Author: Amy Elysia

In a world increasingly aware of energy use and environmental impact, the Wonderbag offers a refreshingly simple solution: slow cooking without electricity. Invented by South African entrepreneur Sarah Collins, the Wonderbag was born out of a need for safe, accessible, and energy-efficient cooking methods in areas with limited fuel or power. Today, it’s used across the world, from off-grid kitchens to eco-conscious households, to cook food gently, slowly, and efficiently.

We mill British-grown wholemeal red millet flour through our stone mill in Suffolk. The crop was grown by Andrew Lingham at Court Farm in Kent and is a species called Panicum miliaceum, a proso millet probably domesticated in what is now northern China 10,000 years ago. But what is millet - or rather, what are millets?

Carlin peas have deep roots in British food culture but are now little known outside regional pockets of appreciation in the North of England. Seed Sovereignty is working to raise awareness of carlin peas. Northern England coordinator Catherine Howell describes their recent "Carlin Wednesday" celebration.

Brazil nuts are one of nature's richest sources of selenium. But levels vary wildly. Selenium is a trace mineral essential to several critical bodily functions. It plays a role in supporting the immune system, maintaining normal hair and nails, and acting as a powerful antioxidant to protect cells from oxidative stress. 

Cooking pulses (beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas...) is fundamentally about getting water and heat into them so they're tender, digestible and delicious.

Pulses are the edible mature dried seeds of leguminous plants, members of the Fabaceae botanical family. The best known pulses in Europe are beans, peas, chickpeas and lentils. Of these, peas and (fava) beans have historically been grown in the UK. Legumes are any plant of the Fabaceae family; pulses are only the edible seeds.

Wholegrain cereals - the unrefined seeds of cereal crops with the bran, endosperm and germ intact and just the husk removed - are most commonly milled for flour but they're excellent cooked whole too. Different species and varieties vary in colour, texture, size and taste, but all have a strong nutty element to their flavour.

Chef James Taylor has been working since mid 2023 to transform school meals initiatives at two London primary schools - Sir Thomas Abney School in Stoke Newington and Harrington Hill Primary School in Clapton. The London Mayor's initiative to provide universal free school meals in primary schools from September 2023 is both a crucial lifeline for families nit by the cost-of-living crisis and an inspiration for change. James and the school have used this opportunity to provide meals that champion more nutritious, planet-friendly food.

A few years ago we were looking for a sweetener for some granola recipes, something UK produced and minimally processed. When our apple syrup order from Liberty Fields arrived we knew we were onto something special - we quickly added them to our short list of brilliant Guest Producers

Down a warren of country lanes, not far from the Tamar Valley in Cornwall, is Julie Bailey's orchard Lower Trelabe, where she grows historic local varieties of apple and makes her delicious Apple Natural apple shreds, traditional fruit leathers that contain only the natural plant sugars.

Milling your own flour may seem a novel concept but there's a long tradition of domestic milling. Since the dawn of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent, cereal grains have been a key staple food and bread, in many forms, has provided a large part of our energy requirements, right up to today. But to turn grain into bread, you need a mill.

With 72% of UK land managed for agriculture, farming as a key role to play in protecting and even restoring biodiversity. Thankfully more farms are showing how this can be done both within and around productive land. The organic fields at Green Acres Farm in Shropshire are filled with diversity.