Ethical Consumer – the UK’s leading ethical and environmental consumer magazine – has awarded Essential Trading its coveted Best Buy Label for the following products:

Organic pasta

Organic Vegetable Oil

Organic + Fairtrade basmati rice

Organic + Fairtrade jasmine rice

Canned fruits in fruit juice

Canned pulses in water

Tinned tomatoes

Toilet paper + kitchen roll

Ethical Consumer uses an extensive data base and conducts exhaustive research to rate companies and products against 20 stringent animal welfare, environmental and human rights criteria. The Best Buy Label is becoming increasingly recognisable by consumers who can trust the products bearing this logo to be genuinely ethical.

“We are delighted to once again have a number of our products awarded The Ethical Consumer Best Buy Label,” says Eli Sarre, marketing manager at Essential Trading.  “This independent accolade underpins our own belief that we trade ethically and efficiently for our suppliers and customers,” she continues.  “We are celebrating 40 years in the business this year and it’s encouraging to mark our Ruby Anniversary with renewed confidence from the Ethical Consumer Best Buy Awards.”

For more information about Essential Trading and its products contact;

Katherine Selby, PR Workshop, Katherine@prworkshop.co.uk 020 8647 4422

www.essential-trading.coop

www.ethicalconsumer.org

Essential Trading Co-operative Ltd is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Bristol-based wholefood producer and wholesaler Essential Trading is celebrating its Ruby Anniversary year from September 16, 2011 to September 2012.

A variety of themed activities and promotions will run throughout the year, culminating in a celebration in September 2012.

“The last 40 years have seen the wholefood market grow exponentially,” says Eli Sarre, marketing manager for Essential.  “Back in the 1970s health food stores were novel and the foods they stocked relatively limited,” she explains.  “But now, through education, a distinct rise in vegetarian and vegan diets, growth in free-from diets and the shift towards organic and ethical foods, we have a strong and thriving industry.  It has been most gratifying for Essential to see the changes and improvements down the decades, and we are looking forward to seeing what the next 40 years will bring.”

“Essential supplied organic and fairtrade food long before it was trendy to do so, for ethical reasons,” says Eli.  “The last few decades have seen significant turning points and boosters for our market.  Of particular note were the F-Plan Diet in the 1980s that encouraged people to eat more fibre and less processed food and Gillian McKeith created a massive demand for pulses,” she recalls.

Despite the supermarkets moving into the ethical, organic and wholefood markets in the 1990s, Essential has stayed true to its values and supplies only the independent health food trade.  This helps retailers retain many unique lines that they know customers cannot find elsewhere.

Essential adheres to a strong code of ethics that runs through its business, employees and suppliers.  It actively supports organic and fairly traded goods and continues to call for the banning GM crops.  It currently carries over 6,000 products as a wholesaler including over 100 of its own Essential branded goods.

www.essential-trading.coop

For more information, contact:

Katherine Selby, Katherine@prworkshop.co.uk; 020 8657 4422

Essential Trading Co-operative Ltd is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

September 13-16, 2011

Teachers: Julia Ponsonby, Wayne Schroeder and Dave Hamilton

September is a month of abundance for gardeners and for food lovers. Every year the College finds new and inspiring ways to work with the wide variety of seasonal produce grown locally and in the College gardens. Out of this seasonal plenty our team of celebrated cooks conjure up delicious meals, soups, preserves, and baked products which are internationally renowned.

Join award winning cookery author Julia Ponsonby, along with chef Wayne Schroeder, and self-sufficiency expert Dave Hamilton to learn how to harvest and transform Nature’s abundance into delicious and inspirational meals. Revitalise your cooking by learning new recipes, new techniques and celebrate Nature’s bounty with fellow food lovers in the beautiful surroundings of Schumacher College’s 15th Century building.

The activities on offer will include:

• Seasonal soup making
• Creative uses for abundant vegetables
• Baking and bread products – including baking in outdoor cob oven
• Jams, preserves and pickles
• Forest garden salads and fruits
• Inspiring a new relationship with food, and reflections on health and dietary choices
• Foraging and seasonal treats

Cost: £300 – All course fees include accommodation, food, field trips and all teaching sessions.

www.schumachercollege.org.uk

admin@schumachercollege.org.uk

01803865934

Schumacher College, Dartington is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Revolver World Launches New Co-operative with Innovative Fairtrade Coffee Products
 
Wolverhampton, United Kingdom – February 28, 2011

Revolver, with the help of Co-operatives UK, has created the new firm Revolver World Co-operative, formed specifically around developing Fairtrade commodities. Revolver is now a full licensee of the Fairtrade Foundation and the Revolver Co-operative is planning the development of multi-commodity products under the Revolver brand.
 
On March 7, during “Fairtrade Fortnight”, Revolver launched its range of Fairtrade Fresh Ground 100% Arabica Coffee, with two initial products, ‘Colombia’ and ‘Africa’ (a blend of Tanzania and Uganda coffee) in 227g retail bags. As part of the product promotion, Revolver is to make available free music downloads with each pack purchased. The product at retail is priced as per “own label” brands.
 
Working with the Midcounties Co-operative, a major regional retailer, the products are launching with a 12 month commitment in an initial 39 stores located throughout Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire. More co-operative and independent retailers will be added in the coming weeks and it is the firm’s strategy to focus purely on working with fellow mutuals and other independent businesses.
 
Revolver has already launched a range of own brand organic Fairtrade cotton T-shirts and Hoodies for sale at outdoor events, never happy to bask in past achievements, is now busy developing a bottle-conditioned, vegetarian and organic Fairtrade honey beer for sale in supermarkets in Q3.
 
The business sets aside a portion of income to help women and children’s groups in Africa and has already worked in Kenya and Ethiopia with NGOs and charities. The firm works wherever possible with suppliers who employ people with learning difficulties. This is all part of Revolver’s commitment to establish itself as an ethical brand, not based upon PR or CSR but by being measured by its output in making a measurable difference.
 
Revolver MD Paul Birch says, “We specifically wanted to achieve certain milestones before making an announcement. What we have been working on will come as a surprise to many in the music industry!”

Our coffees are available from Midcounties Co-operative stores now, or online at RevolverCoffee.com.

Revolver World Co-operative is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

It’s not long now till Valentine’s and a traditional gift for your beloved is chocolate.

This year, why not treat them to something a little different, with some Organic Raw Chocolate goodies from Elements for Life?

All their products contain raw organic cacao, so maintaining as much of the nutrition as possible. They are also all dairy free, free from refined sugar and gluten free. Suitable for vegans, diabetics and lactose intolerance.

First off, there is their raw organic chocolate making kit which provides everything you need to share the fun of making your very own fantastic raw organic chocolates.

Or perhaps you’d prefer to give a raw organic chocolate gift box, with it’s selection of 4 amazing flavours.

There’s still time to place orders to get them delivered before Valentine’s, but you need to get your order in before Thurs 10th Feb.

We’re also offering a 10% discount to any Ethical Junction members or readers. To claim, simply include the code EJVAL2011 when ordering either of the above products before 14th February 2011.

Lightbeing Creations is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

The Essential Vegan Pesto has been awarded a Highly Commended certificate in the Best Vegan Product category of The Veggie Awards 2011 – the second annual awards run by Cook Vegetarian! magazine.

The pure pesto comprises just four ingredients: aromatic pine nuts, extra virgin olive oil, fresh, fragrant basil and sea salt.  It is a concentrated pesto to which you add extra virgin olive oil to suit your taste and the recipe. 

The Essential Vegan Pesto is sourced from an organic co-operative in Italy that brings together the four fresh ingredients locally to produce this authentic sauce.  It comes in a 175g jar – which when thinned with extra virgin olive oil is enough for 1.5kg of pasta.  It costs £3.99 from www.ethicallyessential.coop, other online retailers and selected independent health food stores.

For more information, pictures or samples please contact:

Katherine Selby on 0208 657 4422 or email Katherine@prworkshop.co.uk

The Veggie Awards 2011 celebrate flavour, versatility and innovation in the world of meat-free foods.  Inviting entries from the biggest supermarket to the smallest producer, the Cook Vegetarian! team of vegetarian foodies tasted a huge number of products and scoured the web to find the best sites for vegetarians. In each category, one Winner was selected with five other top-performing products or services each being awarded a Highly Commended accolade.  For more information about Cook Vegetarian! or the Veggie Awards 2011, contact Fae Gilfillan on 01206 508627 or email fae@cookveg.co.uk

Essential Trading Co-operative Ltd is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Christmas is a favourite time of year for home baking.  The smell of hot mince pies, fruit cakes baking and mulled wine spices warming helps bring festivity into your home.

You can find all your essential fairtrade and organic festive ingredients at your fingertips at www.ethicallyessential.coop.  Essential has a wide range of larder staples for Christmas recipes and you can trust its natural, freshly packaged foods will deliver on flavour.  During the giving season, it’s good know that by buying sustainable, fairly traded ingredients, you’ll ensure fair pay is given to food producers across the world at Christmas.

Chocoholics!

Add Essential Organic Chocolate Drops to your baking – they are made without vegetable fat and retain their shape throughout cooking.  Essential’s fairtrade, organic Chocolate Spread Range made with fairtrade cocoa beans from Ghana is perfect for Christmas time.  The vegan Dark Chocolate Spread is delicious as a filling for Yule Log and an icing on fairy cakes.  The Hazelnut Milk Chocolate spread is a classic for tea time toast.  And for an even sweeter treat, try the Duo Swirl Chocolate Spread – hazelnut spread swirled with white chocolate spread…

Bake Me a Cake

Essential has plenty of dried fruit and nuts for your Christmas cake and mince pies including organic Flaked Almonds from Spain, Pecan Nuts from South Africa and a delicious Gourmet Nut Mix.  The Apple Juice infused Cranberries are a revelation: the apple juice takes away the sourness of these beautiful bright gem berries but still leaves a lively flavour to perk up cakes, bakes and pies.  Essential also has a Super Fruit Mix comprising just the right balance of organic sultanas, raisins, currants, cranberries, apple pieces and blueberries ready mixed for you to make cakes, biscuits, muffins and, of course, mince pies!

Winter Spice

Christmas isn’t complete without warm winter spices in baking and mulled wine.  Essential has a range of spices including organic and Fair Trade Ground Cinnamon and Cloves plus a lively Ground Ginger. 

You can find these Essential festive ingredients at www.ethicallyessential.coop and selected independent health food stores.

Festive Essential Food prices

Organic Chocolate Drops, 125g, £2.26; Organic, fairtrade Chocolate Spread, 400g, £2.39; Organic flaked almonds, 125g £1.75; Organic Pecan Nuts – 100g, £2.33

Gourmet Nut Mix – 250g, £2.70; Apple Infused Cranberries – 125g, £2.77;

Super Fruit Mix – 125g, £2.70; Spices – 25g, 99p.

Essential Trading Co-operative Ltd is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

To mark our Healthy Eating Fortnight (1) from October 18-31, 2010, Essential Trading commissioned further research into healthy home cooking ingredients. 

This revealed some interesting trends in nuts, rice and baked beans…. 

Organic and ethical foods continue to find favour

Food industry specialist Helen Lewis (2) was commissioned by Essential to research further key trends in healthy, home cooking ingredients.  Despite economic difficulties, Helen discovered sales of organic food are still three times higher than in 1999 and over 50% higher than five years ago with 88.3% of households buying some organic food.  Fairtrade sales achieved 12% growth in 2009 compared to 2008 (source: Fairtrade Foundation) showing people are also still keen to make ethical purchases.

We’re Going Nuts!

From her research, Helen forecasts that UK nut sales will rise from £270.5m in 2005 to £473.4m in 2010 – and she predicts they could reach £847.4m in 2015.  “I believe we will see a continued and marked growth in nut sales,” says Helen.  “People clearly have a greater interest in nuts as a healthy snack and they are also using them in more home cooked, authentic Asian recipes,” she explains.

Highly Rated Rice

Rice is a ‘healthy carb’ so it’s no surprise it also enjoys healthy sales.  “But what is interesting is the range of rice being consumed,” says Helen.  “Wild, Arborio and Basmati are all examples of more adventurous varieties being enjoyed.”  Helen believes rice sales overall will increase from £205.2m in 2005 to £368.0m in 2010 – and she predicts they could reach £553.3m in 2015.

Baked Beans a Firm Favourite

Baked beans remain one of the nation’s favourite foods with 81% of Britons buying them (Source: Mintel).  “Finding baked beans in eight out of ten homes is no great surprise,” admits Helen.  “However, what is interesting to see are the lower sugar, lower salt varieties like Essential’s fun, ‘pop art’  baked beans making their mark and enjoying increased sales as people select a healthier version of this firm family favourite,” says Helen.

Viva the Vegetarians!

“Vegetarian and vegan diets continue to prove popular and this trend is further fuelled by the growing number of ‘meat avoiders’ or people who have one or more vegetarian or vegan meals each week,’” explains Helen who predicts that sales are likely to rise from £698.5m in 2005 to £820.9m in 2010 and possibly as high as £1250.5m by 2015. 

1)         During Healthy Eating Fortnight, Essential is inviting people to enjoy a 20% discount across over 100 of its products at its participating high street retailers and www.ethicallyessential.coop.

2)         Helen Lewis is a professionally trained and highly experienced journalist who has written and researched food and drink trends and categories since 2001. Helen’s time as Head of Publishing at leading market research company Reuters Business Insight (owned by Datamonitor) provided the experience and expertise required to write reports for numerous other research agencies during her time as a freelance analyst (2004 to date). As the managing editor and founder of www.foodanddrinktowers.com, Helen has access to numerous secondary resources as well as direct access to food and drink companies. Helen’s experience and contacts have helped her to value and forecast key food categories for Essential Trading.

Essential Trading Co-operative Ltd is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) is a measurement of the antioxidant rating of different foods. Antioxidants fight against harmful free radicals, known to be one of the main factors of the ageing process and also associated with the growth of cancerous cells. Although antioxidants are produced naturally in the body, the number declines with age, hence the need to acquire them from our diet.

Antioxidants work by significantly slowing or preventing the oxidative (damage from oxygen) process, caused by free radicals that can lead to cell dysfunction and the onset of problems like heart disease and diabetes. Antioxidants may also improve the immune function and perhaps lower your risk of infection and disease. In your body, the antioxidant process is similar to stopping an apple from browning. Once you cut an apple, it begins to brown, but if you dip it in orange juice, which contains vitamin C, it stays white.

Different fruits and vegetables contain varying levels of antioxidants. The higher the ORAC score, the better the food can neutralise free radicals. By choosing fruits and vegetables with a higher ORAC score, you can maximise your intake of antioxidants in your daily diet. Look for fruits with bright colours – lutein has a yellow pigment found in sweetcorn and turmeric and orange pigment in cinnamon and squash; lycopene is a red pigment found in tomatoes and melon, and purple pigments in berries and grapes. In general, the deeper the pigment in a fruit the higher its ORAC score. This is evident in fruits like cranberries, blueberries, plums, blackberries, grapes, raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, figs, cherries and oranges. However, high levels of antioxidants are not only found in fruits and vegetables. Nuts such as pecans, walnuts, pistachios and cashews also rank highly on the ORAC scale. 

Our new muesli contains blueberries, raisins, apples, pecans, walnuts and pistachios. We’ve also added pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds for that extra omega and mineral boost. And to add even more goodness of antioxidants and flavour, we’ve put a pinch of cinnamon in. We were at the Your Healthy Living Show in Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms on the 12th and 13th of June letting everyone taste the lovely samples! It is available to buy in our stores or from our webshop here. 

One of our newer, popular products is the Red Grape Cherry Antioxidant Drink by Mile High. With an extraordinary high ORAC value of 3,600 (compared to tomato juice at 275) it’s well worth a try, buy at either of our stores or buy online here.

Real Foods Ltd is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Fairtrade Fortnight (22nd February to 8th March 2010) will focus on “the big swap”. The idea is to get people to swap to Fairtrade certified products from the conventional products they currently purchase, with a special emphasis on tea.

Since everyone likes a slice of cake and a biscuit with their Fairtrade cup of tea, it’s been a chance for Kate at Tropical Wholefoods to get her baking hat on again and tell everyone about the gorgeous recipes TW have on their website. Her current favourites are the Tea Loaf which uses Tropical Wholefoods Chewy Banana Chips and Bogoya Banana (along with Fairtrade Tea and raisins) and Amoretti Biscuits which uses Fairtrade natural Apricot Kernels. Check out some of the other Apricot Kernel recipes too – like the Savoury Biscuits, and the Orange and Apricot Kernel Cake on their website: http://www.fmfoods.co.uk/resources/recipes.htm

Sally Reith at Shared Interest is baking a Fairtrade recipe every day of Fortnight and is kicking off with the Banana and Walnut Tea Loaf. (Thank you Sally!) TW will also be baking for the Fairtrade Tea Dances in Newcastle and London on 27th February.

If anyone would like recipes and ingredients to use during Fairtrade Fortnight, please get in touch with rachel@fullwellmill.co.uk and she can send you a pack.

Kate will also be putting up recipes on our blog: http://tropicalwholefoods.blogspot.com/

Tropical Wholefoods (Fullwell Mill Ltd) is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more