Good stuff and lots of it!
Here’s the low down on some fine things to see, sip, savour and more which contributor Judith Schrut discovered at this year’s Natural and Organic Products Europe show and thought were worth sharing with you. Enjoy.
I’m a sucker for outstanding ice cream, and in that category Grom’s Italian Gelato is mighty hard to beat. Producers Guido and Frederico’s creed is Gelato Come Una Volta–“gelato the way it used to be.” They use only pure, natural ingredients of the highest quality; no colours, emulsifiers or chemical nasties. That means Ecuadorian chocolate chips for their Stracciatella, Guatemalan espresso coffee for their Tiramisu and sorbets made with organic, seasonally mature fruit from their Piedmontese farms. Fresh cones, ice cream sandwiches and biscotti are made fresh daily in their own bakery. I especially loved my tub of Grom Pistachio. This is pistachio ice cream as it should be, not the artificially glowing green of commercial versions but a natural pale brown, not too sweet and with just the right touch of fresh nut crunchiness. Apparently, Slow Food Movement founder Carlo Petrini called it “the best pistachio gelato of your life”. Grom tubs cost around £5.00, available from Waitrose and Ocado. Or try a scoop or two at Grom’s Gelateria in London Piccadilly.
Food for Life Breads and Bakes
I’m thrilled to bits that Food for Life’s legendary baked goods are finally available in the UK. They’re online only at the moment, but I’m sure they’ll soon be flying off the shelves at Whole Foods and elsewhere. Food for Life’s founding family were natural food movement pioneers. They started their bakery out the back of a small Southern California neighbourhood health food store in 1950, the first wholesale bakery in the USA to specialise in natural wholesome breads at a time when most bakeries offered only highly refined white bread. Four generations later the same family produces 60 different kinds of bread products, mostly from 100% live sprouted wholegrains, not flour. English muffins, tortillas, flatbreads, pocket breads, famously Biblical Ezekiel and Genesis loaves– I’ve tasted lots of their products over the years– all memorably delicious, filling and feel-gooding. No longer will I have to carry them back from LA in my suitcase and neither will you. Priced from £2.99.
Not many chocolatiers can claim to be multi-award winning, organic, vegan, plastic free, Fairtrade, delicious and educational at the same time, but makers of PlayInChoc Kids Cubes can legitimately do just that. A few years ago, parents Maya and Dominic spotted a gap in the market for healthy, dairy free, kid and earth friendly chocolates. After much experimenting and taste-testing they created an original range of two in ones: smooth and creamy chocolates plus an eco-kind, educational toy. Their extremely yummy chocs are made with simple ingredients: single origin Peruvian cacao beans grown on small family owned farms, finest organic Madagascan bourbon vanilla and organic creamed coconut from Indonesia. All packaging and toys are biodegradable and recyclable, and your brood can choose from a growing range including woodland animals, endangered animals, the rabbit collection and a unique choccie advent calendar for Christmas.
If you’ve got a bee in your bonnet about single use plastics, BeeBee cotton and beeswax wraps should give you a real buzz. BeeBees were born in Kath Austin’s kitchen; she was seeking an alternative to clingfilm that would work better than plastic and look cool. She tested various formulas until she got it just right. The wraps are made from 100% compostable, natural ingredients including cotton, jojoba oil, tree resin and beeswax sourced from Cambridge hives. I promise this is not a sponsored ad but I really adore my BeeBees! I use them all the time and find they keep cut avocados green, cheese moist, and bread, salad leaves and fruit beautifully fresh for well over a week. I love that I need to use natural heat from my (clean!) hands to shape the wraps around food. The wraps also give off a lovely, faint smell of honey. Best of all, each wrap can be easily washed and re-used for up to a year, then simply tossed onto the compost heap to ensure an earth-friendly afterlife. A mixed size variety pack costs £14. Sign up for BeeBees newsletter and you can get a 10% discount on your order at checkout.
Speaking of bees, Mama Buci is Africa’s largest honey producer. Its honey comes from the virgin Miombo forests of Zambia, renowned for their rich variety of wildflowers. Most importantly, Mama Buci is a social enterprise supporting 75,000 beehives and 7,000 human families in Zambia. All profits go back into the communities to improve the quality of local life, build homes, free schools and provide jobs with fair wages. The honey is produced in specially designed treetop hives which are environmentally-kind, produce more honey and make the honey easy to harvest. Mama Buci won Gold at the UK Great Taste awards for both its Summer Harvest and Winter Harvest varieties. I bought a jar of each (priced at £5.99) and found them rich, delicious and extraordinary.
Chewsy All Natural Chewing Gum
Call me unabashedly American (which I am) but it was love at first chew when I was introduced to Chewsy’s unique range of all natural chewing gums. Chewsy is sugar free, plastic free, vegan and made without artificial anything, so even your (British) dentist will approve. Best of all, Chewsy gum is 100% biodegradable which means– Hurrah!– better for the Planet and no nasty, sticky stuff on the bottom of your shoes. Chewse (couldn’t resist) from cinnamon, lemon spearmint or peppermint.
Natural & Organic Products Europe (NOPE) is Europe’s biggest trade show for natural and organic products and the must-go show for lovers of natural and organic food, drink, health and beauty products. NOPE returns next year on 19-20 April 2020 at ExCel London.
