All About Fruit Boxes

Santa Clause. The tooth fairy. Candy store shopping sprees.

In this life, it seems there are a few joys that sadly don’t get to outlive our childhoods. (Unless you’re still really into candy. Then you might be familiar with that less-magical tooth fairy we call a dentist.)

Still, we adults have been smart enough to hang on to some enchanted moments in our wizened states – and few are more irresistible than ripping into a present.  

Whether you’re two or 92, seeing a package with your name on it is the ultimate invitation to enjoy a small bout of destructive behavior – with a surprise on the other side!

Getting yourself a fruit box is kinda the same thing. True, you’ll ultimately know what you’re getting—like that kid who found their parents’ secret present stash—but it’s still all the joy of opening your very own box, and on the inside, it’s the closest thing you can get to an adult-approved candy store.

Fruit Box 101

If fruit boxes are presents, consider them the gift of experience.

Like giving someone a ticket or trip as opposed to a thing bound to collect dust, a fruit box is an opportunity to do, see, taste, and smell, with the memory of the experience the ultimate keepsake.

So what, exactly, is a fruit box?  

You may see them come in many names: fruit box; fruit subscription box; exotic fruit box; fruit gift box.

Whatever they’re called, they come on a scheduled basis: typically every week, month or quarter. And many subscription services offer options to order different-sized deliveries, helping to ensure you never have too much—or too little—fruit on hand.

What’s inside can be much more varied. Being fruit—and fruit being best fresh, for the most part—the typical insides of a farm box delivery will most likely be seasonal. (After all, it might be kind of smelly to ship last summer’s squash.)

Of course, some services, like FruitStand, make it even more specific, offering specialty items such as – ahem – exotic or hard to find fruit. 

And many fruit gift boxes go further still, putting together a particular array of fruits or spices along with fruit care tips, recipe cards, and notes on the fruit’s history, climate and culture, to help that experience stretch even further—and turn into a learning opportunity.

Finding Your Roots  

So where does the produce in a fruit subscription box come from?

The answer will, of course, be as varied as the company.

Some businesses prefer to work with larger-scale farms, to help ensure consistency of product offerings and generally keep things on a tight delivery schedule.

Others take the micro-route, digging up farms and farmers who put all their care, time and attention into smaller crops of more specific—and, typically, harder to find—produce.

At FruitStand, we prefer Option B, partnering with smaller-scale farms and farmers focusing on the specialness and quality of their fruit. We always let you know exactly where your fruit came from , and, usually, the name of the person who grew it, and you can find a number of tips, tricks and recipes on our site to help you whip the context of that box into something delicious, healthy and unique.

It’s one small step away from farm-to-table, one slightly larger step for mankind.

Boxed Up Benefits

If you happened to grow up in one of those families that seemed to observe every Sunday with a day-long feasting marathon, you already know: Good food is its own reward.

But there are so many other awesome options about getting a fruit box to consider  –

• Price – Depending on your hunger for produce, a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly fruit box subscription could end up saving you some serious cash in the long run – especially if you’re interested in more hard-to-find (read: typically way-more-expensive) specialty items.
• Convenience – For some fruit connoisseurs, it’s all about the journey: Seeking out specific farmers markets or going out to grocery stores far and wide. To us, that just sounds kind of exhausting, especially when you can have fruit and vegetable boxes delivered straight to your door. (Plus, direct delivery saves you more time – and helps cut down on carbon emission-promoting trips to the store.)
• Variety – With a food box subscription, the world is – sometimes literally – your oyster. Cultivated by professionals, a well-thought-out fruit box can expose you to produce you’ve never even dreamed of. And while the local stuff at the market may be great, variety is, truly, the spice of life.
• Education – As long as you keep learning, you’ll never really grow old. And a regular delivery of new, exotic produce can not only help keep your taste buds refreshed, but keep your brain growing, too. Especially combined with different recipe and cooking tips, a fruit subscription box can help promote a whole host of new knowledge and skills, and help you grow a truly worldly palette.
• Joy – As previously noted, ripping open packages is one of the world’s rare timeless joys. Fruit box day may soon and easily become your favorite day of the week – like a mini Christmas morning or birthday bash, every time.

Plus, fruit boxes subscription services are easy to order as a gift for yourself—or others. And what better gift is there than the gift of sharing.

And offering all of these benefits to your loved one, while letting someone else take care of the delivery details? That’s truly a sweet deal.