About Time You Discovered: The Abel & Cole StoryBy Alicia Grimshaw
Delivery box services have almost tripled over the past couple of years. Seasonal, fresh and good quality produce are now only a click away, and giving supermarket deliveries a run for their money. Abel & Cole were the first delivery pioneers, providing farm-to-front-door home deliveries for the past 27 years, not only is the produce of the highest standard, it’s also all organic.
This week, we’ve teamed up with Abel & Cole to bring you #ACNourishWeek. Five days of discovering London’s best pork roasts to recipes and lots more – stay tuned for all the veggie and meat goodness. Without further adieu, here’s what you need to know about Abel & Cole:
Discover Abel & Cole: The History
Abel & Cole began over 27 years ago when Keith Abel lugged a big bag of organic spuds around south London after first learning about the benefits of organic. He realised the huge benefits of going organic and never looked back. In fact, Abel & Cole still get veg from the farm where Keith’s first organic spuds came from. Nowadays they deliver (in their happy yellow vans) not just fantastic seasonal organic fruit and veg boxes, but artisan bread, milk, meat, recipes boxes, meal kits and more, to thousands of good-food loving homes around England and Wales every week.
The philosophy of Abel & Cole is still the same as when Keith started. They’re firm believers that organic farming (a holistic system that encourages biodiversity) is the very best way to go. It protects not only the countryside, but the critters that inhabit it, too.
When Abel & Cole first started, deliveries only happened across South London, with a a couple of vans bringing seasonal goodies from farm to home. Today they deliver to homes across England and parts of south Wales each week.
Discover Abel & Cole: The Awards
Unlike many other veg box services, Abel & Cole have a mantlepiece full of awards and certificates for their amazing tasting food and exceptional levels of service. These include Great Taste Awards 2015 for their Blackcurrant Jam and sustainably caught Cod Fillets, and in 2014 for their Bloody Good Blood Orange Juice and their Organic Guernsey Milk.
Discover Abel & Cole: The Produce
They work directly with the best farmers, butchers, bakers and carrot stick makers in the land. Their farmers aren’t just farmers, but friendly faces they talk to every day (and they even make the Christmas card list). It means Abel & Cole get the pick of their crop, and they make sure that Farmer John receives a fair deal too. Out on the farms it’s all about ‘Grow slow’, and giving brilliant food time to bake, grow, mature and ripen for the best taste possible.
The producers are the best in their field and believe that good food doesn’t need lots of added stuff to it to make it safe, fresh and delicious. Like Keith with his beloved bag of organic spurs, they’re still pioneering today. For example, they’ve recently worked with their farmer friends to grow the first UK organic sweet potatoes, part of the plan to reduce food miles.
Not only do the bang out delicious, high quality fruit and veg, but they also care about the environment. They are all over sustainability, in farming and their packaging. Nothing is air-freighted. Ever.
Recently they’ve relaunched their iconic fruit and veg boxes to include 6 brand spanking new boxes that are tailored to suit the way people cook and eat. Abel & Cole are the only veg box company where customers can choose what they want in their weekly fruit and veg box – It’s all about picking the food you want to eat.
Want to know the best bit? They believe that food waste is rubbish, and send their leftovers to local charities or farms. That’s a fruit and veg win.
For more information, see their website.
