Branch to Box Review 2020
Branch to Box
The stay-at-home mandate has made eating right an even bigger challenge than it was before. All of the canned goods and flours that keep for so long are sometimes not the most nutritious. In an effort to stay healthy, food delivery services have been one of the few types of businesses that have had an upswing in business since the pandemic. With a little extra stay-at-home time on my hands, I decided to try a new delivery service that had caught my eye recently: family-owned Branch to Box.
Fresh Fruit Home Delivery
Branch to Box is a delivery service located in the Central Valley of Northern California, less than 75 miles due east of the Bay Area. Founded by a family with 5 generations of Northern California farmers, the CSA sends fresh fruit and healthy snacks to offices in states across the US. Since quarantine, the company decided to expand its distributions to home delivery. Branch to Box picks every piece of fruit by hand from their Mediterranean Central Valley Orchards.
The fruit makes its way from the orchard straight into their delivery boxes, and they also incorporate produce from other local partner farms as to ensure their weekly boxes include the best the season has to offer.
In every box, expect apples, pears, and citrus along with some trail mix, cashews or almonds. Bananas are added in the larger boxes, and stone fruit is included during the summer and fall months.
THE WEBSITE EXPERIENCE
You can learn more about Branch to Box, their family lineage of farmers, and the local employees that all have a hand in curating their produce boxes. On the home page watch a 2-minute video that will explain it all - and then get to building your box!
GETTING STARTED
Choose from the following sizes. Of course, depending on how much fruit you and your family consume, you may want to scale even larger than the recommended box!
SMALL: 3-6 people ($30)
MEDIUM: 7-12 people ($39)
BIG: 16-20 people ($69)
JUMBO: 21-35 people ($110)
Frequency:
Choose from a FREE delivery weekly, every other week, or every 4 weeks. Or, if you are not yet ready to commit, Branch to Box gives the option of ordering without a regular subscription.
Pick the day of the week you’d like your box to be delivered to you (Mon-Fri in Northern California and Tues-Fri in select states nationwide)!
CUSTOMIZATION
In my opinion, an important part of produce delivery is box customization because if you and your family do not eat certain produce, what is the point of having it sent and then letting it go to waste? With Branch to Box they understand and accommodate accordingly. Just email them and let them know what you want to swap!
You can choose to receive fruit only, or fruit plus snacks (trail mix, nuts, etc).
DELIVERY
Branch to Box delivers their snacks NATIONWIDE. Their produce boxes ship to businesses and homes Monday through Friday in Northern California, so this includes the Bay Area and across the Central Valley. They also ship to Southern CA, Nevada, parts of Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Delaware, and New York on limited delivery days (talk about a great gift for distant friends or family).
UNBOXING
The presentation of the “Branch to” box was very cute. The fruit map is a great visual so you can navigate the contents of your delivery box. The fruit was as premium as it gets. They weren’t lying in their company video when they said the best fruit is hand selected. The flavors are bold and strong, and I always enjoy comparing taste profiles between the varieties: the citruses, the two types of apples, and the two types of pears.
23 pieces:
7 - mandarins
4 - hayward kiwis
2 - green d’anjou pears
2 - red d’anjou pears
2 - granny smith apples
1 - jazz apple
4 - oranges
1 - hass avocado
PREPARING THE FOOD
A great thing about a fresh fruit delivery box is you really do not need to do any preparation. Fresh fruit is AMAZING when eaten raw. The most work that needs to be done is a quick rinse and a potential peel. Then let your salivary glands dictate the rest as you consume the hydrating goodness found in every bite.
These mandarins were some to write home about! Their complexity and depth of flavor are unlike any I’ve found at a conventional grocery store. The kiwis went straight into the fridge as did the oranges.
I left the rest of the produce out for a few days sitting on my kitchen table as I decided how to prepare the apples and pears. Here’s how it went.
MEALS
I love warming up my fruit: apples, pears, bananas, stone fruit, you name it, something about letting the fibers break down and the fruit soften and warm up is comforting to my insides. It also seems to help with digestion. So I prepared my apples and pears with this in mind.
Meal #1
Poached Pears
Poached Pears: This dish could not be simpler to make and it will become a star of your breakfast meal. Skin your pear (a little or a lot), slice it in half, and remove the core. Take a pot and fill it with 1-3 cups of water, depending on the width of your pot (you want the pear halves to pretty much be submerged in liquid). Add 1-2 tsp of honey and a few sprinkles of cinnamon. Stir and boil ‘er up. Lower to a simmer, place your pears in the liquid, and simmer 20 minutes or until pear is easily pricked with a fork.
I served mine with some homemade granola (oats, nuts, seeds, coconut oil, cinnamon, and honey). While I’m still perfecting my granola cluster technique, the crunch, taste and aromatics of homemade granola is so fulfilling and comforting in the morning. Each member of the family can dress this dish up with a yogurt or milk of their choosing. Patrick used a coconut based peach yogurt and loved it.
Meal #2
Apple Galette
This Apple Galette used an oat flour crust made with grass fed butter, honey, and cinnamon. The apples were washed and sliced quite thin before the entire pastry was baked in the oven. Simple yet satisfying, and with a few healthier ingredient substitutions, I didn’t feel bad about eating it at all!
RECAP
Branch to Box is a sure way to have delicious, fresh, and local fruit delivered straight to your door on a regular basis. The customer service is top notch and readily available to answer all of your customization and shipping needs. Simple yet reliable, the contents of this produce box are sure to please all members of the family no matter their fruit preferences. The quality of the fruit was second to none. Upon opening the box don’t forget to check out the handy chart that will take you through each item in the box - get a little education while you eat!
This is a great service if you like the fruits they offer and want to know you will always have a perfect, nutritious piece to reach for. The snacks and seasonal variation is a welcome surprise, but if you are expecting some veggies you probably should look elsewhere. If you want ready to eat snacks for a reasonable price Branch to Box is a great value.
