Pictured above: Hanson Lettuce - heirloom - Bradford Farm
We love spring here on Bradford farm! A lot of great produce becomes available. The mob ties blueberry is no exception, “it has such a bold blueberry flavor, the best blueberry I’ve had in a long while.” Words out of one of our chefs last week! We call them mob ties because you gotta have connections to get these berries, we know who the grower is now but cannot disclose his name! He’s on an island off the coast which has great soil for prosperous and superior tasting blueberries!
Now we’re finally into our short heirloom Hanson Lettuce season, originating from the 1800s it stays true to its roots. No grassy flavor prone to lettuce varieties, crisp leaves and amazing flavor! The great great grandfather to the common iceberg lettuce. We’ve also brought our Bradford farm sweet corn, sweeter than sweet, and juicy as ever! We’re excited to announce that we carry heirloom tomatoes as well! Seems like Florida has bounced back, and we are very excited to see what they start pumping out as the weeks go by. These heirloom tomatoes are just in time for hot weather trend!
Update Monday 2pm - Green strawberries form hickory bluff are back! Baby leeks from wild hope and Thorn garlic scapes from our farm are available now too.
SPECIAL REQUEST: We kindly urge you to consider adding at least one of our own Bradford Farm grown crops to your weekly orders. We are working with quite a number of other farms to bring you the best access to regional flavor that we possibly can, but the heartbeat of our farm is our homegrown crops. We can’t exist without moving our own crops too. So please review the crops we offer under Bradford Farm Crops below and consider adding one or more of them. It helps us a ton.
Important Info
- Last week for escarole from Fry Farm
- NEW! Hanson lettuce, heirloom - Bradford Farm
- NEW! Blueberries, “mob ties”
- Blueberries standing order live
- NEW! Cantaloupe, Athena
- NEW! Tomatoes, Heirloom
- NEW! Watermelon, red seedless
- NEW! Baby leeks - Wild Hope Farm
- NEW! Garlic scapes, Thorn - Bradford Farm, Scott Thorn
⚠️ **Highlights of the week**⚠️
NEW! “Mob ties” Blueberries - we’re not allowed to disclose farmer’s name.
Every now and then, something comes through that resets the standard. Last spring, it was these blueberries. They hit the shelf and didn’t last — chefs tried them once and that was it. Orders stacked, phones rang, and everything else paused for a minute.
The story starts with a friend of ours in produce — someone who works closely with growers and doesn’t throw around praise lightly. She brought these in and said, “You need to try these — they’re the best.” We were skeptical. Then we tasted them.
That was enough.
Sweet, but not just sweet. Crisp, but not firm for the sake of it. The flavor is concentrated — a true blueberry flavor that actually lingers. Not watery, not soft, not one-dimensional. Just clean, intense, and complete.
She wouldn’t tell us where they came from at first. Didn’t want to risk losing the connection. Fair enough. After some time, we got a location — an island in SC. And eventually, after the season ended, we got the farmer.
We won’t be sharing his name publicly. Just know this: he’s been doing this a long time, he knows exactly what he’s doing, and every berry is picked by hand. We’ll also be bringing in his heirloom tomatoes later in the season.
Here’s why knowing they’re grown on an island is important-
The island sits along the South Carolina coast, where sandy, mineral-rich soils meet salt air and steady coastal humidity. The ground drains quickly but holds just enough organic matter to support slow, even ripening.
That environment does something specific to blueberries:
- Builds higher sugar concentration without flattening the flavor
- Preserves acidity and structure
- Produces a firm skin with a crisp bite
- Intensifies the natural aromatics of the fruit
The result is a berry that tastes like it grew where it did. Its not generic or interchangeable, when you try to substitute these with other blueberries, you notice a clear difference.
For the Kitchen
- Raw: Serve as-is — they don’t need anything
- Desserts: Hold their shape and flavor in tarts, shortcakes, and cream applications
- Macerated: Release juice without collapsing
- Savory: Work with game, duck, pork, and fresh cheeses
- Sauces: Reduce cleanly into something that still tastes like the fruit
These are the kind of berries you don’t gotta overwork. You let them do the carrying.
The Reality
We call them “Mob Ties Blueberries” for a reason.
If you’ve got them, it means you’re connected.
We’re launching standing orders for these blueberries now too. Message us if you’re interested!
Just like the asparagus, our blueberry farmer has a limited supply for us. To help our farmer have consistent and reliable sales during this short season, and to help us to ensure we can fulfill orders to our valued chef partners, we are doing standing orders and à la carte with our blueberries.
Standing order pricing:
12 pint case $74
6 pint case $39
À la carte pricing:
12 pint case $79
6 pint case $43
If our supply runs low, our first commitment will be to our standing orders, and secondly to à la carte orders. Hopefully we will won’t have that problem and everyone will get all the BEST blueberries they want!
NEW! Hanson lettuce, heirloom - Bradford Farm
We’re bringing back the Hanson lettuce this week — an heirloom with real history and a direct link to the lettuce most kitchens know today. Developed by the Hanson family in Maryland in the mid-1800s, it’s considered the progenitor of modern iceberg, but it carries far more character. Colonel George Hanson released the seed in 1870 through the Henry Dreer Seed Company, where it gained national attention for its size, texture, and eating quality.
Hanson described it best himself:
“the leaves are exceedingly crisp and tender… seem to break like pipe stems… entirely free from that peculiar grassy taste found in some varieties.”
This is a lettuce that sits between worlds — looser than iceberg, more structured than leaf lettuce. The outer leaves are bright green and open, while the interior builds toward a pale, tender heart. When you cut into it, there’s a clean snap — crisp, hydrated, and sweet without bitterness.
What You’ll Notice
Because this is an old variety, it hasn’t been bred for uniformity the way modern lettuces have. You’ll see variation:
- Some heads come in loose and open
- Others form a tight, defined head closer to the original selection
- All carry the same crisp texture and clean flavor
We’ve begun the process of reselecting Hanson back toward its original form — choosing seed from the best heads each season, working slowly over time to restore its intended structure. That’s a long process, but in the meantime, what you’re getting is a living heirloom — expressive, variable, and full of character.
Flavor & Texture
- Clean, sweet lettuce flavor — no grassy notes
- Crisp, hydrated leaves with a firm snap
- Tender inner heart with more structure than typical leaf lettuce
For the Kitchen
- Salads: Built for simple vinaigrettes — lets texture and freshness lead
- Wedges or halves: Treat like a lighter iceberg with more flavor
- Layered greens: Combine outer and inner leaves for contrast
- Cold applications: Holds up well under dressing without collapsing
- Classic presentations: A refined take on traditional lettuce service
Hanson lettuce is a reminder of what lettuce used to be — grown for eating, not shipping. It’s not perfectly uniform, and that’s the point. It’s crisp, sweet, and alive in a way modern varieties often aren’t.
A piece of agricultural history, still evolving in the field.
Key:
** - limited availability
*OUT- currently out of stock
*OFS- out for season
NEW- recent addition
(SlowFood AOT)- appears on the SlowFood Ark of Taste for its exceptional qualities, flavor, story, and historical significance and/or usage.
✅ Bradford Farm Crops: ✅
-Bradford collards bagged/chopped (NEW spring crop)
-Bradford collards whole plant (NEW spring crop)
-NEW! Lettuce, Hanson - heirloom
-NEW! Garlic scapes, Thorn
-Winter Charleston Wakefield cabbage (SlowFood AOT) *OUT (returns ~2 weeks)
-Hybrid green cabbage
-Purple cabbage
-Shredded hybrid cabbage
-Shredded purple cabbage
🤝 Partner Farms: 🤝
-NEW! Escarole - Fry Farm
-NEW! Blueberries - Mob ties
-NEW! Baby leeks - Wild Hope Farm
-NEW! Watermelon
——red seedless
-NEW! Tomatoes, heirloom
-Green garlic - Wild Hope Farm
-Farm eggs, organic - Wild Hope
-Monetta Heritage Asparagus - Monetta Asparagus Farm
-Strawberries - Dorr Farms & Hickory Bluff Berry Farm
-NEW! Cantaloupe
-New potatoes
——Red (sizes: A, B, C)
——White (A, B, C)
——Red & white mix (A, B, C)
-Purple Top Turnips (heirloom, SlowFood AOT)
-Stampede Sunchokes - Clem’s Organic Gardens
-Broccoli - Southeast (SC, GA, FL)
-Watermelon radishes - Clem’s
-Pecans (fresh, shelled, halved) - Johnny McNair
-Jalapeños - FL
-Zucchini
-Yellow Squash
-Italian purple eggplant
-Green Bell peppers
-Red Bell peppers
-Banana peppers
-Grape tomatoes
-Red round tomatoes
-Roma tomatoes
-Tomatillos
-Pee Dee sweet potatoes - Dixon Farms
-Beets, Golden
-Beets, Red
Coming soon:
- May: Santee Sweet Onions (Dorr)
- Heirloom cherry tomatoes
- Sweet corn
- Rhubarb - early-mid May
- Spring onions, Italian torpedo (red)
MORE COMING SOON
….let us know if there is something else you are interested in that isn’t on our list