Dear Customer,

I must first make a huge apology to anyone who has experienced delivery problems over the last two weeks. One of our delivery drivers had to leave suddenly for personal reasons, another injured himself and can't work and another is on holiday. There has been disruption to the packing too as our warehouse manager has been out trying to cover some of the deliveries. We have recruited new drivers who are learning the rounds and I hope things will get back to normal imminently. I am very sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused and thank you for bearing with us.

It is feeling very autumnal now with the colours of the trees changing and the blustery tail-ends of the hurricanes coming across the Atlantic. The produce is also on the summer /autumn cusp with the sweetcorn, squashes, main crop potatoes and the first of the root vegetables. We have red cabbages in the bags this week. Why not try a coleslaw with it or you could try the Baked Red Cabbage recipe if the weather doesn't improve.

Baked Red Cabbage with Apples

1 small head red cabbage
2 cooking or tart apples
2 tbls sugar
4 tbls red wine
¾ tbls flour
handful of deseeded grapes
1 small onion, chopped
¾ tsp salt
¾ tbls butter
small amount vinegar

Pare and slice the apples. Shred the cabbage, cook covered in small amount of boiling salted water for 8-10 minutes. Add small amount of vinegar to preserve the colour. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the liquid. Place layer of cabbage in buttered baking dish. Combine grapes, apples, onion, sugar and salt. Arrange in alternate layers making the top layer cabbage. Add cabbage liquid and wine. Dot with butter. Cover and bake at 375 farenheit for 1 hour. Shake flour over the top, mix lightly with fork and bake for a further 15 minutes.

Let's hope for an Indian summer and that we don't have to batten down the hatches quite yet.

Kind Regards

Isobel Davies