Organic Senna Leaf Tea

This warming healthy beverage is perfect for cold autumn and winter evening.

Hydrating, refreshing home made ice tea made with hibiscus flower and a hint of lemon.

Immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory drink! A mix of powerful antioxidants and a boost from vitamin C in one glass! This carrot turmeric and ginger drink will stimulate your metabolism for faster digestion and support the healthy gut. Cheers!

In autumn, every coffee shop offers a pumpkin spice latte. Why not making it at home? This recipe is easy and ready in 10 minutes! Other plant-based milks like almond, oat or coconut milk will also work. If you want a stronger pumpkin flavour add more pumpkin puree. If you prefer less intense flavour, use less spices.

Hibiscus flowers Hibiscus is a small tree with beautiful, large, colourful flowers. It is not known where hibiscus is from, but it grows naturally in Africa and South Asia. There are about 300 species in the hibiscus family, but only a few of them have edible flowers. Most of them are decorative, ornamental plants you can grow in the garden in warmer climates. The edible flowers of hibiscus have been used for centuries for decoration and medicinal purposes. You probably know hibiscus tea, right? This rose-coloured infusion is made with hibiscus tea. What are dried hibiscus flowers used for? The organic dried hibiscus flowers are used to make teas, powders, extracts and supplements and in cooking and baking, especially jams, relishes, dressings and salads. What is the flavour of hibiscus flowers? The taste of hibiscus flowers is similar to cranberry and pomegranate. It is sweet and slightly earthy. What are the health benefits of hibiscus flowers? Hibiscus contains many beneficial compounds for health. It is rich in vitamins A, B and C. It contains flavonoids, phenolic acids, and organic acids, which act as antioxidants. Hibiscus can help lower blood pressure, stimulate diuretic effects, and reduce high cholesterol. It may help promote weight loss and support heart and liver health. Known for its anti-inflammatory properties, it can also help fight infections by reducing the growth of bacteria and boosting your immunity system. How to make hibiscus tea? Just put a couple of dried hibiscus flowers into a cup with boiling water (100°C). Infuse for a few minutes (5-10 minutes) and enjoy a delicious, relaxing drink.

Matcha is a type of green tea that has been consumed in Japan and China for hundreds of years. Known for it amazing health benefits, matcha can help improve your immunity system, levels of energy, skin and mind. Japanese Matcha tea is a fine powder made from green tea leaves. Like all tea, Matcha is made from the tea plant Camellia sinensis.Tea leaves grown for Matcha are specially shade-grown to enhance the chlorophyll levels and the amino acid theanine, which is thought to give the drink its deep earthy umami flavour. Matcha is traditionally prepared in a small bowl with a bamboo whisk. It can be used to create hot and cold drinks, smoothies or added to cakes and pastries. Because of its unique flavour and superfood status, it's now featured in many healthy recipes. Matcha improves immunity system The antioxidants that matcha contains protect the cells from free radicals and boost your immune system. One of the antioxidant called catechin EGEG is useful in preventing and defending the body from bacterial and viral infections. The protection from free radicals helps reduce inflammation and ease the symptoms of some long-term medical conditions such as arthritis. Matcha improves cognitive function Matcha contains some caffeine and antioxidants. When consumed in balance, matcha has some health-improving qualities that include promoting cognitive function, and energy levels. Promotes Relaxation Despite the caffeine content matcha has a calming effect and helps people to relax. It's thanks to significant levels of the chemical called L-theanine. It enables a constant release of caffeine, lessening the hazardous effects that caffeine causes some people anxiety and nervousness. This helps to stay attentive, focused and relaxed. Matcha is healthier than coffee & helps in stress relief Matcha is a source of some additional nutrients not found in coffee and may improve the functioning of the brain. L-theanine improves alpha wave activity in the brain, boosting alertness, focus, as well as relaxation. Matcha also helps in stress relief and helps people with memory loss. It's a good product for people suffering with illnesses like dementia and Alzheimer's. Promotes healthy skin & slows skin aging Matcha helps with clearing your skin through plethora of antioxidants. The catechins in green tea neutralise oxidative stress in skin, which slows the aging process. It also helps to fight common skin diseases such as acne and rosacea. The EGCg has anti-inflammatory properties that lessen skin irritation and minimise rash and redness. The tannins in matcha narrow the pores and stop excessive oil production. Matcha can be used as a skin exfoliator removing dead skin cells and helping you get a more youthful-looking clean complexion. Where to buy matcha in bulk? If you consume organic matcha at home or need larger quantities of it for your restaurant or cafe, you can easily buy matcha in bulk in online stores. At Wholefood Earth, you will always find match at great prices. Buy organic matcha online

The clocks are going forward this weekend and that means one less hour of precious sleep! We’re sure you’ve heard before about how important it is to get a good night’s kip. Sleep is an essential function that allows your mind and body to recharge, as well as keeping yourself healthy and warding off diseases. However, as many of us know, sleeping well isn’t always an easy task. Did you know that certain foods can also aid you in getting a restful night’s sleep? There are a variety of chemicals, enzymes, amino acids and other nutrients that can help in falling and staying asleep, and fortunately, you can find a lot of them in foods and drinks. We want to make sure you’re getting the best sleep possible and have compiled a handy list of sleep inducing foods (plus one drink). So, if you’ve been having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, why not give these a try? Almonds Almonds are not only a nutritious and healthy snack, but it’s also claimed they may help in boosting sleep quality as well. This is because almonds contain the hormone melatonin, which regulates your internal clock and signals your body to prepare for sleep. Almonds are also a great source of magnesium. Consuming an adequate amount of magnesium may improve sleep quality, especially for anyone suffering with insomnia. Magnesium’s role in promoting sleep is considered to be related to its ability to reduce inflammation. In addition, magnesium can assist in lowering levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which is known to disturb your slumber. For more health benefits of almonds, have a look at our previous article Are Almonds Good For You? Oats You may think of oats as more of a breakfast food, but you might want to try eating a bowl of porridge after dark if you want to catch those precious ZZZZZs. The grains present in oats trigger insulin production much like whole-grain bread, raise your blood sugar naturally which makes you feel drowsy. Oats are also rich in both melatonin and the amino acid tryptophan that helps to produce melatonin, which helps our brain send signals to the rest of our body that it’s time to relax and get some rest. Kiwi Kiwis are a low calorie but extremely nutritious fruit that could also aid you in sleeping better. The sleep-promoting effects of kiwis are sometimes usually attributed to serotonin. Serotonin is a brain chemical that helps regulate your sleep cycle. It’s been proposed that the anti-inflammatory antioxidants in kiwis, such as vitamin C and carotenoids, may also be partially responsible for their sleep-inducing impact. White Rice White rice is a rich source of carbohydrates. It’s high carb content along with its lack of fibre, both contribute to white rice having a large glycaemic index. It’s been suggested that eating foods with a high GI, like white rice, approximately one hour before bed may help in improving sleep quality. Some researchers seem to believe this is due to the large amount of insulin released after eating a high GI meal. Insulin drives the amino acid, Tryptophan, which helps activate drowsiness, into the brain. Chamomile Tea Okay, so it’s not technically a food but we’re still including it on this list! Chamomile tea is widely known as one of the best drinks to help you get your forty winks. But did you know, it doesn’t even contain any tea? It’s actually more of an herbal infusion made from the dried flowers of the chamomile plant. Chamomile tea also contains antioxidants which binds to receptors in the brain that encourage sleepiness and reduce insomnia. Just make sure to drink your cup of chamomile tea around 45 minutes before going to bed so your body has ample time to metabolise the tea. Soya Soya has a wide range of health benefits, and one of them may be aiding you in a good night’s kip! The products produced from soya, such as soya milk, tofu, and tempeh contain good amounts of tryptophan, the substance which can help our bodies synthesise melatonin and serotonin. Another way soya may also benefit your sleep pattern is due to its isoflavone content. Isoflavones are believed to somewhat mimic the hormone oestrogen. Oestrogen can affect the brain via the same neurotransmitters that are involved in sleep regulation. Why not check our latest soya article Why Soya is a Great Meat Substitute Figs Figs are an excellent source of magnesium, potassium, calcium and iron, making them a powerful aid for sleep. All these minerals can assist with muscle contraction along with blood flow, which are both vital for falling asleep. Figs also contain high amounts of fibre, keeping you full through the night and preventing any hunger pangs or midnight cravings that could disturb your slumber. Walnuts Another nut featuring on this sleep inducing food list is the small yet mighty walnut. Some researchers have claimed that eating walnuts improves sleep quality, as they’re one of the best food sources of melatonin. They are made up of many fatty acids that may also contribute to better sleep. Walnuts provide alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fatty acid that’s converted to DHA in the body. DHA may increase your bodies serotonin production. So, if you’re finding it difficult to nod off, eating a handful of walnuts before bed might just help!

Vanilla is so familiar that most people think of it as plain, even a byword for ordinary. The truth is almost the opposite. Real vanilla is one of the most labour-intensive crops on earth, and at its peak it has sold for more per kilogram than silver. Behind that unlikely price sits a fascinating story of orchids, hand pollination and patience. Here is why genuine vanilla is so precious, and why most of the vanilla flavour we eat is not really vanilla at all. Vanilla comes from a fussy orchid Vanilla is the seed pod of a climbing orchid, and orchids are notoriously demanding to grow. The plant needs a hot, humid tropical climate, plenty of time, and careful tending. Even in ideal conditions, a vine takes a few years before it flowers and produces pods. This is a slow crop from the very start, which is the first reason it is so costly. Every flower must be pollinated by hand Here is the detail that really explains the price. The vanilla orchid has a natural pollinator in its native Mexico, but almost everywhere else it is grown, that pollinator is absent. So each individual flower has to be pollinated by hand, one by one, by skilled workers. To make it harder, each flower opens for only about a day, so the timing has to be exact. Imagine hand-pollinating an entire plantation of flowers within a narrow daily window, across the whole flowering season. That intense, precise labour is built into every pod. The curing takes months Once the green pods are harvested, they are not ready to use. They must be cured over several months through a careful process of heating, sweating and slow drying that develops the deep, complex aroma we recognise as vanilla. Freshly picked pods barely smell of anything. It is this long, hands-on curing that turns them into the fragrant pods sold at a premium. Nothing about vanilla is quick. A fragile, concentrated supply Much of the world's vanilla comes from Madagascar, which leaves the global supply exposed. Tropical cyclones can damage a large share of the crop in a single storm, and when that happens, prices can soar. Vanilla has gone through dramatic price booms, and during the highest peaks it has indeed traded at levels comparable to, or above, silver by weight. High prices bring their own problems too, including theft from plantations and the temptation to pick pods before they are fully mature, which harms quality. Why most vanilla flavour isn't really vanilla Given all this, it is no surprise that the vast majority of vanilla flavouring in food is not made from the pod at all. Most is synthetic vanillin, a lab-made version of the single most dominant flavour compound in vanilla. It is vastly cheaper and it is what gives cheap "vanilla flavour" ice creams, biscuits and essences their taste. Real vanilla extract, by contrast, contains hundreds of aroma compounds working together, which is why it tastes rounder and more complex than the synthetic version. When a label says "vanilla flavour" rather than naming real vanilla or vanilla extract, it is usually the synthetic kind. Is real vanilla worth it? For everyday baking, good vanilla extract or a fraction of a real pod goes a long way, because the flavour is so concentrated. A single pod can flavour a whole batch of custard or a tray of biscuits, and the used pod can be popped into a jar of sugar to perfume it. Seen that way, even an expensive ingredient stretches further than you might expect. For special bakes, the depth of real vanilla is hard to beat, and knowing what goes into producing it makes it easier to appreciate. Vanilla earns its extraordinary price honestly: a slow-growing orchid, hand pollination flower by flower, months of careful curing, and a supply concentrated in storm-prone regions. Far from being plain, it is one of the most remarkable and hard-won flavours in the kitchen, and a reminder that the most ordinary-seeming ingredients sometimes have the most extraordinary stories.

If your morning coffee seems to cost more than it used to, you are not imagining it. Coffee prices have risen sharply in recent years, and behind that trend sits a mix of climate, economics and supply pressures that is unlikely to ease soon. There is also a second, less obvious change worth knowing about: some of the cheaper coffee on the shelves is not entirely coffee. Here is an evidence-based look at what is going on in your cup. Coffee is a fussy crop Most of the coffee we drink is arabica, and it only grows well in a narrow band of tropical highlands with the right temperature, rainfall and altitude. That makes it unusually sensitive to weather. A single bad season in a major producing country can move the global price, because supply is concentrated in relatively few places. Brazil and Vietnam alone account for a large share of world production, so when they struggle, everyone feels it. Why prices keep climbing Several forces have pushed prices up at once. The biggest is weather. Droughts and frosts in key growing regions have repeatedly damaged harvests, and climate change is making these extremes more frequent while slowly shrinking the amount of land suitable for growing arabica. As the climate warms, the cool highland zones coffee needs are moving higher up mountainsides and running out of room. On top of that come rising costs all along the chain. Fertiliser, energy, shipping and labour have all become more expensive, and those costs are passed through to the finished product. Both arabica and the hardier robusta variety have hit record or near-record prices on global markets in recent years, and market speculation can amplify the swings. Put simply, there is less coffee than demand would like, and it costs more to grow and move. That is a recipe for higher prices. Why your coffee may not be pure anymore Here is the part many people miss. When the raw ingredient becomes expensive, there is a commercial temptation to make it go further, and coffee has a long history of adulteration. Because ground and instant coffee are, by their nature, already broken down into powder, it is difficult for a shopper to see exactly what is inside. Laboratory testing has repeatedly found cheaper fillers bulking out some ground and instant coffees. Common additions include roasted chicory, barley and other cereals, maize, soybean, and even coffee husks, twigs and other by-products. These are not always declared clearly. This does not mean all coffee is suspect, reputable brands sell exactly what they say, but it does mean the cheapest products are the ones most worth scrutinising. The more processed and the more anonymous the coffee, the harder it is to know what you are drinking. How to know you're getting real coffee The simplest safeguard is to buy whole beans and grind them yourself. Whole beans are almost impossible to adulterate, because you can see exactly what you are buying, and grinding fresh also gives you noticeably better flavour and aroma. Choosing coffee from a transparent, reputable source, and looking for clear origin information, gives you further reassurance. If you would like to make the switch, our Roasted Organic Whole Coffee Beans come in a generous 1kg bag, so you get pure, single-ingredient coffee with nothing hidden, and better value per cup than small tins of pre-ground. Getting more from every cup With prices high, it is worth making your coffee count. Store beans in an airtight container away from heat and light, and grind only what you need just before brewing to keep the flavour at its peak. Buying in larger quantities, such as a 1kg bag, usually works out cheaper per cup than repeatedly buying small packs. And using slightly less of a good, full-flavoured coffee often gives a better result than piling in more of a weaker one. Coffee is getting more expensive because it is a climate-sensitive crop grown in a few vulnerable regions, hit by extreme weather and rising costs across the board. Those same pressures make cheaper, heavily processed coffee more likely to be bulked out with fillers. The good answer to both problems is the same: buy whole beans from a source you trust, grind them fresh, and enjoy coffee that is exactly what it claims to be.

Cardamom is one of the most rewarding spices to cook with, but it can also be one of the most puzzling. Do you use the whole pod or just the seeds? How much is too much? And how do you get the best from a spice that ranks, after saffron and vanilla, as the third most expensive in the world? This practical guide walks you through everything you need to cook with cardamom confidently, from your first pod to your favourite dish. Choosing the right cardamom Before you start, it helps to pick the right type. Green cardamom is sweet and aromatic, ideal for desserts, drinks and lighter dishes. Black cardamom is smoky and bold, made for slow-cooked, savoury cooking. Using the wrong one can throw a dish off balance, so match the cardamom to what you are making. If you only keep one, green cardamom is the more versatile all-rounder. Whole pods, seeds or ground How you use cardamom depends on the form you have. Whole pods are perfect for infusing flavour into a dish as it cooks, and they can be left in or fished out before serving. To release more flavour, lightly crush or bruise the pod with the flat of a knife so the aromatic seeds inside are exposed. For a more intense hit, remove the seeds and crush or grind them. Ground cardamom is the quickest option and blends straight into batters, doughs and drinks, though it fades faster, so use it while it is fresh. For the very best flavour, buy whole pods or seeds and grind them yourself just before cooking. Our Organic Black Cardamom Seeds come ready out of the pod, which makes grinding your own fresh powder quick and easy, while our Organic Ground Cardamom is there for when you want convenience. Cooking with cardamom in savoury dishes Cardamom is a cornerstone of savoury cooking across South Asia and the Middle East. Add a few bruised green pods to basmati rice or a pilaf as it cooks for a fragrant lift. Use black cardamom in slow-cooked curries, dals and biryanis, where its smoky depth has time to develop. It is also a key player in spice blends like garam masala, working alongside cumin, coriander and cloves. A little cardamom brings warmth and complexity to stews, tagines and marinades. Cooking with cardamom in sweet dishes On the sweet side, green cardamom truly shines. Stir ground cardamom into cakes, biscuits, pastries and doughnuts, or add it to rice pudding, custards and poached fruit. It pairs beautifully with other warm flavours like cinnamon, orange and vanilla, and with ingredients such as pistachio, almond, coffee and chocolate. It is the signature note in Scandinavian cardamom buns and countless Indian sweets, and just a pinch can make a simple bake feel special. Cardamom in drinks Some of the loveliest uses for cardamom are in the cup. Crushed green pods are essential to a good masala chai, simmered with tea, milk and other spices. A pod or two added to freshly ground coffee makes a fragrant, Middle-Eastern-style brew. Cardamom also works in hot chocolate, mulled drinks and warming winter cordials. Our Organic Green Cardamom Pods are perfect for infusing into any of these. How much to use Because cardamom is so aromatic, restraint is key. Start with less than you think you need, taste as you go, and build up gradually. A few pods are plenty for a pot of rice or a curry for four, and just a quarter teaspoon of ground cardamom can flavour a whole cake. Its potency is exactly why a premium spice can still be great value: a little delivers a lot. Getting the most from your jar To keep cardamom at its best, store it whole in an airtight container away from heat and light, and grind only what you need. Whole pods hold their aroma far longer than ready-ground powder, so buying pods and grinding fresh gives you the strongest flavour for your money. Treat this precious spice with a little care, and it will reward you across countless dishes, sweet and savoury alike.