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Lotus Bakeries and one of the UK's most best loved bakeries, Patisserie Valerie, have announced an exciting new product which will be available in all of its 29 UK stores. 

The ultimate Lotus Biscoff Slice is the result of many months of planning, recipe tweaking and tasting to make certain it is perfect for all Biscoff lovers. The best news of all is that it's suitable for vegans and vegetarians, too!

The Lotus Biscoff slice is made up of two layers of plain sponge, generously filled with a Lotus Biscoff crumb cream, a layer of Lotus Biscoff spread, and a hand piped Lotus Biscoff cream rosette, before being topped off with a Lotus Biscoff Biscuit.

Frances Booth, Category Development and Marketing Manager at Lotus Bakeries is delighted to be partnering with Patisserie Valerie: “We love nothing more than working with new partners to bring our customers exciting new creations that provide a whole new Lotus Biscoff taste experience out of the home. We know combining the on-trend and much-loved flavour of Lotus Biscoff with the skills and passion of the Patisserie Valerie bakers is a sure-fire, winning combination. We can't wait for our customers to taste this delicious collaboration!”

This is yet another high-profile collaboration between Lotus Bakeries and a leading UK high street brand, all of which can be identified through the 'Created with Lotus Biscoff' logo.  This stamp of approval from Lotus Bakeries identifies that the product has a strong and recognisable Lotus Biscoff flavour, and has been fully tested by Lotus Biscoff themselves.

The Lotus Biscoff Slice is priced at £5.55 (eat in) and £4.85 (take-away).

To find your nearest branch please visit https://www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk

 

Lidl clearer on its recycling with transparent milk tops

Lidl GB has announced it is permanently removing green coloured milk caps on semi-skimmed and organic fresh milk, replacing them with clear caps.

The move, in partnership with their long-standing milk supplier Müller, follows a successful four-week trial, which took place in September this year. Now to be a permanent fixture, the transition will roll out across Lidl stores in a phased approach to be available in all stores by the time you read this. 

Unlike milk bottles, coloured milk caps cannot be easily recycled back into food grade packaging. Introducing clear caps across the Muller supply chain enables 60 tonnes per year of recycled High-Density Polythene to be turned back into food-grade packaging as the new milk caps will be recycled to create milk bottles, so keeping the material within a circular system.

Scott Davey, Lidl's Senior Buying Director said: “We remain committed to supporting our customers in helping them make more sustainable shopping decisions on a daily basis. Customer feedback during the trial was overwhelmingly positive and we are really thrilled to be making this change permanent across Lidl stores.

“Also, this move will help us achieve our goal of making more of the plastic we use circular and so fit to be repurposed time and time again.”

www.lidl.co.uk.

Speciality Flour Miller, Matthews Cotswold Flour Celebrates World Soil Day by Launching New Stoneground Regenerative White Flour

Matthews Cotswold Flour, Britain's leading speciality flour producer, is marking and celebrating World Soil Day in a unique and special way, by launching a new Stoneground Regenerative White Flour. 

The new flour is created using grains from a select group of local farms that have all embraced regenerative farming techniques that turn the tide on the degradation of soil health.

Bertie Matthews, the MD of Matthews Cotswold Flour explains: “We are at a turning point in making a tangible difference to our soils and our wider environments. “Sustainability” or sustaining the current food system simply isn't enough. Regenerating our soils through “Regenerative Agriculture” is the future. 

"Regenerative Agriculture or “Regen Ag” is a term referring to a model of growing food that improves biodiversity and soil organic matter. At its centre are a number of core principles around improving soil fertility, biodiversity, water retention and cleanliness, minimising soil disturbance and enhancing nutrient cycling.

"Our duty as food producers and flour millers over the next decade is to mill grain from a regenerative farming system. We will focus on working with businesses that consider Regen Ag's principles to be at their core.”

Bertie went on to say: “Farms can't move to a fully regenerative model overnight but our aim is to work with our farming partners, bakers and innovative flour brands to start the journey so that in 10 years' time all our grains will be grown in this way. In the meantime, our new Stoneground Regenerative White Flour is a key milestone as this is the first flour we have produced using wholly regeneratively farmed grains.”

Stoneground Regenerative White Flour  (RRP £2.80 for 1.5kg from www.cotswoldflour.com)

What is Stoneground Regenerative White Flour? It's a strong white bread flour traditionally stoneground milled in the Cotswolds from regeneratively farmed UK wheat. It's absolutely ideal for all types of  bread baking.

Regenerative farming is all about protecting and improving our soil health. The methods used can include diversification, complex crop rotations, animal grazing, reduced ploughing and using natural fertilisation. The aim is to increase the concentration of organic matter in the soil, promoting biodiversity and offering increased resistance to plant pests and diseases. 

Bertie added: “We know we're only at the start of our regenerative journey but by acknowledging soil health is fundamental to our business and making its preservation part of our core strategy we believe we have already made huge strides in the protection of our soil for our future generations.”

Matthews Cotswold Flour is committed to supporting regenerative food sources, developing an unparalleled range of top quality, award-winning, products and inspiring, educating and partnering with the nation's artisan and home bakers. 

The new Stoneground Regenerative White Flour is available directly from Matthews Cotswold Flour's website www.cotswoldflour.com as well as other speciality and high street retail outlets. For more information visit www.cotswoldflour.com or follow @CotswoldFlour on Instagram or Facebook.

Suckies from The Collective Dairy are fantastic! And beneficial, too.

The Collective Dairy are those wonderful folks who thought up the recipe and make Suckies.

What are Suckies? They are fantastic yoghurt drinks in a pouch that you suck on. 

The Collective Dairy describes them as: "British whole milk yoghurt with real fruit in mess free pouches."

Suckies come in a range of delicious flavours: apple & blackcurrant, peach & apricot, banana, raspberry in the British whole milk range.

There are also no added sugar versions, good if you are watching your sugar intake, especially for people who have diabetes. Flavours available are strawberry and banana, mango and peach and banana and cocoa. 

However, that's not all they produce in their Suckies range. They have also introduced an absolutely delicious and awesomely creamy dairy free strawberry Suckie which is made using oat and coconut yoghurt. 

Both dairy and non dairy are live, so both are equally good for you, but the dairy free variety is excellent if you are a vegan or have a dairy allergy.    

The Collective Dairy also have a whole range of other milk related products including yoghurts (dairy or non-dairy) and dairy and non-dairy kefirs, too!

To learn more about the dairy and where you can find stocks please visit them at https://www.thecollectivedairy.com

We think you should get a stock of these in for the Christmas season as they'll provide excellent healthy snacks for children and adults alike. 

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Tesco suppliers to use online swap-shop to cut costs and reduce waste

Over 3,500 Tesco suppliers can now cut production costs and reduce waste by selling or donating surplus stock or products to other suppliers who can make use of them.

Tesco Exchange is a new online marketplace that matches suppliers who have too much of a product, for example, crops, by-products, ingredients or packaging, with other Tesco suppliers that need it. It's expected savings in production costs will ultimately benefit customers too.

In the same way consumer marketplaces work, suppliers can advertise surplus stock for sale on Tesco Exchange, post requests for things they need and agree sales between each other. They can also set alerts for when items they need are posted.

Surplus or waste can occur in food supply chains for many reasons: for example, long periods of good weather sometimes result in growers having more produce than they require. Also, food manufacturers often have by-products that can be used by other companies.

One of the first listings was placed by food manufacturer, G’s Group, which supplies pickled beetroot to Tesco. The manufacturing process leaves them with tonnes of beetroot peelings that could be used by a livestock farm as cattle feed, for example.

The opportunity for the Tesco Exchange platform has been highlighted by Tesco and WWF’s recent report about on-farm food loss. The report found in the UK alone, over three million tonnes of food waste perishes before making it off the farm.

Sarah Bradbury, Tesco Quality Director, said, “Excess stock or waste for one supplier could be a valuable commodity for another. By linking different farmers, producers and manufacturers together, our suppliers can find new ways to trim their bills, reduce waste, and keep delivering great value for our customers.”

Dr Julian Parfitt, Technical Director at Anthesis, the sustainability activator and developer of Tesco Exchange, points out: "Tesco Exchange is a great example of an initiative the food industry needs to embrace and support in order to directly address commitments on food waste, the circular economy, and move towards more sustainable and resilient supply chains."

This is the latest in an ongoing programme led by Tesco to help its suppliers tackle waste. By working directly with 107 of its global suppliers, it has helped to collectively reduce food loss and waste by 78,000 tonnes. It aims to halve food waste in its operations by 2025 and reach net zero across its entire value chain by 2050.

For more information on Tesco’s progress to date please visit: https://www.tescoplc.com/sustainability/planet/food-waste.