Laurie Moore, along with husband Will, has been running Moore Farms and Friends since 2008. You could call their online market, www.moorefarmsandfriends.com, a buying club or a modified community-supported agriculture program.
The Moores offer products from local and regional certified naturally grown and certified organic food producers. Customers purchase a Farmers Pick box with contents chosen for them from the harvest from several farms, or they create a custom order choosing from the full list of what’s in season.
Having a variety of things to offer is important to keeping happy customers.
“Our growers in Alabama and Georgia can grow all year around but in the winter, the variety tends to be mostly roots and greens. It’s getting better as more farmers are getting into greenhouse and hoop house production, but there’s little organic fruit available at this time of year,” said Moore.
Connecting with Destiny Organics, a distributor of certified organic produce, gave them access to growers across the Southeast and a wider range of fresh produce items, including citrus.
“We have a pretty steady demand for oranges, grapefruit and tangerines,” Moore said. “It’s hard to find organic citrus at grocery stores and one of the nice things about organic citrus is that you can use the peel for baking and other things that you might be reticent to use conventional citrus for. For example, I like to make candied orange and grapefruit peel as presents for the holidays.”
The first oranges began arriving in November and they should be available through February. “The first ones are smaller. They’re good, but not amazing. By January we’re getting into Valencias and other oranges that are good for juicing. We’ll have five or six varieties over the course of the season,” she said.
The Moores like to juice oranges during the winter.
“It’s a great way to get our vitamin C dose. We make a vinaigrette with orange juice and Will is a big fan of adding sliced citrus to winter salads,” said Moore.
What they appreciate most though may be the chance to support producers from the Southeast.
“We think it’s really important to support those producers instead of bringing in fruit from the West Coast,” she said. “We’re so fortunate in this region to be able to have fresh organic citrus from nearby.”
FOR SALE AT LOCAL FARMERS MARKETS
Vegetables, fruit and nuts: arugula, Asian greens, beets, broccoli, broccoli leaves, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, collards, dandelion, endive, escarole, fennel, frisee, herbs, kale, leeks, lettuce, mustard greens, olives, radishes, spring onions, sweet potatoes, turmeric, turnips and winter squash
From local reports
Glazed Orange Poundcake
Hands on: 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes plus cooling time
Serves: 16
This cake will not release well from a fluted Bundt-type pan so use a tube pan with a flat bottom and smooth sides.
3 1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided, plus more for tube pan
1/4 cup water
2 organic oranges
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup fine cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease a 9 1/2-inch tube pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and grease again. Add a few tablespoons sugar and shake to distribute sugar over bottom and sides of pan. Discard excess sugar.
In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup sugar with water and bring to a boil. Remove the stem and blossom ends from one orange and cut remaining orange into 1/4-inch rounds. Put orange rounds in saucepan. Liquid will not cover the oranges, but as the oranges release juice, the liquid level will rise. Reduce heat so liquid is simmering and cook oranges one hour or until they turn translucent. Remove from heat. Lift out orange slices and drain them on a wire rack. Reserve cooking syrup.
Remove zest from second orange and set aside. Cut orange in half and juice both halves. Set juice aside.
While oranges are simmering, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the butter and remaining 3 cups sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Turn mixer off, add cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and half the reserved orange zest. Mix until just combined, about 30 seconds. Turn mixer off, add eggs and mix until just combined, about 30 seconds. Turn mixer off, add flour, buttermilk and 1/4 cup reserved orange juice. Mix until just combined. Remove bowl from mixer and stir to be sure batter is well combined.
Pour batter into prepared tube pan and bake 1 hour or until a skewer in center comes out clean. Remove pan to wire rack and allow to cool 15 minutes, then invert pan and remove cake. Peel off parchment paper and use another wire rack to turn cake right side up. Allow to sit until cool.
Brush cooled cake with reserved orange cooking syrup until all syrup has been used.
In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar with remaining orange zest and as much remaining orange juice as is needed to make glaze. Pour over cake. Cut reserved orange slices into quarters and use to garnish cake. Cake will keep at cool room temperature for up to 4 days.
Per serving: 469 calories (percent of calories from fat, 37), 6 grams protein, 70 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 20 grams fat (11 grams saturated), 128 milligrams cholesterol, 178 milligrams sodium.
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