg, nor have I passed on for something “tastier”. For me, apples are the perfect shape and size for nurturing in the morning, grazing in the afternoon and finely slicing in the evening. The multi-purpose apple gives me time to appreciate the hidden complexity within it’s pip-filled core, but mainly I admire how something can tick so many boxes. I have applied these simple rules to other aspects of my life, including business, my relationships with family and friends, all the while feeding my desire to create.

Whether you’re a believer in devine intervention or an evolutionary fan-boy, one cannot deny the sheer brilliance of apples and their effective simplicity. Apples have made me a better person – have they left a mark on you?

It’s always tempting to pick up a pre-packaged fruit salad from your local supermarket, but the price is often too steep to justify one of your five-a-day.

Why not try making your own packed-lunch-sized fruit salad? They are incredibly easy to prepare, all it takes is a selection of fruit and a chopping board!

The Classic Fruit Salad

1 x Kiwi Fruit
1x Banana
3 x Strawberry
10 x Grape
1 x Peach
1 x Apple

If you struggle to pick up the more exotic fruits, try our super-easy student fruit salad:

The Student Fruit Salad

1 x Tin of Peaches
1 x Apple
1 x Banana

The combination of textures make a fruit salad memorable, as long as you combine soft fruit with hard you’ll be in for a treat!

Colour can make a big difference too. The greens from a kiwi fruit or hand full of grapes give a fresh, natural colour to a predominantly soft, yellow & orange palette.

For more information about fresh fruit salads, get in touch with FN Foods today and receive a box of fresh fruit at your door.

Butternut Squash

Arguably the most popular member of the winter squash family, Butternut is enjoyed for it’s sweet, nutty and rich flavour. Perfect in soups on a cold afternoon, butternut squash is a must-have vegetable throughout the winter months.  Soup recipes are often easy so there’s no excuse to leave this winter warmer off your shopping list!

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Definitely at it’s best towards the end of winter (February), purple sprouting broccoli is often enjoyed standalone. Add some butter and enjoy this warm winter favourite, or eat on the side of a family meat pie. Not only will you feel great, but the purple sprouting broccoli gives the dining plate a unique deep colour.

Potatoes

Let’s face it, we all love potatoes in some shape or form. Whether it’s fried, mashed, boiled or baked, potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C and B6, ideal to keep our immune systems up to scratch in the cold winter months.

If you would like to find out more about winter warming vegetables or would like them delivered to your door, get in touch with our friendly team at FN Foods.

Our home grown British quinces are in season between October and December, so make use of them in short window you have. Instead of giving you one recipe to work with this month, we’re actually going to do the quince the justice it deserves by discussing a number of different uses, ways of cooking and ways of pairing with other ingredients.

When roasted, the flavours of the quince intensify, and if you poach them first, the flesh becomes even more melt in the mouth. You can roast them in the same way as apples, coating them with something sweet and sticky like honey or maple syrup, and using fragrant spices like cloves and cinnamon. You could eat quinces roasted in this way as a desert with ice cream, but you could also serve them with a meat like gammon – salty gammon and sticky sweet quinces is a match made in heaven.

As said earlier, quinces are great for jellies and preserves because of their high pectin content. You can pickle them just like you would an onion, paired beautifully with Sunday roasts. If you make a paste out of the quince, you could serve it with cheese – layer a slice of quince paste on a slice of cheese such as Manchego to create a delicious nibble or desert. If made into a jam, you can turn it into a quick sauce for lamb by cooking cubed quince with the jam, port and red wine vinegar for a rich, slightly acidic and sweet sauce that goes well with the richness of lamb.

We hope this has gotten your taste buds ready for a delicious Christmas ahead, it certainly has ours!

To make your holiday time as convenient as possible, why not check out our fruit and vegetable delivery in Swindon and beyond, and have the freshest ingredients delivered right to your door!

Our vans are a common sight, particularly if you’re based in Swindon – did you know we have a competition for spotting our vans? Photograph each of our 6 vans to win a prize!

We would never have been able to make it to where we are now without a passion for food – why not check out the food recipes we publish on our blog for inspiration on how to use those seasonal fruits and vegetables in a delicious and creative way?

We’re proud of providing the best possible quality of service to our customers. This is why we’ve made an effort to achieve three accreditation’s:

1. Red Tractor
2. LEAF
3. BRC Global Standard

These accreditation’s have been awarded to us based upon our efforts to employ the highest standards of agricultural practice, to demonstrate traceability for all of our products and to show we conform to all of the best practices in the industry.

Did you know we did much more than ‘just’ fruit and vegetables? We can deliver cheese, milk, ambient, herbs… and that’s just a small selection – think of us as your mobile greengrocers, supplying only the very best food to Swindon and beyond. So get in touch with us today to discuss fresh fruit and vegetable delivery in your area.

This dish is fresh, with zesty lime juice and lime leaves complementing the juicy mussels and spicy chillies. Try use birds eye chillies for this dish for an authentic Thai heat, but you can use whatever chillies are available.

Thai-style Pan-Steamed Mussels

Serves Between 4-6

1kg mussels

2 stalks of lemon grass

4 kaffir lime leaves that have been roughly torn

4 chopped shallots

2 sliced chillies (use less and remove the seeds for a milder dish)

1 tablespoons thai fish sauce

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 spring onions, chopped

coriander leaves (as a garnish)

1. Prepare the mussels by scrubbing them and removing the ‘beards’, and discard any which are damaged or do not close when tapped. Place your mussels into a large saucepan.
2. Finely chop the lemon grass and add to the pan with the shallots, chillies, lime leaves fish sauce and lime juice.
3. Cover the pan and steam over a medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan until the mussels open (discard any that haven’t opened).
4. Place the mussels on a serving dish with the liquid in the pan, garnish with coriander and spring onions and either serve by themselves or with rice.

Broad Beans are a luxury at this time of year that more people need to take advantage of – but be sure to be quick about it, as the season for fresh broad beans ends mid-September. And the key word here is “fresh” – by that we mean truly fresh, not ‘picked two weeks ago and kept frozen for half of that time’.

If you can’t get your hands on really fresh examples (if not, why not! Take a look at our fresh vegetable delivery), then frozen will be better – as it is with peas. Frozen peas and broad beans are frozen immediately after picking but pre-packaged varieties found in supermarkets are often kept wrapped in their plastic container long enough to lose their natural sugars that make them such a delight.

Broad beans, again like peas, are delicious in a creamy sauce with salty bacon, and this recipe uses this partnership to its fullest.

Farfalle with a Creamy Broad Bean & Bacon Sauce

Serves between 4-6

500g of farfalle

300g of really fresh (or frozen) broad beans

2 tablespoons of olive oil

4 rashers of streaky bacon, diced

2 leeks, finely sliced

300ml carton of double cream (single will do if you’re watching those calories!)

1 lemon, rind grated

1. Cook the broad beans in a pan of boiling water, covered, for 3-5 minutes. Drain and place into cold water and when cool enough to handle, remove the beans from the pod (if present) and remove the skin surrounding each bean by making a small cut (your finger nail will do!)
2. Cook the farfalle according to the pack instructions (take away 1-2 minutes for al dente)
3. Fry the leeks and bacon in a frying pan with the oil over a medium heat for around 8 minutes
4. Add the cream and lemon rind to the pan, and after two minutes, add the broad beans to heat through
5. Mix the sauce together with the farfalle and serve with the obligatory grated parmesan

Enjoy! This is a fantastic way of introducing some vegetables into your children’s life, just go easy with those creamy sauces.

While Figs begin coming in during July, they are at their sweet and fragrant best in August. The figs we get here in the UK don’t tend to be as sweet as those found growing in warmer climes on the continent, which is why cooking is often the perfect treatment for them.

When roasted, the sugars in the fig caramelise producing a sweet, sticky treat that can work as a desert, or a perfect accompaniment to rich meats or cheese. The recipe we give here includes balsamic vinegar, giving the figs a savoury note that is great with roasted duck breasts or even pan-fried fillet steak.

Figs, Roasted with Thyme and Balsamic Vinegar

Serves 4

300 g (about 8) figs

4 sprigs of thyme

3-4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons of honey

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC (400ºC)
2. Slice each fig in half lengthways and finely chop the sprigs of thyme
3. Toss the figs in a bowl with the honey, thyme and balsamic vinegar
4. Place the figs in a single layer in a roasting tin (cut side facing down)
5. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes

Serve with a rich meat like duck or beef, or alternatively serve cooled down on a cheese board (delicious with tangy cheeses like goats cheese).

If this recipe whets your appetite, contact us for vegetable and fruit delivery!