Hello

Hope you’ve had a good week! 

My adding of new products continues with another 30 or so new products this week. 

First up is a local business based in Ripon called Steenbergs - The Sustainable Spice Company.
They have over 400 products they can offer us but I am starting off small with their best selling organic herbs and spices, covering everything from organic curry powder, organic cayenne pepper and my personal favourite, their organic perfect salt (the ultimate cooks cheat).
The reason I’ve decided to list Steenbergs isn’t because they have excellent herbs and spices or because they have very nice recyclable jars for their packaging (although both excellent reasons to), it’s mostly down to their sustainable credentials. The lengths Axel and Sophie have gone to, to become actually sustainable and not just greenwash their customers is very inspirational. They are a B-corp, their factory is fitted with solar panels and a living roof, they have been carbon neutral since 2020, zero waste since 2010 and they have a woodland in Wales covering 50 acres of farmland with 55,000 mixed native trees to offset the carbon they produce as a business. 
All of their spices listed on the site are organic and many of them are fair trade, all with glass jars, metal caps and paper labels (all made from recycled content and all recyclable). You can find them here on the website. 

This week I’ve also padded out the dried goods range with some new organic products from Biona and BioFair. These products cover a great range including 3 types of quinoa, wild rice, noodles, lentils, pinto beans, sweetcorn, edamame beans, capers, artichoke hearts and gherkins. Much of these products are in paper, plastic free packaging. 

Veg News

There was a complete lack of UK veg available this week to be honest, a sure sign that we are heading into the hunger gap. 5 of the UK items I have on offer this week will have been grown inside! Besides those items, I have found some good hardy outdoor veg with swede, leeks, parsnips, potatoes, carrots and beetroot all available. 

There is a brand new product from Passion4Plants this week and it’ll hopefully be the start of a new range of living herbs for them. Their first available herb is chives, although right now this is only available in tiny quanities. 

Ed’s oysters seemed to go down well and you can now opt for these to be added to your basket as a one off item, weekly or fortnightly. 

In Europe it’s a bit milder and things are a little more exciting. Expect hass avos (medium sized this time 180g+/-), more excellent lettuces from Uni-Vert in France, some large butternut squash (800g/1200g), green beans, broccoli and cherry tomatoes.

For fruit next week I have my first ever passion fruit from Gospa Citrus near Seville. I have absolutely no idea how big these will be, in some pictures they look large so only time will tell how many of these are per person. There are also plenty of bananas floating around, star ruby grapefruit, more lemons, limes, ignored apples and conference pears. 

That’s all from me, happy shopping!
Thanks
Sam