Agi Kaja

Layers of silky coconut cream and sharp raspberry, topped with crunchy cacao nibs. Make them the day before.

A soft chocolate loaf with a hint of cinnamon, made without eggs or butter. Tie it with string for an easy gift.

Thin, crunchy gingerbread stars and people, spiced with ginger, cinnamon and cloves and made without butter.

A plant-based Christmas dinner can sit proudly in the middle of the table, not as a side dish for the one guest who does not eat meat. The secret is a centrepiece with real depth of flavour, plus trimmings cooked with the same care as any other year. Here is how to plan the whole plate, from nut roast to gravy, using ingredients you can buy in one go. The centrepiece: a proper nut roast A good nut roast is savoury, moist and holds together when you slice it. Think of it as having four parts: nuts for richness, a grain or pulse for body, vegetables for moisture, and seasoning for depth. The base mix Nuts (about 250g): a mix works best. Try cashews for creaminess, walnuts for a slightly bitter edge, and Brazil nuts or pecans for richness. Chop roughly so the roast has texture. Grain or pulse (about 150g cooked): green lentils, quinoa or roasted buckwheat. Vegetables: onion, garlic, celery, carrot and mushrooms, cooked down in oil until soft and golden. Chestnuts: a pack of Organico Peeled Chestnuts, roughly crumbled, makes it taste of Christmas. Binder: two flax eggs (2 tablespoons milled flaxseed mixed with 6 tablespoons water) and a handful of porridge oats or breadcrumbs. The flavour This is where most nut roasts fall flat. Be generous. Dried porcini mushrooms, soaked and chopped. Add the soaking water too. A spoon of brown rice miso or shoyu for savoury depth. Two tablespoons of nutritional yeast for a cheesy note. Sage, thyme and rosemary, plus a grating of nutmeg. A handful of dried cranberries or chopped apricots for sweetness. Press the mixture into a lined loaf tin and bake at 180°C (160°C fan) for 45 minutes to an hour, until firm and browned on top. Leave it to rest for 10 minutes before turning out, or it may crumble. You can assemble it the day before and keep it in the fridge, then bake on the day. Stuffing Stuffing is often plant-based already, or very nearly. For quick options, the Shropshire Spice wholemeal stuffing mixes come in three flavours: Cranberry, Orange and Chestnut, Cider Apple and English Sage and Wild Sage and Roast Onion. The packs suggest butter and stock; use olive oil or coconut oil and vegetable stock instead. These contain wheat, so they are not suitable for a gluten-free table. To make your own, fry onion in oil with sage and thyme, then mix with breadcrumbs, chopped chestnuts, a few pine nuts and enough stock to bind. Bake in a dish or roll into balls. Gravy A good vegan gravy starts with browned onions and the juices from roasting vegetables. Add a spoon of flour, then stock, a splash of red wine or balsamic vinegar, a little miso and a sprig of thyme. Simmer until glossy and strain. For stock, use Kallo Organic Vegetable Stock Cubes, Kallo Mushroom Stock Cubes or Marigold Reduced Salt Bouillon. If time is short, Marigold Instant Gravy Granules are a fast fallback. Yorkshire puddings Traditional Yorkshire puddings rely on eggs and milk. The easiest plant-based route is the Plantside Gluten Free Plant-Based Yorkshire Puddings, which cook from frozen. They are shipped frozen with signed-for delivery, so plan your order for a day you are at home. The trimmings Roast potatoes: parboil, shake to rough up the edges and roast in very hot oil. Organic rapeseed oil works well at high heat. Brussels sprouts: roast or pan-fry with chestnuts and a splash of maple syrup. Red cabbage: braise slowly with apple, vinegar, a little sugar, cloves and allspice. Carrots and parsnips: roast with oil and a pinch of cumin or cardamom. Cranberry sauce: Roots and Wings Organic Cranberry Sauce with Orange and Spices. Bread sauce: plant milk infused with onion, cloves and a bay leaf, thickened with breadcrumbs and finished with nutmeg. A simple timeline Two days before: make the gravy and red cabbage. Both reheat well. Christmas Eve: assemble the nut roast and stuffing, cover and chill. Peel the vegetables. On the day: roast potatoes and vegetables, bake the nut roast and stuffing, heat Yorkshires and gravy at the end. For pudding, our Christmas puddings guide lists the vegan puddings we stock. FAQ Can I make a nut roast ahead? Yes. Assemble it a day ahead and keep it covered in the fridge, then bake on the day. It can also be baked, cooled and reheated in slices. How do I stop my nut roast falling apart? Use enough binder, press the mix firmly into the tin, and let it rest for 10 minutes after baking before you turn it out. Is the stuffing mix vegan? Check the full ingredients on the pack. Make it up with oil and vegetable stock instead of butter for a plant-based version. Can someone with a nut allergy eat this? No. For a nut-free centrepiece, try a lentil and mushroom loaf using seeds such as sunflower and pumpkin seeds in place of nuts, and check every label. Find festive food, gifts and baking ingredients on our Christmas page.

A homemade Christmas cake is one of the easiest festive bakes to get right, as long as you give it time. Most of the work happens before the oven goes on: choosing the fruit, soaking it, and lining the tin properly. After baking, the cake sits quietly in a tin for a few weeks while the flavours settle. This guide walks you through each stage, with the ingredients we stock for every part of it. If you would like a full recipe to follow, our Christmas cake with dried fruits is a good place to start. Read on for the why behind each step. Where the Christmas cake came from The rich fruit cake we eat in December grew out of the Twelfth Cake, which was cut on Twelfth Night at the end of the Christmas season. Seventeenth-century English recipes for it used expensive ingredients such as raisins, almonds and candied peel, and were raised with yeast like a fruit bread. During the Victorian era, Twelfth Night customs faded and the celebrations moved to Christmas Day. Food historians credit Mrs Beeton with the first English recipe to carry the name "Christmas Cake". Step 1: Choose your dried fruit A classic cake uses around a kilo of dried fruit for a 20cm round tin. You can buy a ready mix or build your own blend. Mixed Fruit with Peel is the simplest option, with the vine fruits and peel already combined. Currants are small and intense, and give the cake its dark, traditional look. Turkish Sultanas and Jumbo Black Raisins add juiciness. Glacé Cherries bring colour. Rinse and dry them, then toss in a little flour so they do not sink. Chopped Mixed Citrus Peel gives the bitter-sweet citrus note that balances all that sugar. For something a little different, swap part of the vine fruit for chopped figs, apricots, cranberries or dates. Keep the total weight about the same and the recipe will still work. Step 2: Soak the fruit Soaking plumps the fruit so it does not pull moisture out of the cake as it bakes. Put the fruit in a large bowl, pour over about 150ml of brandy, rum, sherry or cold black tea, cover and leave overnight. Stir it once or twice. Orange juice works too if you are baking for children or anyone avoiding alcohol, but the cake will not keep quite as long. Step 3: The rest of the ingredients The standard proportions for a 20cm tin are roughly equal weights of butter, sugar and flour, about 225g each, with four eggs. Sugar: Dark Muscovado Sugar gives a deep, treacly flavour and a moist crumb. Soft Dark Sugar is a slightly milder alternative. Flour: plain flour such as our Organic Plain White Flour. A little almond flour in place of some of the flour makes the cake richer and helps it keep. Nuts: Flaked Almonds, walnut pieces or blanched almonds for the top if you want a Dundee-style finish. Spice: two teaspoons of Organic Mixed Spice, plus a grating of whole nutmeg and a pinch of cinnamon. Flavour extras: grated orange and lemon zest, a spoon of blackstrap molasses for colour, and a few drops of vanilla extract. Step 4: Line the tin well A Christmas cake bakes for a long time at a low temperature, so the edges need protecting. Line the base and sides of the tin with a double layer of baking paper, letting the paper stand a few centimetres above the rim. Some bakers also tie a band of brown paper or newspaper around the outside of the tin. This stops the outer edge from drying out before the middle is cooked. Step 5: Bake low and slow Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs one at a time, then fold in the flour, spices and soaked fruit. Spoon the mixture into the tin, level it and make a slight dip in the centre so it bakes flat. Bake at around 140°C (120°C fan) for four to four and a half hours. Check from three and a half hours. A skewer pushed into the centre should come out clean, and the top should feel firm. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin before you take it out. Step 6: Feed and store Once cool, prick the top with a skewer and spoon over a tablespoon or two of brandy or rum. Wrap the cake in baking paper and then foil, and keep it in an airtight tin somewhere cool. Feed it again every week or two until a week before you ice it. Stop feeding at that point so the surface is dry enough for the marzipan to stick. When to bake Many families bake in late October or November to give the cake six to eight weeks to mature. That is not a rule. A cake baked in early December will still taste good, it just has less time to mellow. If you are late, soak the fruit for longer and skip the feeding. Short on time? If baking is not going to happen this year, the GF Iced Christmas Cake from The Foods of Athenry is ready to serve, already finished with marzipan and icing, and made without gluten. FAQ How far ahead can I make a Christmas cake? Most bakers make it six to eight weeks before Christmas. A well-wrapped, fed cake keeps for a long time in a cool, airtight tin. Can I make a Christmas cake without alcohol? Yes. Soak the fruit in cold tea or orange juice and skip the feeding. Keep the cake in the fridge once it is cut and eat it within a couple of weeks. Why did my fruit sink to the bottom? Usually because the fruit was wet or the batter was too loose. Drain any excess soaking liquid, dry glacé cherries well and toss them in a spoon of flour before folding them in. Can I use different dried fruit? Yes. Keep the total weight about the same. Figs, dates, apricots and cranberries all work well alongside the traditional vine fruits. Find festive food, gifts and baking ingredients on our Christmas page.

Is panettone healthy? It looks lighter than Christmas pudding and it is made with sourdough, which has a good reputation. Still, it is an enriched bread made with butter, egg yolk and sugar, so it belongs with cakes rather than everyday bread. Below we look at what goes into a real panettone, what the research says about sourdough, and how the panettoni we sell compare on sugar and saturated fat. What goes into a real panettone In Italy the word panettone is protected by law. Under a ministerial decree from 2005, updated in 2017, a product sold as panettone must contain: butter, at least 16% of the dough, with no other fat apart from milk fat or cocoa butter egg yolk, at least 4% raisins and candied citrus peel, at least 20% in the classic version wheat flour, sugar and salt natural sourdough leavening, with only a little baker's yeast allowed Milk, honey, malt, natural flavourings, emulsifiers and certain preservatives are also permitted. Panettoni made outside Italy don't have to follow these rules, so it's worth reading the ingredients list. Two things follow from this. A classic panettone is rich in butter, egg yolk and sugar, so it is energy-dense. And the traditional recipe is built on recognisable ingredients rather than a long list of additives. Panettone, sugar and saturated fat UK government advice is that adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day. Free sugars include sugar added in baking, honey and syrups. The advice for saturated fat is no more than 30g a day for men and 20g for women. Panettone contains added sugar, sugar from candied peel and saturated fat from butter. Recipes vary a great deal between bakers, and filled panettoni (chocolate, pistachio cream, limoncello) usually add more. Treat a slice the way you would a slice of cake. A rich, buttery piece is satisfying, so one is usually enough. Does sourdough make panettone healthier? You'll often read that sourdough is easier to digest or gentler on blood sugar than ordinary bread. We looked at what the research actually shows. A 2017 review in the British Journal of Nutrition found that sourdough fermentation reduced the rise in blood sugar after eating bread in some studies, depending on the flour and the fermentation used. More recent reviews are more cautious. A 2023 systematic review in Advances in Nutrition concluded that it is hard to reach a clear consensus on the health benefits of sourdough, because studies use very different flours, starter cultures and methods. A 2023 review in Frontiers in Nutrition noted that a meta-analysis found no convincing evidence that sourdough lowers the glycaemic index of bread overall, and suggested that the type of grain and the structure of the bread may matter more than the sourdough itself. Almost all of this research was carried out on everyday bread, not on panettone, which contains far more butter, egg and sugar. The long sourdough fermentation is a sign of a traditionally made panettone and gives it flavour, texture and keeping quality. We wouldn't claim it makes panettone a health food. What about the fruit? Raisins bring natural sweetness and some fibre. Candied peel is preserved in sugar, so it adds to the sugar content. Neither makes panettone part of your five a day, but a classic panettone does at least contain real fruit rather than flavourings. How our panettoni compare Recipes differ more than you might expect. These figures come from the manufacturers' nutrition labels, per 100g: Panettone Sugars per 100g Saturated fat per 100g Tre Marie Traditional Milanese, 750g 28g 9.1g Tre Marie Capolavoro Dark Chocolate and Cream, 830g 24g 11.3g Tre Marie Pistacchio Cream, 950g 17g 11.4g Artysan Organic Gluten Free, 500g 26g 7.8g Artysan Organic Vegan, 500g 23.2g 8.6g Probios Organic & Vegan with Wheat, 500g 20g 1.4g Probios Organic & Vegan with Raisins, 300g 24g 2.1g Probios Organic No Added Sugar, 500g 14g 8.9g Butter-based panettoni are higher in saturated fat, as you'd expect. Most of the Probios vegan versions use sunflower oil and are much lower in saturated fat, while the Artysan vegan panettone uses shea butter and comes out close to the butter-based ones. The Probios no-added-sugar panettone has the least sugar of the group, though its raisins mean it still contains some. Recipes can change, so check the label on the pack you receive. Panettone for gluten-free, vegan and lower-sugar diets Gluten free: the Artysan by Organico Organic Gluten Free Panettone uses rice flour and potato starch instead of wheat. It contains egg and milk. Vegan: our Probios, Go Vegan and Artysan vegan panettoni are made without butter or eggs. Several use spelt, which is a type of wheat, so they are not gluten free. Less sugar: the Probios Organic Panettone with No Added Sugar is sweetened with erythritol instead of sugar. The classic: for the real Milanese experience, the Tre Marie Traditional Milanese Panettone is made with butter, egg yolk, sultanas, candied citrus and natural yeast. Allergens to look out for Gluten: traditional panettone is made with wheat flour, so choose a gluten-free version if you need to avoid gluten. Dairy and egg: butter and egg yolk are core ingredients in classic panettone. Alcohol: some filled panettoni contain liqueur. Our Seggiano limoncello panettone contains limoncello at 11% of the recipe. Enjoying panettone sensibly Christmas food is about pleasure and company as much as nutrition. A properly made panettone, with real butter and a long fermentation, is far more satisfying than a cheap one, so a smaller slice goes further. Eat it as part of a meal, with coffee at breakfast or with fresh fruit and yoghurt for dessert, rather than picking at it between meals. Cut it when people are together, and keep it sealed in its bag so it stays soft and you don't feel you have to finish it in one go. Panettone isn't good for you in the way vegetables are. A traditionally made one is simple food, though: butter, eggs, flour, fruit and time. Enjoy a slice slowly and in good company. You'll find our full range on our Christmas page. Panettone health questions Is panettone healthier than Christmas cake? It depends on the recipe. Panettone is lighter in texture, but classic versions are rich in butter and sugar. Compare the nutrition labels of the products you are choosing between. Is sourdough panettone easier to digest? The research on sourdough and digestion is mixed, and almost all of it looks at everyday bread rather than panettone. There isn't enough evidence to say sourdough panettone is easier to digest. Is there a panettone with no added sugar? Yes. The Probios Organic Panettone with No Added Sugar is sweetened with erythritol. It still contains natural sugars from raisins.

A good Christmas tea tastes of oranges, cloves and cinnamon, much like mulled wine or gingerbread, but in a mug. It also makes an easy small present. Below we explain what goes into a Christmas tea, which of our festive blends are caffeine-free, and how to brew them well. What makes a Christmas tea? Most Christmas teas use the same spices that go into mince pies and mulled wine: cinnamon for warmth and natural sweetness cloves for that deep festive aroma ginger for gentle heat orange and lemon peel for brightness star anise, cardamom and black pepper for a chai-like edge The base changes the cup a lot. Some Christmas teas are made with black tea, which gives a stronger, brisker flavour and contains caffeine. Many use rooibos, a South African plant that is naturally caffeine-free and has a mellow, slightly sweet taste that goes well with spice. Others are herbal infusions with no tea leaves at all. For an evening cup that won't keep you awake, choose a rooibos or herbal blend. Caffeine-free Christmas teas Yogi Tea Organic Christmas Tea, 17 bags A rooibos base with cinnamon, liquorice, coriander, honeybush, orange peel, cloves, black pepper, anise, star anise and cardamom. Warm and sweetly spiced, with every ingredient certified organic. Pukka Organic Winter Warmer, 20 bags Ginger leads, followed by rooibos, orange peel, star anise, hibiscus and sweet cinnamon, with lemon balm, clove and a little black pepper. The warmth builds as you drink. Caffeine-free, organic and in compostable tea bags. Hampstead Christmas Tea, 20 bags Cinnamon, ginger and orange peel with lemongrass, liquorice and cloves. A sweet, spicy infusion with no tea leaves, made with organic ingredients, some from biodynamic farms. Steep for three to five minutes. Joe's Tea Co. Spiced Chai Rooibos, 15 bags A chai without the caffeine. Organic rooibos with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom, mace, black pepper, liquorice, star anise, fennel and orange peel. Try it with a splash of warm oat milk. Teapigs Pumpkin Spice Chai, 15 bags Apple, cinnamon, cocoa husk, carob and pumpkin with cardamom, clove, star anise and vanilla. Sweet and gently spiced, rather like pumpkin pie. Brew for three minutes. Christmas tea with black tea Steenbergs Organic Christmas Tea, 100g loose leaf Organic Nilgiri black tea with cinnamon, ginger, clove and cardamom and a little orange and lemon peel. There are no added flavourings, so the flavour comes from the spices and peel themselves. Use a teaspoon per cup and brew for about five minutes, or simmer it with milk and a little sugar for a festive chai. Contains caffeine. Christmas tea gift sets English Tea Shop Vintage Christmas Collections, 40 sachets A limited edition box of 40 individually wrapped organic sachets in five blends: Chai Black Tea; Rooibos, Cocoa & Vanilla; Cocoa, Cinnamon & Ginger; Coffee Cocoa; and Peachy Keen. It mixes caffeinated and caffeine-free teas, so it suits sharing. English Tea Shop Premium Holiday Collection Red Gift Tin, 72 bags A red gift tin with 72 individually wrapped bags in nine blends, including Peppermint Candy, Winter Fruit, Red Cherry Chai, Berry Rooibos, Ginger Cranberry and Spicy Pumpkin. A generous present for a tea lover, or plenty to keep guests going over the holidays. For a different tea every day in December, see the tea advent calendars from Clipper, Yogi Tea, Pukka and English Tea Shop on our Christmas page. How to brew Christmas tea Use freshly boiled water, as spices need heat to release their flavour. Spiced and rooibos blends usually taste best after four to five minutes. Check the pack for each blend's recommended time. Put a saucer over the cup to keep the tea hot while it steeps. Black tea and rooibos chai blends work well with a splash of milk or a plant-based drink. For a crowd, brew a few bags in a teapot with a slice of orange and a cinnamon stick as an alcohol-free alternative to mulled wine. A note on liquorice in tea Several Christmas teas contain liquorice root for its natural sweetness. Liquorice contains glycyrrhizin, which can raise blood pressure if you have a lot of it regularly. The British Heart Foundation suggests that people with high blood pressure or heart disease avoid or limit liquorice products, including liquorice tea. If that applies to you, check the ingredients and choose a blend without it, such as the Pukka Winter Warmer, Teapigs Pumpkin Spice Chai or Steenbergs Christmas Tea. Browse all of our festive drinks in the Christmas drinks collection. Christmas tea questions Is Christmas tea caffeine-free? Not always. Rooibos and herbal Christmas teas, such as Yogi Christmas Tea, Pukka Winter Warmer and Hampstead Christmas Tea, are caffeine-free. Blends made with black tea, such as Steenbergs Organic Christmas Tea, contain caffeine. What spices are in Christmas tea? Most Christmas teas use cinnamon, cloves, ginger and orange peel. Many also include star anise, cardamom and black pepper. Can you add milk to Christmas tea? Black tea and rooibos chai blends go well with milk or a plant-based drink. Fruity and herbal infusions are usually best without.

A tin of coconut cream is one of the most useful things to have in the kitchen. It makes a curry richer, whips into a dairy-free topping for Christmas pudding and gives desserts a silky finish without milk or cream. Here's how coconut cream differs from coconut milk, ten ways to use a tin, and how to store what's left. What is coconut cream? Our RAWGORILLA Organic Coconut Cream, 400ml is made from the kernel of mature organic coconuts blended with a little water. A small amount of guar gum and xanthan gum keeps it smooth. It is organic, dairy free and suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Coconut cream vs coconut milk The main difference is fat, and fat is what gives richness and body. Coconut cream is about 24% fat. It is thick and velvety with a strong coconut flavour. Use it for desserts, whipping and creamy sauces. Coconut milk is about 11 to 12% fat. It is lighter and pourable. Use it for everyday curries, soups, smoothies and porridge. You can thin coconut cream with water or stock and use it like milk, but you can't easily thicken milk into cream, so cream is the more flexible tin to keep. For lighter dishes, our RAWGORILLA Organic Coconut Milk, 400ml does the job. Why has my coconut cream gone solid? Coconut fat sets below about 25°C, so in a British kitchen in winter you'll often find a firm layer on top when you open the tin. For cooking, shake the tin well before opening or stir it as it warms in the pan. For whipping, that firm layer is exactly what you need. Ten ways to use coconut cream 1. Dairy-free whipped cream Chill the tin in the fridge overnight. Open it without shaking, scoop out the thick set cream and whisk for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Sweeten with a little maple syrup or icing sugar and add a drop of vanilla. Serve with Christmas pudding, mince pies or berries. 2. A richer curry Stir a few spoonfuls into a vegetable, chickpea or lentil curry near the end of cooking. It softens the heat and gives the sauce a glossy finish. 3. Creamy dhal Cook red lentils with onion, garlic, ginger and spices, then stir in coconut cream just before serving. Our Organic Red Split Lentils work well here. 4. Satay sauce Warm coconut cream with peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, a little chilli and a pinch of sugar. Thin with water and serve with noodles, tofu or grilled vegetables. 5. Coconut rice pudding Replace some or all of the dairy in your rice pudding with coconut cream loosened with water, then add orange zest and a pinch of cinnamon for a festive version. Use our Pudding Rice and Organic Ceylon Cinnamon. For a full method, see our coconut rice pudding with orange and cinnamon. It uses coconut milk, so swap in some coconut cream for an even richer pudding. 6. Creamy winter soup A swirl of coconut cream turns butternut squash, carrot or sweet potato soup into something special. Add it at the end and warm through gently. 7. Coconut hot chocolate Whisk a couple of spoonfuls into your hot chocolate as it heats for a rich, dairy-free drink. 8. Dairy-free panna cotta Heat coconut cream with a little sugar and vanilla, set it with agar and pour into small glasses. Top with fruit compote once set. 9. No-churn ice cream Blend coconut cream with ripe banana or mango and a little sweetener, freeze in a shallow tub and stir every hour for the first few hours to keep it smooth. 10. Piña colada Shake coconut cream with pineapple juice and ice, with or without rum. How to store coconut cream Once opened, move leftover coconut cream into a clean covered container, keep it in the fridge and use it within three days. If you only need a little at a time, freeze it in an ice cube tray and add a cube to curries or soups. Frozen coconut cream can turn slightly grainy when it thaws, so use it for cooking rather than whipping. Keep unopened tins somewhere cool and dry, and check the best-before date on the tin. Coconut cream nutrition Per 100g our coconut cream contains around 239kcal, 24g of fat and 22.6g of saturated fat. UK government advice is no more than 20g of saturated fat a day for women and 30g for men. Like dairy cream, coconut cream works best as an ingredient that adds richness, used by the spoonful. In savoury dishes you can stretch it with stock or water and still get plenty of flavour. Pick up a tin of RAWGORILLA Organic Coconut Cream and start with the whipped cream. It's the easiest place to begin. Coconut cream questions Can you whip coconut cream? Yes. Chill the tin overnight, scoop out the solid cream without the liquid and whisk until fluffy. Can I use coconut cream instead of coconut milk? Yes. Mix roughly equal amounts of coconut cream and water to get a consistency closer to coconut milk. Is coconut cream dairy free? Yes. RAWGORILLA Organic Coconut Cream is made from coconut and water and is suitable for vegans.

Christmas pudding has been part of the British Christmas for well over a century, and today there is a version for almost every table: organic, gluten free, vegan or alcohol free. Stir-up Sunday, the traditional day for making the pudding, falls on 22 November in 2026. Here is the story behind it and the puddings we have in stock this year. A short history of Christmas pudding The pudding started life as something much closer to porridge. The Forme of Cury, the oldest known English cookery book, dating from around 1390, includes a recipe called "fygey", a thick mixture of dried fruit that is often described as an early ancestor of plum pudding. By the 17th century a spiced, fruity "plum porridge" was firmly linked with Christmas. Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary that he ate "a mess of brave plum-porridge" on Christmas Day in 1662. "Plum" didn't mean plums as we know them. It was a general word for dried fruit, from raisins and currants to prunes. During the 18th century the mixture became firmer, and plum pudding recipes began to appear in cookery books. John Nott, cook to the Duke of Bolton, published one in 1723. How the Victorians made it a Christmas pudding The pudding's place at Christmas was settled in the 1840s. Charles Dickens gave it a famous scene in A Christmas Carol in 1843, the same year Queen Victoria served plum pudding at her Christmas dinner. In 1845 Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery for Private Families included recipes she called "Christmas puddings". In Victorian kitchens every step was done by hand: stoning raisins, shredding suet, grating breadcrumbs and sugar. Families shared out the work. What is Stir-up Sunday? Stir-up Sunday is the last Sunday before Advent. It takes its name from the Church of England prayer read that day, which begins: "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people." By Victorian times it had become the day to make the Christmas pudding, leaving it five weeks to mature. Each member of the family took a turn to stir the mixture and make a wish. Some households added a silver coin for luck, though more than one person has lost a tooth to that custom. In 2026 Stir-up Sunday is on 22 November. If you aren't making your own pudding, it's a good reminder to order one. Our Christmas puddings for 2026 Classic and luxury Christmas puddings Matthew Walker Luxury Christmas PuddingMatthew Walker has made Christmas puddings in Derbyshire since 1899. Their luxury recipe is full of sultanas, raisins, glacé cherries, almonds and mixed peel, steeped with cider, rum and brandy. Available in 100g for one, 400g for a small gathering or 800g for the whole family. Contains wheat and almonds. Thursday Cottage Christmas Pudding, 454g and 112gA traditional pudding with sultanas, currants and raisins, brandy, cider and Seville orange marmalade, which adds a gentle bitter-orange note. The 112g size serves one. Contains wheat and egg. Organic Christmas pudding Roots & Wings Organic Family Christmas Pudding, 454gOrganic sultanas, raisins, currants, dates and glacé cherries with grated carrot and apple, almonds, warming spices and a dash of stout and cognac. Moist, generous and made for sharing. Contains wheat, barley, egg and almonds. Gluten-free Christmas puddings The Foods of Athenry Gluten Free Christmas Pudding, 200g and 400gMade by a family-run, dedicated gluten-free bakery in County Galway, Ireland, using a blend of rice, potato, maize, buckwheat and tapioca flours. Raisins, sultanas, dates and glacé cherries are enriched with butter, Irish cider and brandy. Contains milk and eggs. Matthew Walker Gluten Free Christmas Pudding, 100gA single portion made with gluten-free flour and breadcrumbs, sultanas, mixed peel, spices and a little cider and rum. May contain nuts, so not suitable for anyone with a nut allergy. Roots & Wings Christmas Pudding with Gluten Free Ingredients, 100gMade with organic ingredients and a gluten-free flour blend of rice, potato, maize and buckwheat. Contains egg, almonds, cognac and cider. Suitable for vegetarians but not vegans. Vegan Christmas pudding Matthew Walker Classic Christmas PuddingThe traditional recipe with sultanas, orange and lemon peel, mixed spice and a splash of cider and rum. Suitable for vegans. Contains wheat and may contain nuts. Alcohol-free Christmas pudding Matthew Walker Alcohol Free Christmas PuddingThe spirits are replaced with concentrated orange juice, so you still get a rich, fruity pudding with sultanas, candied peel and mixed spice. A good choice for drivers, children or anyone who'd rather not have alcohol. Contains wheat and may contain nuts. How to serve Christmas pudding Follow the heating instructions on the pack, as times vary with size and maker. Most puddings can be steamed or microwaved. To flame a pudding, warm a couple of tablespoons of brandy in a small pan, pour it over the hot pudding and light it carefully with a long match. Turn the lights down first and keep it well away from paper decorations. Serve with brandy butter, custard, cream or a dairy-free alternative such as whipped coconut cream. Leftover pudding can be crumbled over ice cream or fried in a little butter for Boxing Day breakfast. If you love the flavour but want it at breakfast, try the Ouse Valley Christmas Pudding Marmalade. Seville oranges and lemons are mixed with brandy-soaked sultanas, currants and glacé cherries and a hint of mixed spice. It won Gold at the Dalemain Marmalade Awards. You'll find every pudding, plus stuffings, sauces and sides, in our Christmas dinner collection. Christmas pudding questions When is Stir-up Sunday 2026? Stir-up Sunday is on 22 November 2026, the Sunday before Advent begins. Is there a gluten-free Christmas pudding? Yes. We stock gluten-free puddings from The Foods of Athenry, Matthew Walker and Roots & Wings. Which Christmas pudding is vegan? The Matthew Walker Classic Christmas Pudding is suitable for vegans. It contains wheat and may contain nuts. Why is it called plum pudding when there are no plums? In earlier centuries "plum" was a general word for dried fruit such as raisins and currants, so plum pudding simply meant a pudding full of dried fruit. Find festive food, gifts and baking ingredients on our Christmas page.

Panettone is the tall, domed sweet bread that Italians eat at Christmas, and over the past twenty years it has become a regular sight on British tables too. Here is where it comes from, what Italian law says it must contain, how it found its way to the UK, and the panettoni we have in stock this year. The big bread of Milan Panettone comes from Milan, in Lombardy. The name explains itself: panetto means a small loaf, and the ending -one makes it large. Panettone is simply "the big bread". Plenty of romantic stories try to explain its origin. In the best known, a kitchen boy called Toni rescues a ruined ducal banquet with a sweet loaf, which the Duke of Milan names pan del Toni. Another tells of a young nobleman who works as a baker to win the baker's daughter. They are good stories, but they are legends. Language historians trace the word straight back to panetto, and panettone most likely grew out of a long Milanese custom of baking an enriched bread for Christmas. For centuries it was a fairly low, round loaf, baked at home or by local bakers and eaten mainly in and around Milan. Angelo Motta, Gioacchino Alemagna and the modern panettone In 1919 the Milanese baker Angelo Motta began producing panettone on a large scale. He also gave it the tall dome that defines it today. Around 1925 a rival baker, Gioacchino Alemagna, launched his own version. Competition between the two pushed panettone into industrial production and spread it across Italy. After the Second World War it became affordable for most families and turned from a Milanese speciality into Italy's national Christmas cake. Both brands still exist. After a period under Nestlé, they were bought in 2009 by Bauli, a bakery company from Verona. What Italian law says a panettone must contain In Italy the name panettone is protected. A ministerial decree of 22 July 2005, updated in 2017, sets out what a product sold as panettone must contain: butter as the only fat (milk fat, plus cocoa butter where used), at no less than 16% of the dough egg yolk at no less than 4% raisins and candied citrus peel at no less than 20% in the classic version natural leavening from a sourdough starter, with only a little baker's yeast allowed wheat flour, sugar and salt The sourdough matters most. A good panettone is fermented slowly over a long time, which is why proper ones take days to make and why the crumb pulls apart in long, soft strands. The rules also allow variations, from versions without fruit to filled and topped panettoni. Chocolate, pistachio cream and citrus fillings are now common in Italy. How panettone came to the UK Italian families brought panettone to Britain and kept the tradition going. For decades you found it mostly in Italian delis and cafés. Things changed this century. Around 2017 Selfridges reported that panettone was outselling Christmas pudding by two to one, and Waitrose recorded strong growth year after year. One industry analysis found that panettone made up 41% of UK festive cake sales between October and December 2024, ahead of traditional Christmas cake. The trend isn't one-way. Supermarket data shows the number of everyday supermarket panettoni sold has fallen since 2021, while premium, artisan and online sales have grown. People seem to be buying fewer but better ones, often as gifts. Part of the appeal is lightness. After a heavy Christmas dinner, a slice of airy, buttery bread is easier going than a dense fruit cake. It is also versatile, and Brits have made it their own: toasted for breakfast, used instead of bread in bread and butter pudding, or turned into French toast once it starts to dry out. How to serve panettone In Italy panettone is eaten at room temperature and cut into tall wedges from the top down. Some good ways to enjoy it: for breakfast with a strong coffee warmed for a few minutes in a low oven to bring out the butter and citrus as dessert with mascarpone, custard or a glass of dessert wine toasted and buttered the next day in bread and butter pudding or French toast when it's past its best Keep it sealed tightly in its bag so it doesn't dry out. Our panettone this Christmas We have panettone for most tables this year: classic Milanese, filled, vegan, gluten free and no added sugar. All are made in Italy. Classic Milanese panettone Tre Marie Traditional Milanese Panettone, 750gA golden, airy crumb made with butter, egg yolk and natural yeast, studded with sultanas and candied orange and citron peel. Contains wheat, milk and egg. Tre Marie Traditional Hand-Wrapped Panettone, 750gThe classic recipe, wrapped by hand in paper, which makes it a lovely present. Made with butter, free-range egg yolk, sultanas and candied citrus peel, and leavened with a sourdough starter. Contains wheat, milk and egg. Filled panettone Seggiano Limoncello Panettone, 500gHandmade in small batches and naturally leavened with the baker's 40-year-old mother yeast, then given 36 hours to prove and bake. The dough is studded with candied lemon peel and filled with a limoncello marmalade made with limoncello from Amalfi lemons. Contains wheat, milk, egg, barley and alcohol. Tre Marie Capolavoro Dark Chocolate and Cream Panettone, 830gA buttery panettone with dark chocolate drops and a soft pastry cream filling. One for dessert. Contains wheat, milk, egg and soya. Tre Marie Pistacchio Cream Panettone, 950gTraditional dough with orange, filled with a smooth pistachio cream. Contains wheat, milk, egg and pistachio. Vegan panettone These are made without butter or eggs, using plant oils and shea butter instead, so they differ from the classic Milanese recipe. They still rely on a sourdough starter for their rise. Probios Organic & Vegan Traditional Panettone with Wheat, 500g: raisins and citrus, sweetened with agave syrup. Contains wheat, barley and soya. Probios Organic & Vegan Panettone with Raisins, 300g: a smaller size for one or two. Contains wheat, barley and soya. Probios Organic Chocolate Panettone with Dark Chocolate Chips, 500g: organic dark chocolate chips, with no butter or egg in the recipe. Contains wheat, barley and soya. Probios Organic & Vegan Spelt Panettone, 500g: made with spelt flour, raisins and orange. Contains spelt (a type of wheat) and barley. Probios Organic Vegan Spelt Sourdough Panettone with Raisins, 300g: the spelt recipe in a smaller size. Contains spelt and barley. Probios Organic Vegan Spelt Sourdough Panettone with Chocolate, 300g: spelt sourdough with chocolate. Contains spelt and barley. Go Vegan Organic Vegan Panettone with Spelt, 500g: spelt flour, sultanas, vanilla and citrus, sweetened with agave syrup. Contains spelt, barley and soya. Artysan by Organico Organic Vegan Panettone, 500g: sultanas and candied orange peel, free from soya and palm oil. Contains wheat and barley. Gluten-free panettone Artysan by Organico Organic Gluten Free Panettone, 500gBaked by a family bakery in the Veneto with eggs, butter, honey, sultanas and candied orange peel, using rice flour and potato starch instead of wheat. Contains egg and milk. No added sugar Probios Organic Panettone with No Added Sugar, 500gMade with butter, eggs and raisins and sweetened with erythritol instead of sugar. The raisins still contain natural sugars. Contains wheat, milk and egg. Always read the label on the pack you receive for full ingredients and allergen advice. You can browse the rest of our festive range on our Christmas page. Panettone questions What is the difference between panettone and pandoro? Both are Italian Christmas breads. Panettone comes from Milan and contains raisins and candied peel. Pandoro comes from Verona, is star-shaped and has no fruit. How long does panettone keep? Check the best-before date on the pack. Once opened, keep it tightly sealed in its bag to stop it drying out, and use any stale slices for French toast or bread and butter pudding. Is panettone vegan? Traditional panettone is not vegan, because it contains butter and egg yolk. We stock several vegan panettoni from Probios, Go Vegan and Artysan by Organico, made with plant oils instead.

Advent calendars have come a long way from a few chalk marks on a door. This year our shelves hold vegan and dairy-free chocolate calendars, a Fairtrade option, a box of grown-up truffles and four tea advent calendars for anyone who would rather start the day with a cup than a chocolate. Below you'll find a short history of the tradition and a guide to every calendar we have in stock. Where the advent calendar comes from Counting down to Christmas began in 19th-century Germany. Protestant families marked the days in simple ways, such as chalking 24 lines on a door and rubbing one out each morning, or lighting a candle every evening. The first printed advent calendar is usually credited to Gerhard Lang, a printer from Munich. As a boy, his mother made him a board with 24 small sweets fixed to it so he could take one each day. In 1908 Lang printed his own version: a card of 24 pictures that children could stick on day by day. Calendars with little doors followed a few years later and quickly became popular across Germany. Chocolate came much later. The first mass-produced chocolate advent calendars appeared in 1958, and they reached British shops in the early 1970s. Advent Sunday falls on 29 November in 2026, but most calendars, including all of ours, begin on 1 December. How to choose an advent calendar Chocolate or tea? Children usually want chocolate. Many adults now prefer tea or a few really good truffles. Dietary needs. Several of our calendars are vegan and free from dairy, gluten or soya. Others contain milk, wheat or nuts, so read the notes below and check the label when it arrives. Caffeine. Some tea calendars are completely caffeine-free. Others include black or green tea. Number of days. Most calendars finish on Christmas Eve. The English Tea Shop calendar runs to Christmas Day. Vegan and dairy-free chocolate advent calendars Moo Free White Advent Calendar, 70g Moo Free make their white chocolate with cocoa butter and rice in place of milk, so it tastes sweet and creamy with no dairy at all. The calendar holds 24 chocolates and is vegan, gluten free and soya free. The packaging is made from recycled plastic and can be recycled with other plastics. A sensible choice for families managing allergies. So Free Vegan White Vanilla Advent Calendar, 110g So Free is made by Plamil, a family business that has produced vegan chocolate for decades in its own dairy-free and gluten-free factory. This white chocolate is mellow and gently vanilla, made with cocoa butter, sugar and rice. Mummy Meegz Advent Calendar, 72g Mummy Meegz use gluten-free oats instead of milk, which gives their chocolate a rich, smooth texture. There are 24 chocolates and the calendar is vegan and gluten free. It contains oats and may contain egg, milk, soya and tree nuts. Fairtrade chocolate advent calendar Divine Milk Chocolate Advent Calendar, 85g Divine's Fairtrade milk chocolate is made with cocoa grown in Ghana. The company is co-owned by Kuapa Kokoo, a cooperative of Ghanaian cocoa farmers, so the people who grow the cocoa have a share in the business. Contains milk. Luxury truffle advent calendar Monty Bojangles Marvellous Dusted Truffles Advent Calendar Each window hides a cocoa-dusted truffle in one of six flavours: Choccy Scoffy, Orange Angelical, Cookie Moon, Berry Bubbly, Popcorn Carousel and Flutter Scotch. Expect candied orange, crunchy cookie, salted popcorn, butterscotch and raspberry with popping candy. Suitable for vegetarians but not vegans. Contains milk, soya, wheat and barley, and may contain nuts, egg and sesame. Tea advent calendars A tea advent calendar makes a calm start to each December morning and a good present for anyone cutting back on sugar. Clipper Organic Tea Advent Calendar, 45g Twenty-four organic tea bags made up of two each of twelve Clipper blends. Daytime teas such as Lemon & Ginger and Mango Citrus sit alongside evening blends like Chamomile & Peach, Snore & Peace and Nighty Night. Yogi Tea Organic Advent Calendar 2026, 46g Twenty-four organic herbal and spiced blends inspired by Ayurvedic tradition. Every tea bag tag carries a short message to read while the tea brews. Some blends contain green or black tea, so not every day is caffeine-free. Pukka Tea Advent Calendar, 24 sachets Organic, ethically sourced and caffeine-free from the first door to the last. If you like a cup in the evening, this is the one to choose. English Tea Shop Tea Advent Calendar, 25 bags Twenty-five numbered sachets of organic tea, so the countdown carries on to Christmas Day. Inside are 13 seasonal blends including Gingerbread Treat, Festive Spice, Winter Warmer and Berry Rooibos, made with black, green and white teas, rooibos and botanicals. Looking after your calendar Keep chocolate calendars in a cool room and away from radiators. Warmth softens chocolate and can leave a dusty white bloom on the surface. It is still safe to eat, but it doesn't look as nice. If you are buying for a household with different diets, two different calendars side by side means nobody misses out. You'll find all of these on our Christmas page, alongside festive food and gifts. Some calendars are in short supply, so order early if you have one in mind. Advent calendar questions When do you open the first door of an advent calendar? Most advent calendars start on 1 December and finish on 24 December. Some, like the English Tea Shop calendar, have a 25th door for Christmas Day. Which advent calendars are vegan? The Moo Free White, So Free White Vanilla and Mummy Meegz calendars are vegan. Is there a caffeine-free tea advent calendar? Yes. Every sachet in the Pukka Tea Advent Calendar is caffeine-free.

Brazil nuts are the richest known food source of selenium, a trace mineral the body needs in very small amounts. That is good news if you want to get selenium from food rather than a tablet, but it also means more is not better. A couple of Brazil nuts can do the job. A whole bag in a week is a different story. Here is what the science says about selenium, how much is actually in a Brazil nut, and how many you need. What is selenium and why do we need it? Selenium is an essential mineral. We can't make it, so it has to come from what we eat. The body uses it to build a group of proteins called selenoproteins, including glutathione peroxidase, an enzyme that forms part of our natural antioxidant defences. In the UK, food businesses can only describe the role of a nutrient using wording that has been approved after scientific review. For selenium, the approved statements are: Selenium contributes to the normal function of the immune system. Selenium contributes to normal thyroid function. Selenium contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress. Selenium contributes to the maintenance of normal hair and normal nails. Selenium contributes to normal spermatogenesis. Plenty of websites go further than this. We don't, because these are the claims the evidence supports. How much selenium do you need? The UK reference nutrient intake for adults is 75 micrograms (µg) a day for men and 60 µg a day for women. A microgram is a thousandth of a milligram, so we are talking about a tiny amount. Even so, many people in the UK fall short. A 2018 analysis of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey found that 50.3% of women and 25.8% of men had selenium intakes from food below the lower reference nutrient intake, the level below which intake is likely to be inadequate for most people. Part of the reason is geography. The selenium in plant foods depends on the soil they were grown in, and soils in the UK and much of Europe are relatively low in it. How much selenium is in a Brazil nut? There is no single answer, and the reason lies in the soil. Brazil nut trees grow wild in the Amazon rainforest, and the amount of selenium they take up depends on where they grow. A 2017 study published in Chemosphere sampled nuts and soil across five Brazilian states. It found that selenium in the nuts rose with the selenium content of the soil but fell in more acidic soils. Depending on origin, the researchers calculated that a single nut could provide anywhere from 11% to 288% of an adult man's daily requirement. The variation doesn't stop at region. Earlier work that tested 162 individual nuts from each of two regions found big differences between nuts from the same area, and even between trees. So any figure you see quoted for "selenium per Brazil nut" is an average, not a guarantee. Do Brazil nuts actually raise selenium levels? Yes, and this has been tested directly. In a 12-week randomised controlled trial at the University of Otago, 59 adults in New Zealand, where soil selenium is also low, were given either two Brazil nuts a day, a 100 µg selenium supplement (as selenomethionine) or a placebo. Plasma selenium went up by 64.2% in the Brazil nut group, 61.0% in the supplement group and 7.6% in the placebo group. The two Brazil nuts turned out to provide an average of 53 µg of selenium a day, about half of what the researchers expected, yet they raised selenium levels as effectively as the supplement. Activity of glutathione peroxidase also increased. The authors concluded that two Brazil nuts a day were as effective as the 100 µg supplement for improving selenium status. Can you eat too many Brazil nuts? You can. Selenium is one of those nutrients where the gap between enough and too much is fairly narrow. In 2023 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reviewed the evidence and set a tolerable upper intake level of 255 µg a day for adults, from all sources combined. Hair loss was chosen as the critical effect, as it is one of the earliest signs of long-term excess intake. Brittle nails are another. EFSA noted that most adults are unlikely to go over the upper level, with two exceptions: people regularly taking high-dose selenium supplements, and regular consumers of Brazil nuts. Because the selenium content of each nut varies so much, it makes sense to keep portions small: One to three Brazil nuts a day is plenty for most adults. Don't eat them by the handful every day. If you already take a multivitamin or a hair, skin and nail supplement, check the label. Many contain selenium, and it all adds up. Whole nuts aren't suitable for children under five because of the choking risk. Easy ways to eat your daily Brazil nut With a portion this small, it's easy to fit Brazil nuts into the day: Eat one or two on their own with a piece of fruit. Chop and scatter over porridge, yoghurt or a smoothie bowl. Stir into homemade granola, flapjacks or energy balls (and share them out across the week). Blend a few into pesto in place of pine nuts. Grate finely over salads or roasted vegetables. If you're baking or blending, organic broken Brazil nuts are the same nut in pieces and save you the chopping. Our organic Brazil nuts Our Organic Brazil Nuts are large, raw, certified organic kernels, wild-harvested from rainforest trees in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru. Nothing is added: no salt, no oil, no sugar. Keep them in a cool, dry place in a sealed pouch or jar, as their high oil content means they're best eaten fresh. A bag lasts a long time when you only need a nut or two a day. Sources Thomson CD et al. (2008). Brazil nuts: an effective way to improve selenium status. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 87(2): 379–384. PubMed EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens (2023). Scientific opinion on the tolerable upper intake level for selenium. EFSA Journal 21(1): e07704. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2023.7704 Silva Junior EC et al. (2017). Natural variation of selenium in Brazil nuts and soils from the Amazon region. Chemosphere 188: 650–658. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.08.158 Chang JC et al. (1995). Selenium content of Brazil nuts from two geographic locations in Brazil. Chemosphere 30(4): 801–802. Derbyshire E (2018). Micronutrient intakes of British adults across mid-life: a secondary analysis of the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Frontiers in Nutrition 5: 55. doi:10.3389/fnut.2018.00055 British Nutrition Foundation. Selenium and health: summary. nutrition.org.uk Great Britain nutrition and health claims (NHC) register. GOV.UK

Nuts have been part of a British Christmas for generations. A bowl on the side table, a handful in the stuffing, a few walnuts cracked by the fire. Our Organic Christmas Nuts Box brings six favourites together in one gift: plenty for the festive season, and plenty left over for the new year. This is what's inside, who it suits, and some of our favourite ways to use it. What's in the box The box holds six varieties of organic nuts, with 250g of each, so 1.5kg in total. Each one comes in its own resealable, fully recyclable pouch, so you can open one at a time and keep the rest fresh. Cashews. Creamy, mild and slightly sweet. The nut almost everyone likes, and the one that tends to disappear first. Almonds. Crisp and versatile. Good for snacking, and the backbone of a lot of Christmas baking. Walnuts. Rich, with a gentle bitterness that works well with cheese, fruit and dark chocolate. Hazelnuts. Sweet and toasty, especially once they've been warmed in the oven. A natural partner for chocolate. Macadamias. Buttery, rich and the most indulgent of the six. A real treat at this time of year. Brazil nuts. Large, creamy and satisfying, with a flavour all of their own. Who it's for Anyone who enjoys good food. It's a generous, practical present that will actually get eaten. Keen bakers. Six varieties in one box covers most festive recipes, from stollen and Christmas cake to biscotti and brittle. Families and households. It's a box to share, put on the table and dip into over the holidays. Vegan and vegetarian friends. The box is suitable for both, and makes an easy gift for someone who eats a plant-based diet. It's not a suitable gift for anyone with a nut allergy. The box also carries a may-contain warning for peanuts, sesame, cereals containing gluten and soya. Ways to enjoy it over Christmas Warm spiced nuts Few things make a house smell more like Christmas. Mix a few handfuls of nuts from the box with a little melted coconut oil, a spoonful of coconut sugar, a pinch of salt and some warming spices such as cinnamon, smoked paprika or a little cayenne. Roast in a moderate oven, stirring often, until golden and fragrant, then leave to cool before serving. A festive cheeseboard Walnuts and almonds are made for cheese. Scatter a few over a board with a strong cheddar, a creamy blue and some sliced apple or pear. Add a few Brazil nuts and macadamias for something a bit more unusual. Christmas baking Use the almonds and hazelnuts in biscotti, florentines and nut brittle, and the walnuts in a classic coffee and walnut cake. Chopped macadamias are lovely in white chocolate cookies. A centrepiece nut roast If you're cooking for vegetarians or vegans on Christmas Day, a nut roast is the traditional choice. Cashews, Brazil nuts and hazelnuts all work well, chopped and bound with vegetables, herbs and breadcrumbs or cooked lentils. Homemade gifts Turn part of the box into presents of your own. Spiced nuts packed into jars, chocolate-dipped almonds or a batch of brittle make thoughtful little gifts for neighbours, teachers and hosts. Simple snacking Sometimes the best way to enjoy good nuts is just as they are. Put out a bowl when friends come round, and you'll find it's one of the first things to empty. Keeping nuts fresh Store the pouches in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight, heat and damp. Once a pouch is open, reseal it firmly after each use. Nuts are naturally rich in oils, so keeping them sealed and out of the warm helps them stay fresh for longer. Why organic? Every nut in the box is certified organic, grown to standards that strictly limit the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. For many people, that's an important part of choosing food to give as a gift: you know exactly what you're handing over. A gift that keeps going Unlike a box of chocolates, a box of good nuts lasts well beyond Christmas Day. It sees you through the festive baking, the Boxing Day leftovers and the first few weeks of the new year. If you find a favourite, you can always top up with a larger bag: try our Organic Cashew Nuts, Organic Almonds, Organic Hazelnuts, Organic Macadamia Nuts, Organic Brazil Nuts or Organic Walnuts. Shop the Organic Christmas Nuts Box Find festive food, gifts and baking ingredients on our Christmas page.

Most of us have a jar of peanut butter in the cupboard. Far fewer have tried pecan butter on pancakes, hemp seed butter in a dressing or macadamia butter spooned over roasted fruit. Our Organic Nut & Seed Butter Selection Box is a way to taste six of them side by side, and it makes a lovely present for anyone who enjoys good food. What's in the box The box holds six 200g jars from the RAWGORILLA range. Every butter is organic and stone-ground raw at a low temperature, with no added sugar, no palm oil and no stabilisers. Five are made from a single ingredient. The pumpkin seed butter has a small pinch of sea salt added. Raw Pumpkin Seed Butter. A striking deep green, with a rich, earthy flavour. It contains 28.1g of protein per 100g. Try it swirled into soup or stirred into hummus. Raw Macadamia Butter. The most indulgent jar in the box: silky, buttery and subtly sweet. Lovely over roasted plums or pears, or in no-bake desserts. Raw Pecan Butter. Mellow and gently sweet, with a toffee-like note. It's made for pancakes, porridge and French toast. Raw Sunflower Seed Butter. Smooth and gentle, with a mild, nutty flavour. Use it on toast, in smoothies, or in place of tahini in dressings. Raw Hemp Seed Butter. Green and grassy, and more savoury than sweet. With 30g of protein per 100g, it has the most protein of the six. Good in pesto, dressings and grain bowls. Raw Hazelnut Butter. Pale, creamy and delicate, with the fresh flavour of raw hazelnuts. A natural partner for dark chocolate, berries and pear. Why raw and stone-ground? Most nut butters are made from roasted nuts. Roasting brings out deep, toasty flavours, but it also changes the character of the nut. Grinding raw nuts and seeds slowly between stones at a low temperature keeps their fresher, more delicate flavour. It's one reason these butters taste so different from one another. Because there are no stabilisers, the natural oil rises to the top of the jar over time. That's normal. Just give it a good stir before you use it. Who it's for Curious cooks. If someone loves trying new ingredients, six butters in one box will keep them busy for weeks. Breakfast lovers. Toast, porridge, pancakes and smoothies all get a lot more interesting. Plant-based eaters. All six butters are suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Anyone choosing a favourite. The box is a sensible way to try the range before committing to a bigger jar. A note on allergies: three of the butters (pumpkin, sunflower and hemp) are made from seeds rather than nuts. However, all six are made in a facility that handles nuts and sesame, and the box also contains macadamia, pecan and hazelnut butters, so it isn't suitable for anyone with a nut allergy. Ways to use them over Christmas A Christmas morning toast board. Set out all six jars with warm toast, sliced fruit and a drizzle of honey, and let everyone try them. Festive porridge. Stir a spoonful of pecan or hazelnut butter into a bowl of porridge with cinnamon and a few chopped dates. Quick energy balls. Blitz dried fruit, oats and a spoonful of macadamia or hazelnut butter, then roll into balls. They make a handy snack for long walks over the holidays. A savoury dressing. Whisk hemp or sunflower seed butter with lemon juice, garlic and water for a creamy dressing over roasted winter vegetables. Boxing Day leftovers. Use pumpkin seed butter to enrich a leftover vegetable soup, or add a spoonful to a curry sauce for extra body. Easy desserts. Spoon macadamia butter over baked apples or pears, or swirl hazelnut butter through melted dark chocolate for a simple sauce. Storing the jars Keep the jars in a cool, dry place. Check each label for the best before date, and once a jar is open, use it within three months. A gift that gets used A selection box like this is a gift people actually open and enjoy. It's practical, it's a little bit special, and it might just introduce someone to a new favourite. Shop the Organic Nut & Seed Butter Selection Box

Three square meals a day used to be the rule. For a growing number of us, it isn't any more. Research by Levercliff, reported in Food Manufacture, found that 48% of UK consumers replace at least one meal with a snack or a smaller meal, and 14% do so regularly. Among 18 to 34-year-olds, 21% do it regularly. Waitrose has reported a similar shift, with 57% of people saying they sometimes skip dinner and have snacks instead. If that sounds like you, the question isn't whether to eat little and often, but how to do it well. Why are we eating this way? According to Levercliff, the most common reasons are smaller appetites, given by 37% of people, and lack of time, given by 25%. Busy schedules, working from home and rising food prices all play a part. Some of the shift is also linked to weight-loss medication, which tends to reduce appetite. Some supermarkets have started selling smaller meals with these shoppers in mind. If you're taking any medication that affects your appetite, your GP or pharmacist is the best person to talk to about what and how much to eat. The problem with grazing Eating smaller amounts isn't a problem in itself. The trouble is that when a meal turns into a snack, it's easy to reach for whatever's in the cupboard: a packet of crisps, a few biscuits, a bar of chocolate. Do that a few times a day and you can end up with plenty of food but not much variety. The answer is to treat a smaller meal as a meal, just a smaller one. How to build a balanced snack plate Think of a snack plate as a small version of a proper meal. Try to include something from each of these groups. Something with pulses. Pulses bring protein and fibre, which help a small plate feel more satisfying. A spoonful of hummus is the easiest option. Blend cooked chickpeas with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and a splash of water, and you'll have enough for several days. Roasted chickpeas or a handful of roasted broad beans work too. Something crunchy. Raw vegetable sticks such as carrot, celery, cucumber and pepper are ideal for dipping. Oatcakes or wholegrain crackers are good too. A few nuts or seeds. A small handful of unsalted peanuts or pumpkin seeds adds crunch and keeps you going. Some fruit. Fresh fruit is best, but a few pieces of dried pear or dried peach work well when the fruit bowl is empty. Something you enjoy. A small treat makes the plate feel like a meal rather than a compromise. Our Peach, Peanut & Cacao Bites are a good one to keep in the fridge. Three snack plates to try The quick lunch. Hummus, carrot and cucumber sticks, two oatcakes, a handful of pumpkin seeds and an apple. The afternoon pick-me-up. Roasted broad beans, a few slices of dried pear and a cup of tea. The light supper. A small bowl of our Red Lentil & Coconut Curry Soup with crackers, followed by a cacao bite. Make it easy for yourself The secret to eating well in smaller amounts is preparation. If the good options are ready to go, you'll reach for them. make a batch of hummus at the start of the week cut vegetable sticks and keep them in a container of water in the fridge keep a jar of mixed nuts and seeds on the counter portion out leftovers from dinner into small containers for the next day Eating little and often can work perfectly well. It just helps to think of each small plate as a meal in miniature.

Food prices are the biggest food worry in the UK right now. In the Food Standards Agency's latest consumer tracker, 91% of people said they were concerned about them, and around a quarter were worried about being able to afford food in the month ahead. It's no surprise that many of us are looking for ways to make the weekly shop go further. A cupboard stocked with dried beans and lentils is one of the simplest. They're filling, they keep well, and a single bag can turn into a week of meals. Here's how to get started. Why dried? Tins are convenient, and there's nothing wrong with them. But dried pulses have a few advantages. A little goes a long way. Pulses swell as they soak and cook, so a bag of dried beans makes far more than its weight in food. They take up less room. A bag of dried lentils fits in the space of a couple of tins and makes many more meals. You control what goes in. Dried pulses are just pulses, with nothing added. You decide how much salt goes in, and what herbs and spices to cook them with. If you want to stock up properly, our 1.5kg Stock & Prep bags are designed for exactly this. Lentils or beans? The main difference is time. Lentils and split peas are the quickest. Lentils don't need soaking: just rinse them well and simmer. Red split lentils soften into a creamy base for soups and dhals, while green lentils keep their shape in salads and stews. Green split peas make a thick, comforting soup. Beans and chickpeas need a little planning. Most need soaking before cooking, often overnight. Always follow the soaking and cooking instructions on the pack, as times vary from one variety to another. Five to start with If you're building a storecupboard from scratch, these five cover most autumn cooking. Organic Red Split Lentils, for soups, dhals and thickening stews Green Lentils, for warm salads, sides and hearty broths Black Beans, for chilli, burritos and smoky stews Butter Beans, for creamy braises and curries Chickpeas, for hummus, curries and roasting Once you've got the hang of those, branch out with aduki beans, black-eyed beans or red football lentils. How to store them Keep dried pulses in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight, heat and damp. Once a bag is open, reseal it or tip the pulses into an airtight container. Check the best before date on the pack, and as a rule, use up your oldest bags first. Cook once, eat all week The easiest way to make dried pulses fit a busy week is to cook a big batch at the weekend and use it in different meals. Soak and cook a large pot of beans or chickpeas, then split them into portions. Some can go into a chilli, some into a curry, and some into a pot of hummus or a salad. The Food Standards Agency's advice on leftovers applies here: cool cooked food and get it into the fridge within one to two hours split large batches into smaller portions so they cool more quickly eat refrigerated leftovers within 48 hours, or freeze them if you won't get to them in time defrost frozen portions in the fridge and use them within 24 hours Three autumn meals from one shop To give you an idea of what a storecupboard can do, here are three recipes from our blog that use pulses you'll already have: Red Lentil & Coconut Curry Soup, ready without any soaking Black Bean & Coconut Chilli, perfect for Bonfire Night Creamy Butter Beans in Green Curry Coconut Milk, a one-pan dinner A few bags of pulses in the cupboard won't solve rising prices on their own. But they make it much easier to put a filling, home-cooked meal on the table, even at the end of the month.

Most conversations about fibre are about numbers. How many grams are in this? Am I getting enough? But nutrition thinking is moving away from a single number and towards variety, because fibre isn't one thing. It's a group of different substances, found in different foods, that behave in different ways. This is what that means for the way you eat. What fibre actually is Fibre is the part of plant foods that isn't digested in the small intestine. It travels on to the large intestine, where gut bacteria break some or all of it down. Dietitians have traditionally split fibre into two main types. The British Dietetic Association notes that research now looks at fibre in more detail: how it dissolves, how thick it becomes and how easily gut bacteria can ferment it. The main types of fibre Soluble fibre. This includes pectins and beta-glucans. You'll find it in fruit and in oats, such as Organic Porridge Oats and Organic Jumbo Oats. Insoluble fibre. This includes cellulose, found in foods such as wheat bran and nuts. Resistant starch. This is starch that resists digestion and behaves like fibre. Gut bacteria ferment it into short-chain fatty acids. The British Dietetic Association lists bananas, potatoes, grains and pulses as sources, which puts beans and lentils such as Black Beans and Organic Red Split Lentils on the list. Prebiotics. These are carbohydrates that gut bacteria feed on. The British Dietetic Association gives onions, garlic, asparagus and bananas as examples. Why variety matters Because each type of fibre comes from different foods, no single ingredient covers them all. Oats give you beta-glucans but not much resistant starch. Pulses give you resistant starch but not the same fibres as fruit. Seeds bring something different again. That's the problem with relying on one superfood or a fibre powder to hit your target. You might reach 30g on paper, but from a narrow range of fibre types. A plate that mixes grains, pulses, seeds, nuts, fruit and vegetables gives you a much wider range. How to build variety into your week Think in groups, not single foods. Across the day, try to eat something from each group: wholegrains, pulses, nuts and seeds, fruit, and vegetables. Rotate your pulses. Instead of buying the same bag of lentils every week, try something new. Aduki Beans, Haricot Beans, Butter Beans and Green Split Peas each bring something different to the plate. Mix your seeds. Keep two or three types in the cupboard, such as Organic Chia Seeds, Organic Ground Linseed and Organic Pumpkin Seeds, and use a different one each day. Eat the season. Autumn is full of fibre-rich produce: squash, parsnips, apples, pears, leeks and cabbage. The British Dietetic Association recommends aiming for five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Don't forget onions and garlic. They go into most savoury cooking anyway, and they're among the prebiotic foods the British Dietetic Association lists. One autumn tray, five fibre sources Our Black-Eyed Bean & Sweet Potato Traybake brings several types together in one dish: pulses (black-eyed beans), a starchy root vegetable (sweet potato), onions and leafy greens (kale). Scatter over a few pumpkin seeds and you've covered five fibre sources in a single tray. Think beyond the number Fibre isn't one nutrient, and the best way to get it isn't from one food. Aim for the 30g the guidelines recommend, but think about where it comes from too. A varied plate of grains, pulses, seeds, fruit and vegetables will always do more than a single superfood or a scoop of powder.

UK guidelines recommend that adults eat 30g of fibre a day. According to the British Dietetic Association, most of us manage about 18g. Closing that gap doesn't take supplements, special products or complicated recipes. It takes a few small changes across the day. This is what a 30g day can look like using everyday whole foods. The fibre figures for our products come from their nutrition labels and are based on dry weight. The figure for wholemeal bread comes from the British Dietetic Association. Breakfast: oats with chia and linseed (about 9.5g) A bowl of porridge made with 50g of Organic Porridge Oats gives you about 3.7g of fibre. Stir in a tablespoon (about 10g) of Organic Chia Seeds for another 3.4g, and a tablespoon (about 10g) of Organic Ground Linseed for 2.4g. That's nearly a third of your day before you've left the house. Top it with fruit and you'll add a little more. Lunch: lentil soup with wholemeal bread (about 12.5g) A bowl of our Red Lentil & Coconut Curry Soup uses 50g of Organic Red Split Lentils per serving, which gives you 5.5g of fibre. Two slices of wholemeal bread on the side add about 7g. Snack: a handful of pumpkin seeds (about 2.6g) A 30g handful of Organic Pumpkin Seeds adds 2.6g of fibre. Eat them at your desk or scatter them over your soup. Dinner: black bean chilli (about 8.5g) A portion of our Black Bean & Coconut Chilli uses roughly 55g of dried Black Beans per person, which provides about 8.5g of fibre. Serve vegetables on the side for more. The total: about 33g Add it all up and you reach about 33g of fibre, before counting any fruit and vegetables you eat alongside. That's more than the 30g recommendation, from four meals that are easy to make. Swaps that work any day You don't have to follow this menu exactly. These swaps will raise your fibre intake whatever you're cooking. Add lentils or beans to sauces. A handful of lentils in a bolognese or a portion of beans in a stew adds fibre without changing the dish much. Choose wholegrain. Swap white bread, pasta and rice for wholemeal or wholegrain versions. Sprinkle seeds. Chia, linseed, pumpkin and sunflower seeds can go on cereal, yoghurt, salads and soups. Keep the skins on. Where it makes sense, leave the skin on fruit, vegetables and potatoes. Keep frozen vegetables in. They make it easy to add vegetables to any meal. Bake with higher-fibre flours. Organic Coconut Flour contains 36g of fibre per 100g, so even a small amount in your baking makes a difference. Pulses: the easiest win If you only make one change, make it pulses. Our dried beans, lentils and peas contain plenty of fibre per 100g (dry weight): Green Split Peas: 22.2g Black Beans: 15.5g Haricot Beans: 13.3g Aduki Beans: 12.7g Organic Red Split Lentils: 11g Chickpeas: 10.7g They're inexpensive, they keep for months in the cupboard, and they work in everything from soups and curries to homemade baked beans. Take it slowly If your diet is currently low in fibre, don't jump to 33g overnight. The British Dietetic Association advises increasing fibre gradually to avoid bloating and wind, and drinking plenty of fluid as you go. Start with breakfast, add a lentil or bean meal a few times a week, and build from there.

You may have seen the word fibremaxxing on social media, in a magazine or on a supermarket shelf, and wondered what on earth it means. The short answer: it's a trend for eating more fibre. The longer answer is a bit more interesting, so here's everything you need to know if you're starting from scratch. What does fibremaxxing mean? The name comes from internet slang. Adding "maxxing" to a word means making the most of it, or pushing it as far as it will go. So fibremaxxing simply means maximising the fibre in your diet. In practice, people who fibremax try to include fibre-rich foods in every meal. That might mean adding seeds to breakfast, swapping white bread for wholemeal, or building dinners around beans and lentils. Some people track how many grams of fibre they eat each day, much as others count steps or calories. Where did it come from? Fibremaxxing took off on TikTok, where people began sharing high-fibre meals, shopping hauls and daily fibre totals. It has since spread to Instagram, newspapers and magazines, and even supermarkets, some of which have started labelling high-fibre products more clearly. For years, protein was the nutrient everyone talked about. Fibremaxxing is part of a shift in attention towards fibre, which most of us have been neglecting. What is fibre, anyway? Fibre is the part of plant foods that our bodies can't fully digest. Rather than being absorbed in the small intestine like most nutrients, it travels to the large intestine, where the bacteria that live in our gut break some of it down. You'll only find fibre in plant foods. Meat, fish, eggs and dairy contain none. Good sources include: wholegrains such as oats, brown rice and wholemeal bread pulses such as beans, lentils, chickpeas and split peas nuts and seeds fruit and vegetables, especially with the skin on Why is everyone talking about it? Mostly because so few of us eat enough. UK government guidelines recommend that adults eat 30g of fibre a day, but the British Dietetic Association puts the average at about 18g. Writing in BBC Science Focus, GP Dr Nish Manek notes that more than nine in ten people in the UK fall short of the target. That matters because fibre does a lot more than keep us regular. The British Dietetic Association says high-fibre diets are associated with a lower risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer. So the basic message behind fibremaxxing, that most of us should eat more fibre, is one that doctors and dietitians have been giving for years. Social media has simply made it fashionable. Is fibremaxxing a good idea? It depends on how you do it. The good part. Eating more beans, lentils, wholegrains, seeds, fruit and vegetables is sensible advice for almost everyone. If the trend gets people cooking a pot of lentil soup instead of buying a ready meal, that's a good thing. The less good part. Some fibremaxxers aim for 50g a day or more, far beyond the 30g recommendation, and some rely on fibre powders rather than food. Dr Manek warns that very high intakes can cause bloating, cramps and diarrhoea, and that chasing a big number can narrow your diet to just a few foods. The sensible middle ground is to aim for the 30g the guidelines recommend and to get it from a variety of whole foods. How to start If you're new to all this, you don't need to count every gram. A few simple changes make a big difference. Start with breakfast. A bowl of porridge oats with a spoonful of chia seeds or ground linseed is an easy first step. Add pulses to meals you already make. Stir red split lentils into a soup or bolognese, or add beans to a stew or chilli. Switch to wholegrain. Choose wholemeal bread, brown rice and wholewheat pasta instead of white. Snack on seeds and fruit. A handful of pumpkin seeds or a piece of fruit is an easy swap for crisps or biscuits. Go slowly and drink plenty. The British Dietetic Association advises increasing fibre gradually to avoid bloating and wind, and drinking plenty of fluid as you do. If you have a digestive condition such as IBS or inflammatory bowel disease, speak to your GP or a dietitian before making big changes. Want to know more? If you'd like to go further, we've written three more guides: Fibremaxxing: what the trend gets right, and where it goes too far How to eat 30g of fibre a day Not all fibre is the same

If you've spent any time on social media this year, you've probably come across fibremaxxing. The idea is simple: get as much fibre as you can into every meal. Chia seeds go into everything, lentils replace pasta, and people post their daily fibre totals the way they once posted their step counts. Like most food trends, it started from a good place and then got carried away. This is what it gets right, where it goes too far, and how to do it sensibly. What the guidelines say UK government guidelines recommend that adults eat 30g of fibre a day. For children, the British Dietetic Association recommends around 15g a day from the age of two, 20g for primary school children and 25g for secondary school children. Most of us don't come close. According to the British Dietetic Association, the average UK adult eats about 18g a day, roughly 60% of the target. That gap is the reason fibremaxxing exists, and it's a real one. What fibremaxxing gets right At its best, fibremaxxing gets people thinking about food in a different way. Instead of asking what to cut out, it asks what to add. That tends to lead people towards whole foods: oats, beans, lentils, seeds, fruit and vegetables. It has also got people reading labels. In the UK, a food can only be called "high fibre" if it contains at least 6g of fibre per 100g, and a "source of fibre" if it contains at least 3g. Once you start checking, you notice how little fibre many everyday processed foods contain. Where it goes too far Some versions of the trend aim for 60g, 70g or even 80g of fibre a day, far beyond the 30g in the guidelines. There's no evidence that doubling the recommended amount brings extra benefits, and the Institute for Optimum Nutrition warns that pushing intake that high can cause bloating, cramps and other digestive problems. The other issue is how people get there. Many fibremaxxing routines rely on fibre powders and supplements rather than food. A spoonful of powder adds grams, but it doesn't bring the protein, vitamins, minerals and variety that come with a bowl of lentils or a handful of seeds. Speed matters too. If your diet is currently low in fibre and you suddenly triple it, you'll feel it. The British Dietetic Association advises increasing fibre gradually to avoid bloating and wind. How to do it sensibly Aim for 30g, not more. Going from 18g to 30g is already a big change for most people, and it's what the guidelines recommend. Build up slowly. Add one fibre-rich food at a time and give yourself a few weeks to adjust. Drink plenty of fluid. The British Dietetic Association advises drinking plenty of fluid so that fibre can do its job properly. Choose food over powders. Oats at breakfast, lentils in your soup, beans in your chilli and seeds on your salad will get you most of the way. Mix it up. Different foods contain different types of fibre, so variety matters as much as the total. Ask a professional if you need to. The British Dietetic Association suggests seeing a dietitian if you have a condition such as IBS or inflammatory bowel disease, or if you're unsure how much fibre is right for you. So, should you try it? Fibremaxxing is right that most of us need more fibre. It's wrong that more is always better. Aim for the 30g the guidelines recommend, get there gradually, and get it from real food rather than a tub of powder. For a simple day of meals that adds up to 30g, see how to eat 30g of fibre a day from real food.

If you've noticed coconut aminos turning up in recipes lately, you're not imagining it. Japanese-style cooking is having a real moment in British kitchens. In the four weeks to early October, sales of Japanese cooking sauces in UK supermarkets were up 17% on the year before, according to the market research firm NIQ. That was the biggest rise of any food category it tracked. More of us are making teriyaki, stir-fries and rice bowls at home, and plenty of people have reached the bottom of the soy sauce bottle wondering what else is out there. Coconut aminos is one of the answers. Here's what it is, how it differs from soy sauce, and how to get the most out of a bottle. What is coconut aminos? Coconut aminos is a dark, glossy seasoning sauce that looks a lot like soy sauce. Instead of fermented soya beans, it's made from coconut nectar, the sap produced by the flower blossoms of the coconut tree. Our RAWGORILLA Organic Coconut Aminos has just three ingredients: organic coconut nectar, organic coconut vinegar and salt. The name can be confusing. It isn't a supplement, and you don't need to know anything about amino acids to use it. Think of it simply as a soy-style sauce that happens to come from the coconut palm. How does it compare to soy sauce? Taste. This is the biggest difference. Coconut aminos is sweeter and milder than soy sauce, with a gentle caramel note and a softer salty edge. Soy sauce is sharper and more intensely savoury. Neither is better. They just do slightly different jobs. Ingredients. Traditional soy sauce is brewed from soya beans and wheat. Coconut aminos is made without either, which is why many people who avoid soya or wheat reach for it instead. If you're cooking for someone with allergies, always check the label. Salt. Our coconut aminos contains 0.6g of salt per 100g. A typical soy sauce contains around 16.9g of salt per 100ml, so if you're keeping an eye on your salt, it's a useful swap. How to use coconut aminos You can use coconut aminos almost anywhere you'd use soy sauce. Start by swapping it like for like, then taste. Because it's milder, you may want a little more, or a squeeze of lime or a pinch of salt to sharpen it up. In a stir-fry. Add a couple of tablespoons at the end of cooking, along with garlic and ginger, and toss everything together so the sauce coats the vegetables. As a glaze. Coconut aminos thickens beautifully when it's simmered, which makes it ideal for a sticky teriyaki-style glaze. Simmer it with a little Organic Coconut Sugar, grated ginger and garlic, then thicken with a spoonful of cornflour mixed with water. Our Teriyaki-Style Chickpeas with Roasted Squash uses exactly this method. In a marinade. Mix it with garlic, ginger, lime juice and a little oil, and use it to marinate tofu, mushrooms, vegetables or chicken before roasting or grilling. In a dressing. Whisk a tablespoon into tahini with lemon juice and a splash of water for a quick dressing for grain bowls and roasted vegetables. It's what gives the drizzle on our Black-Eyed Bean & Sweet Potato Traybake its depth. As a dipping sauce. On its own, or with a little chilli and lime, it's a gentle dip for dumplings, spring rolls and sushi. In everyday British cooking. This is where coconut aminos surprises people. A spoonful adds depth to a pot of chilli, a gravy or a tomato sauce, much like Worcestershire sauce would. Try it in our Black Bean & Coconut Chilli or our Homemade Baked Beans, where it rounds out the tomato sauce. Three quick autumn ideas Glazed roast squash. Toss wedges of squash in coconut oil, roast until tender, then brush with coconut aminos for the last five minutes. Sticky mushrooms on toast. Fry sliced mushrooms until golden, add a splash of coconut aminos and a knob of butter or a little coconut oil, and let it bubble until glossy. A warming noodle broth. Simmer vegetable stock with ginger, garlic and a few tablespoons of coconut aminos, then add noodles, greens and whatever leftover vegetables you have. How to store it Keep the bottle in a cool, dry place, away from strong light and heat, and follow any storage advice on the label once it's open. The bottom line Coconut aminos isn't trying to replace soy sauce, and it doesn't need to. It's a different seasoning with its own character: sweeter, milder and made without soya or wheat. If you've been cooking more Japanese-style food at home this year, or you're simply after a new way to add depth to autumn dinners, it's well worth a place in the cupboard. Shop RAWGORILLA Organic Coconut Aminos

No-bake snack bites made with dried peach, peanuts and coconut, then drizzled with pure cacao. A small, satisfying treat for lunchboxes, afternoons or Bonfire Night.

Smoky roasted sweet potato, red onion and black-eyed beans, finished with a creamy tahini and coconut drizzle and a scattering of toasted coconut. One tray, very little washing up.

Proper baked beans made from scratch with haricot beans, the same bean used in the tinned kind. Slow-simmered in a smoky tomato sauce and piled onto hot buttered toast.