Home baking - when you bake make sure you use the best ingredients, ginger facts and figures and how Fairtrade really is making a difference for vanilla farmers. These are just a few of the things to be covered in this edition of Steenbergs Organic Newsletter. We hope you enjoy this issue and if there's any burning questions that you would like covered in future editions just drop us a line.
In this edition:
Baking has got to be just a real treat for all concerned. The whole house smells delicious, everyone enjoys the excitement of making cakes and there’s the added pleasure of scraping out the bowls, as well as eating the cakes, biscuits, etc. The benefit of baking your own, is that you know exactly what’s in that glorious creation – that for us means the eggs are free range and organic, sugar – organic, flour – organic and ethically traded and the flavourings organic (Fairtrade where possible). Peace of mind and smiles all round.We’ve just launched two new products to our baking range – Organic peppermint extractand Organic rose water. These join our Organic Fairtrade vanilla extract which has already proved extremely popular in its first few months. This range is brightly coloured in pinks and blues, packed in 100ml bottles, and will be joined in the shops by our flavoured organic Fairtrade sugars that you may also see in a new funky coloured range. The idea is that baking should be fun!
If you’ve never tasted a rose cake or had rose icing then you’ve a treat in store – somehow you feel completely spoilt when you eat a slice or a cupcake. Use Steenbergs Organic rose water as an addition to all sorts of puddings whether its chocolate mousse, baked fruits or home made jellies. It adds a wonderful dimension to your cooking. For rose icing, simply add a few drops to your mixture.
Organic peppermint extract can be used in all sorts of sweets and puddings it works particularly well with anything chocolatey, as well as that ubiquitous favourite peppermint creams.
How to use Steenbergs Organic Fairtrade vanilla extract? The many uses for a wonderful vanilla extract are varied and plentiful from delicious vanilla custards, cakes, ice-cream to puddings galore. Our favourite use has to be our own homemade hot chocolate on those colder evenings.
Peace Tea and Green tea - tea full of taste, meaning and funkiness
Our bagged and tagged envelopes of Peace Tea and Green Tea launched at the end of the last year, have already proved very popular with press and orders alike. We are looking at various projects to fund with the ten percent of profits (on top of the Fairtrade premiums) to go to social causes in the developing world. We will be continuing offering samples of these teas with all orders –as a thank you for all your support.
Loose leaf tea continues to grow in popularity. The new square tins seem to have proved successful.
We have added one new flavour to our tea range – Steenbergs Moroccan Mint Tea– this is a blend of organic green tea with organic peppermint and is delicious on its own or with sugar or honey to sweeten it. This seems to be particularly popular in the Steenbergs offices after lunch when we brew a pot (one pot never seems sufficient!).
To add to the accessories we have a few new products that we’ve sourced – we know how popular our elephant mugs have been with their built in ceramic filter and we have now chosen three new designs to this range Chinese dragon cups– . We have also added new teapots with filters and cups and saucers to the range – for the latest in the range click on Teapots and tea cups
Steenbergs Organic Fairtrade Sugar - where it comes from
As we’re on a baking theme. We thought it might be time to talk about our wonderful sugar that we use in the flavoured sugars.
We purchase our organic Fairtrade sugar from sugar cane growers in Paraguay. They are based near Iturbe, a town in the Guaira department of Paraguay and our sugar is a beautiful light cane sugar that's closest to a caster sugar.
The cooperative’s average farm size per producer member is 15 hectares. Fairtrade has helped the growers through pre-financing production; reconstruction of an old bridge that was no longer able to sustain heavy cars; food programs; educational programs – books, school uniforms etc; providing health care for members and helping with the infrastructure for the cooperative – mechanic equipment, tractor and running water. Without Fairtrade these producers would have little bargaining power and there is no guarantee that they will even get their production price for sugar (let alone living expenses).
All the sugar blends have been created by Axel and are blended at our factory in North Yorkshire.
Being of an inquisitive nature and we accept that you may only buy one standard of ginger (47g) for adding to your cooking, but we thought we'd investigate just how much ginger was needed to be grown to create one tonne of dried ginger - the answer is the equivalent of 13 full size football pitches! (Or alternatively one small farm).
We all appreciate the heady smells of vanilla and know it as a deservedly luxury good. During the process of curing, each vanilla bean is handrolled daily for around two months - this process is obviously labour intensive but is essential for ensuring that the vanilla remains delicious.
Vanilla has recently highlighted the importance of Fairtrade. Four years ago when we started trading in vanilla, the price was at an all time high and when it first became Fairtraded the Fairtrade floor price was way below market price. Now with Madagascan and Indian vanilla crops, both becoming plentiful , the market price has dropped below the Fairtrade minimum. Fairtrade vanilla is currently trading at roughly double the price that of organic vanilla.
This backstop in terms of price, is essential in maintaining livelihoods and living wages.
And on a personal note - chickens
After a two year stint to gear ourselves up for getting chickens at home – they are finally on their way. We’ve been converting a previously derelict piece of land into our kitchen garden on organic and biodynamic principles so we started the year with The 3 Kings mixtures of gold, frankinsense and myrrh on Epiphany. This year will be the first in terms of crops and chickens, to date its been about reclaiming it back into cultivation. The fruit canes are in and the living compost was growing last year so we’ll see what happens this year…
Many of you will already have seen Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s campaign on freerange chickens – www.chickenout.tv – and we wish him and all his team luck in all he’s doing on this issue.
In the next few months Steenbergs website will be updated so you hopefully it will be a positive change with lots of great new features.
We are always interested in hearing from our customers and we love receiving emails, letters and phone calls from you all. With this in mind we have also launched a Facebook page for our Peace Tea - just tap in Steenbergs Peace Tea and would be interested from you about what you think.
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Sophie and Axel Steenberg and team.
www.steenbergs.co.uk / www.steenbergs-tea.com
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