Vegan White Choc Cream Filled Wafer Bars - 44g - Love Raw

Quinoa Tabbouleh

Banana & Strawberry Pancakes

Banana Breakfast Oats

Chickpea Scramble

Greek Chickpeas On Toast

Enjoy a thick and creamy berry smoothie that's not only visually stunning with its deep pink hue but also packed with the goodness of mixed berries. This refreshing drink is perfect for a quick breakfast or a healthy snack, and can be customized with your choice of sweetener.

Introducing Wholefood Earth's new product listing - Vital Wheat Gluten.Famous for the creation of Seitan - the vegan meat alternative!Vital wheat gluten is a natural protein source found in wheat. It is a powerful flour that is almost pure gluten. It is made from wheat flour that has had the gluten activated during a dehydrating process, removing all other ingredients except the gluten. Wheat gluten has very little starch content and a fantastic way of making dough elasticated. Vital wheat gluten is great for bread making as it helps to increase the gluten content of the bake. It is equally as great used in muffins, cakes and other bakes such as tarts and pastries where you are working with yeast ingredients. A small amount added to yeast bread recipes improves the texture and elasticity of the dough. When combined with water it becomes highly elastic and has a sticky like texture. Vital Wheat Gluten is a natural and very effective raising agent, helping your bread fill out perfectly and evenly, giving it more volume. It can be especially helpful for baking bread made with whole grain flours and coarse cereals. Vital Wheat Gluten can ensure recipes that require fruit, nuts and seeds, chocolate chips etc stay firmly held together and a good binder too! Brilliant for binding Vegan Meatballs, Burgers, Tofu etc. To make Seitan: Mix Vital Wheat Gluten with spices and add water to make a dough. When the gluten dough is cooked either by steaming, baked or boiled it becomes chewy with a meat style texture! See the range of sizes online and in store today! We sell in bulk so perfect for cafes, restaurants and keen cooks alike!

Carob is commonly known to be a Chocolate Substitute although it rightly deserves credit of its own. The Carob plant is an evergreen tree decorated with glossy leaves, red flowers and long brown pods form on the tree, which hold seeds within sweet pulp.These seeds are the source of Locust Bean Gum - you may recognize this name.A natural ingredient to improve the texture of foods by thickening and stabilizing the food.After being sun dried, the seeds are removed and the pulp of the carob pods is ground into 'carob powder'and to make carob syrup the powder is dissolved in water and boiled to make a runny consistency.But how to use it?Carob is a natural addition to baked goods, its taste is not as rich as cocoa.It can be used as a sweetener, and replaced instead of chocolate in brownies and puddings.Note : Carob powder is less soluble than Cocoa and it can be gritty. Make a smooth paste of carob powder and warm water before adding into a drink/recipe.Carob naturally contains calcium, phosphorus, iron! Pop into our store for your sweet treat alternatives and check out our website 🌱

Happy Halloween! Welcome to October,The air is slowly cooling, leaves are falling from the trees, the outdoors become covered in deep colours of orange, red and brown, the distinct aroma of bonfires tickle our nostrils, our favourite fruits and vegetables come into season and probably the most well known event October is known for...Halloween!Halloween has been a favourite annual event for decades, beginning from Celtic Harvest Festivals.Today we celebrate Halloween in various ways, the most common would be a big party, dressing up in comedic and spooky costumes, carving pumpkins, knocking on your neighbours door for candy, the traditional 'Trick or Treat'With this in mind we thought we would share Healthy Hints & Tips for an alternative Halloween. Maybe you want to reduce added sugar from your or your families diet? Or simply to try some new exciting foods?1. Seeds - Pumpkin,Sunflower,Black Sesame seedsSeeds are easy to nibble, savoury to taste and black sesame seeds give a spooky look to compliment the theme. You could roast seeds with a splash of Soy or Tamari sauce, Salt and Pepper, spices like Paprika, Chilli flakesRich in fibre, essential fats, minerals for overall health.2. Fruit - Dried Dates, Apricots, Banana, Figs, Cranberries, RaisinsDried fruit contains sweet natural sugars, great for a natural energy boost and appealing to all ages! No added sugar, rich in fibre, Iron and Vitamin C!3. Nuts - Peanuts, Brazil, Macadamia, Pecans, Cashews We understand that Nuts may be a NO GO when it comes to children's snacks. However for those who may choose to eat Nuts, they are power packed with protein, essential fats, minerals, help you feel satisfied without feeling the need to eat more. Rich and creamy to taste, also Nut Butters e.g. Peanut butter, Almond Butter, Cashew butter are lovely to dip carrot sticks in or spread on a cracker, bread sticks etc.4. Dairy Free Chocolate/SweetsFor a tasty treat, brands like Moo Free cater for those who are allergic or choose to avoid Dairy, Soya, Gluten. We sell Mini Moo Bars, perfect for a little snack for the sweet tooths out there!Gelatine Free Gummy Sweets - Sour fruits or Cola we sell packets of Vegan sweets that can be shared5. Fruit and Nut BarsBrands such as 'Nakd, Beond Organic,Trek, Cliff, Meridian'Make healthy snack bars that give you on the go energy, they may be small but they pack a punch of slow release energy! 6. Dips and ChipsWe stock a wide range of Gluten free, Vegan Crisps and Dips. So many yummy flavours of crisps made from Lentils, Quinoa, Hummus, Corn instead of the considered unhealthier high fat potato chips.No added sugar dips and relishes to tantalise your taste buds!We hope this helps and have a happy and safe Halloween!All products listed are available online and in our NEW Ramsgate Store!WholeFood Earth22, Leigh RoadHaine Industrial Estate4032277001622RamsgateCT12 5EU

Carob has quietly been a favourite in health food shops for decades, often described as a natural alternative to chocolate. But what exactly is it, how does it compare to cocoa, and is it any good? If you have spotted carob powder on the shelf and wondered whether it is worth a try, here is a complete, honest guide to this naturally sweet ingredient. What is carob? Carob comes from the pod of the carob tree, an evergreen native to the Mediterranean. The long, leathery pods are dried, roasted and ground into a fine powder that looks a little like cocoa. Carob has been eaten for thousands of years around the Mediterranean and Middle East, both as a food and as a natural sweetener. The powder has a warm, malty, naturally sweet flavour with caramel notes, which is why it is so often compared to chocolate. How is carob different from cocoa? Although carob and cocoa look similar and are used in similar ways, they are quite different. The most important distinction is that carob is naturally sweet, whereas cocoa is naturally bitter, so recipes using carob often need less added sugar. Carob is also naturally free from caffeine and theobromine, the stimulant compounds found in chocolate, which makes it popular with people who are sensitive to caffeine or who want something to enjoy in the evening. Carob is lower in fat than cocoa too, and it brings its own fibre. The honest caveat is that carob does not taste exactly like chocolate. It is delicious in its own right, but it has a distinct malty, fruity character, so it is best appreciated as its own ingredient rather than expected to be an identical swap for cocoa. Is carob good for you? Carob has some genuinely appealing qualities. It is a source of fibre, contains various minerals, and is naturally caffeine-free, which sets it apart from chocolate. Because it is naturally sweet, it can help you cut back on added sugar in baking and drinks. That said, it is best thought of as a wholesome, enjoyable ingredient rather than a superfood or a health cure. As with anything, the benefits come from using it as part of a varied, balanced diet. How to use carob powder Carob powder is wonderfully versatile and can be used much like cocoa. Stir it into warm milk or a plant-based alternative for a naturally sweet, caffeine-free hot drink, a lovely bedtime option. Add it to smoothies, porridge and yoghurt for a mellow, chocolatey sweetness. In baking, use it in cakes, brownies, biscuits, flapjacks and energy balls, remembering to reduce the sugar a little because carob is already sweet. It also works beautifully alongside ingredients like banana, dates, orange and nut butter. Our Organic Carob Powder has no added sugar and is an easy way to start experimenting. Can you swap carob for cocoa in recipes? Yes, with a couple of tweaks. As a rough guide, carob powder can replace cocoa powder in roughly equal amounts, but because carob is sweeter and less bitter, it is worth cutting back on the sugar in the recipe and tasting as you go. The flavour will be gentler and maltier rather than deep and bitter, so it suits recipes where you want a softer, sweeter result. It is well worth a little experimentation to find the balance you like. Who might especially enjoy carob? Carob is a natural fit for several people. Anyone avoiding caffeine, including those cutting back in the evenings, will appreciate that it has none. It is naturally vegan and suits plant-based diets. And because it is sweet and mellow, it is often popular with children and with anyone who finds dark chocolate too bitter. It is also a useful cupboard ingredient for lower-sugar baking. A versatile & healthy ingredient Carob is a naturally sweet, caffeine-free, fibre-rich powder made from Mediterranean carob pods, and it deserves a place on the shelf in its own right. It is not a perfect chocolate impersonator, but as a wholesome, versatile ingredient for drinks, baking and snacks, it has plenty to offer. Give it a try, adjust the sugar to suit its natural sweetness, and enjoy carob for exactly what it is.

Chocolate has quietly become more expensive, and shoppers have noticed both higher prices and smaller bars. Behind that shift is a genuine story about how chocolate is made, where cocoa comes from, and what actually goes into the cheaper products on the shelf. Here is a clear, evidence-based look at why real chocolate costs what it does. It starts with the cocoa bean All chocolate begins with cocoa, grown on trees that need a hot, humid climate close to the equator. In practice this means the vast majority of the world's cocoa comes from a small band of countries, with West Africa, and Ivory Coast and Ghana in particular, supplying the majority of global production. Concentrating supply in so few places makes the whole market vulnerable to anything that affects those regions. That vulnerability has shown up sharply in recent years. Poor harvests driven by difficult weather, ageing cocoa trees, and plant diseases such as swollen shoot virus and black pod have reduced yields, pushing cocoa prices to record highs. When the raw ingredient becomes scarcer and dearer, the cost flows through to the finished bar. Growing cocoa is hard, low-paid work Cocoa is largely produced on small farms, and harvesting is manual. Pods are cut from the trees by hand, split open, and the beans are then fermented and dried before they are shipped anywhere. Despite all this labour, many cocoa farmers earn very little, which is one of the reasons certification schemes such as Fairtrade exist. Ethical, better-paid sourcing adds cost, but it reflects the real work behind the crop. Real chocolate versus the cheap stuff Here is where price differences really open up. Genuine chocolate is made from cocoa solids and cocoa butter, the natural fat of the bean. Cocoa butter is expensive and in high demand, so cheaper products often reduce the amount of real cocoa and bulk the bar out instead. Two things typically fill the gap. The first is sugar, which is far cheaper than cocoa, so budget chocolate tends to contain a lot of it and correspondingly little cocoa. The second is fat substitution: some products replace part of the cocoa butter with cheaper vegetable fats. In many countries these can only be called "chocolate" within strict limits, and products that lean heavily on vegetable fat and flavourings are often labelled "chocolate flavoured" or sold as compound coatings rather than true chocolate. Checking the cocoa percentage and the ingredients list tells you a great deal: real chocolate lists cocoa mass and cocoa butter high up, not sugar and vegetable oil. Why higher cocoa content costs more This is why a bar of good dark chocolate with a high cocoa percentage costs more than a sweet, mass-produced one. The more actual cocoa in the bar, the more of that expensive, climate-sensitive, hand-harvested ingredient you are paying for. You are also often paying for better beans, more careful processing and fairer sourcing. The price gap is not arbitrary; it reflects genuine differences in what is inside. Getting more cocoa for your money If you love the taste of real chocolate but want to manage the cost, cooking with cocoa is a smart route. Good-quality cocoa powder lets you make brownies, hot chocolate and desserts with plenty of genuine chocolate flavour for a fraction of the price of bars. Our Organic Alkalised Cocoa Powder is a versatile pantry staple for exactly this. It is also worth knowing about carob, a naturally sweet pod that is often used as a caffeine-free alternative to cocoa. It has its own distinct flavour rather than being a perfect chocolate substitute, but it is a useful, lower-cost option for baking and hot drinks. Our Organic Carob Powder is worth a try if you would like to experiment. Real cocoa is expensive: Real chocolate is expensive because real cocoa is expensive: it is grown in a few vulnerable regions, harvested by hand, increasingly hit by disease and weather, and traded in a market under real strain. Cheaper products keep costs down by using less cocoa and more sugar and vegetable fat. Once you know what to look for on the label, it becomes much easier to judge when you are paying for genuine chocolate and when you are mostly paying for sugar.

A major review published in late 2025 put ultra-processed food back in the headlines. A series of papers in The Lancet, drawing on more than a hundred long-term studies, concluded that diets high in ultra-processed food are linked to harm across every major organ system in the body. One of the researchers called it a "seismic" threat to public health. Here is what the study found, what it does and does not prove, and what it means for how you eat. First, what counts as ultra-processed? Not all processing is bad. Freezing vegetables, milling flour, drying fruit, these are processing too, and they are fine. Ultra-processed food is a specific category: industrially made products built largely from substances you would not find in a home kitchen, things like protein isolates, modified starches, emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners, colours and flavourings. Think packaged snacks and crisps, fizzy drinks, most breakfast cereals, ready meals, mass-produced bread and a lot of "diet" and protein bars. The giveaway is usually a long ingredients list full of names you do not recognise. This matters because ultra-processed food is now the bulk of what many of us eat. In both the UK and US, more than half of the average person's daily calories come from it. What the study actually found This was not one small experiment. Forty-three scientists from six continents spent years reviewing more than 100 long-term studies covering close to 10 million people. Across that evidence they found ultra-processed food linked to more than 30 negative health outcomes, spread across the whole body: Heart and circulation: higher risk of heart disease and stroke. Metabolism: higher risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Liver: links to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Brain and mood: associations with anxiety, depression and even Parkinson's disease. Other systems: links to certain cancers, kidney problems and early death. Of the 104 long-term studies they examined, 92 reported a higher risk of one or more chronic conditions. A separate US analysis went further still, tying ultra-processed food to more than 124,000 preventable deaths over a two-year period. An honest word about what this proves It is worth being straight about the science. Most of this research is observational, which means it shows a strong and consistent association between eating a lot of ultra-processed food and getting ill, but it cannot prove that the food is the sole cause. People who eat more ultra-processed food often differ in other ways too. That said, when this many studies, across this many people, all point the same direction, the pattern is hard to wave away. The researchers were clear that the weight of evidence now justifies treating ultra-processed food as a serious public health issue, not a fad worry. So what do you actually do about it? The encouraging part is that the fix is not complicated or expensive. You do not need a perfect diet or a cupboard full of supplements. You just need to shift the balance towards food that has had less done to it. A few simple moves: Read the ingredients, not the health claims on the front. A short list of recognisable ingredients is a good sign. Lean on single-ingredient staples: oats, rice, lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, fruit and vegetables, plain yoghurt. Cook a little more from scratch. It does not have to be elaborate; a pot of porridge or a tray of roast veg counts. Be wary of products that market themselves as healthy. Plenty of "high-protein" and "low-sugar" snacks are still ultra-processed. Make swaps, not sacrifices. Trade the flavoured cereal for oats and fruit, the snack bar for nuts, the fizzy drink for sparkling water. Whole Food Earth Approach This is the thinking behind everything we stock: real, single-ingredient food with nothing hidden in it. Our range is built around exactly the kind of staples this research points you towards, organic grains, seeds, nuts, pulses, fruit and plant powders that are simply the food itself, dried or milled and nothing more. You can read every ingredient because there is usually only one. Eating well does not mean eating joylessly; it mostly means eating food that still looks like food. The latest science is a useful nudge rather than a reason to panic. Crowd your plate with simple, whole ingredients, keep the heavily processed stuff as the occasional treat it was always meant to be, and your whole body, every organ of it, stands to benefit. Note: This article summarises published research for general information and is not medical advice. If you have specific health concerns, please speak to a qualified professional.