With Christmas a few snoozes away, our thoughts turn to the decadent delights of the season. Food has long been a universal way to celebrate christmas, made with love and shared in abundance it symbolises joy and giving.
Honey and nuts are two of the most ubiquitous foods, used by cultures around the world in a variety of traditional dishes. The versatility of both lend well to savoury and sweet creations, and make beautiful gifts by themselves.
Merriment and Medicine
Honey is a natural sweetener for cakes and cookies, dressings and drinks, but it is also a salve for wounds and a tonic for sleep. What a wonderful gift for an athlete—fuel and first aid!
Bread and Butter
Nuts also do double duty, making an excellent alternative to grain-based flours for baking or thickening soups—or blended into a non-dairy butter to satiate hunger and slow down the release of insulin (from one too many christmas treats).
Profiling two of our favourite local Purveyors
Berringa Honey
Berringa’s story is one of success and stems from the unrelenting and uncompromising efforts of its Chairman, Peter Woodward in the quest for the world’s best quality honey. He has been a diligent and conscientious contributor to the honey industry for over 20 years. Some of his earlier achievements included certifying Australian Eucalypt honey and acting as a director of the Australian Certified Organic Organisation (ACO), where he wrote and implemented the Australian Industry Honey Standards that would later be adopted by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the Soil Association of the U.K.
One of Peter’s first tasks when he established Berringa, was to force labelling changes designed to educate consumers about the honey’s floral origins. Serving as a member of the Codex Committee, Woodward was concerned that honey labelling did not reflect the numerous unique varieties of honey available, noting the existence of 669 different flowering trees within the Australian Eucalypt genera alone. In the Codex review of 2000, a bill was introduced calling for the predominant floral variety to be listed on retail honey packs. This regulation was adopted by the Australian honey industry some eight years ago, forcing a regulatory standard to be adopted through this change. This improved Australian honey production and packing with full traceability, hygiene, extracting procedures and quality assurance regulations adopted by the entire industry and adapted to form industry quality programs such as BQual and BSafe.
Years of agricultural research established that latitude, temperature and humidity levels across key geographical areas of Australia form unique factors in determining MGO levels and hence the strength of Australian Manuka, now known as “Super Manuka” with Berringa the company responsible for this natural healer.
Working with the Queensland Government and the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2005, Berringa moved into exploring Australian Manuka Honey derived from the Australian Native Leptospermum plant. Berringa’s world famous all Australian Super Manuka honey is derived from Leptospermum polygalifolium. Australia’s natural pristine coastal environment lends itself to over 83 different sub-species of Leptospermum, all of which host the naturally occurring medicinal anti-bacterial properties in the pollen and nectar, which contribute largely to the efficacy of Australian Manuka. In fact, native Australian Leptospermum plants have some of the highest MGO readings in the world.
‘It is a wonderful thought, that we, here in Australia produce a product that can naturally heal’.
Team Berringa recognises the relationship with the beekeepers is vitally paramount, with many of the beekeepers having been on board consistently for over 20 years. Berringa takes pride in offering strong support and transparency to beekeepers with supply of equipment, providing independent testing of samples by the recognised Australian Government Analytical Service (NATA). All Laboratory results are then provided to the beekeepers at no cost.
A 2011 breakthrough announced exciting findings from a collaborative study between the University of Queensland and the Queensland Government DEED department that demonstrated a commercially available high MGO grade of Berringa Super Manuka honey actually ‘stopped’ the notorious and deadly Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bug in its tracks.
Working with the Wound Management Association and the World Health Organisation, Berringa has also conducted research into the wound care properties of Australian Super Manuka with promising results in patients with difficult to heal post-operative wounds and leg ulcers. Berringa’s world renowned and highly experienced Scientific Advisor, Dr Craig Davis has studied the medicinal properties of Manuka for more than 20 years. Berringa plans to continue the research into the natural wound care properties of Super Manuka.
Berringa is completely dedicated to ensuring the consistent ongoing quality of Australian products by creating, implementing and upholding Australian Honey Industry Standards, befitting the unique Australian environment and Australian organic industries and supporting Australian beekeepers and scientific research.
Berringa remains a significant leader in establishing clearer guidelines around honey labelling. In fact, Berringa supports the ongoing testing to flush out falsely labelled regular honey as Manuka and misinformation about the origins of some honey. Working with experts from the Therapeutic Goods Administration, CSIRO, and the Australian Government Analytical Laboratories, Berringa has consistently encouraged Codex Alimentarius International Food Standards that require Australian Manuka honey of all grades and colours acknowledged as native to Australia.
Berringa demands full traceability for the purchase, testing and treatment of all its honey products. Under Berringa’s direction and initiatives, the future for the Australian honey industry and the all conscious consumer can only get brighter.
How to Have your Honey…
220 MGO Berringa Super Manuka Honey: essential for ongoing wellness maintenance. Our team take one whole or half teaspoon every day in the morning before or/and after food for general gut health (i.e. probiotic), that may also assist with immune response readiness.
900 MGO Berringa Super Manuka Honey: most important when you are starting to feel run down or can sense a flu bug is targeting their immune system. Our team like to take one whole or half teaspoon first thing in the morning and last thing at night so that it may be of assistance to support immune response. The team also highly recommend 900 MGO Berringa Super Manuka Honey whenever you have a scratchy or sore throat. Berringa team love how just swirling a small amount can almost instantly wipe away that pesky germ/bug.
Berringa Raw Eucalyptus Organic Honey: go-to honey for tea and toast. It is Australian, organic and it is just smoothly delicious in everyday settings when you call for a quality natural sweetener.
Berringa Australian Pure & Natural Honeycomb – Our team love this with everything! It is so smooth, sweet and crunchy. It is especially delicious whilst entertaining guests with cheese for savoury and or with ice cream for a sweet desert.
Merry Christmas from Berringa berringa.com
Get 20% OFF the entire Berringa range (including Gift Hampers) when you enter the code 20% at checkout (offer valid until 22 Dec).
Totally Nuts
Totally Nuts is a truly organic business, having started in a very small way, and fitting around the needs of a small baby, at the local Gold Coast Organic markets. After a year of establishing a solid base at the market we gradually started selling at local health food and organic stores, and have been moving ever slowly forwards ever since. Totally Nuts is run by Gemma Hunneyball with the cooperation of her young son Jasper, and the collaboration of an inspiring community of friends and colleagues.
What were the challenges of starting Totally Nuts?
My ex-husband and I used to prepare these nuts for ourselves, and the business started with a somewhat spontaneous idea to sell them at our local organic markets on the Gold Coast. At that time our son Jasper was 18 months old and the nut business enabled me to bring in some income while still primarily being mama.
In those early days all work was done from a home kitchen with just one dehydrator. Gradually the business at the market grew and we started selling in local health food and organic stores, and eventually ended up with 5 dehydrators at home! At which point I decided it was time to upgrade to a commercial dehydrator and a commercial kitchen space.
I have zero business background (my previous training and experience was in ecology and conservation), and still am sometimes surprised to find myself as a small business owner. It has been a series of very steep learning curves on this journey. But I am glad in a way that I don’t have the structured business background, because it has enabled me to determine the way in which the business moves and grows. So it has certainly been an unconventional process, but it has always been aligned with my personal ideals and fitted in with my priorities as a mother.
How do you balance roles as a mother and entrepreneur?
My role as mother has always been primary. One of the reasons for going into the business in the first place was that it allowed me to make a little income while still having my main focus as being a mum. As Jasper has grown it has become easier to do more, and once he started at a kindergarten the production side of things was able to move into the commercial factory space and out of the house! The fact that Totally Nuts grew slowly and organically, avoiding big loans and other sources of pressure, also definitely helped.
These days Jasper is older, but it is still an elaborate juggling process in school holidays, as no doubt many people are familiar with. I have my office space and shipping facility at home still, so am able to combine work and parenting still with a fair amount of ease and not too much disruption!
Tell us your creative process, where do the recipes come from?
Our range of nuts is very simple. It has always been a principle of mine to Keep It Simple! So at this stage at least, the recipes are really just a list of ingredient quantities for our activated nut/seed and fruit mixes. I am starting to enter into the world of more precise recipes as I move into activated nut butters, so I will see how that works as time goes by! The recipes that I do have come from good old trial and error. It is all based in testing and tasting, and giving to friends to taste and comment on, and being prepared to eat an awful lot of nuts (and nut butter) in the process!
What’s unique about your processing methods?
The process of activation is very simple—soak nuts, drain and rinse, and then dry them out. The variety in the end product that you see between different companies, and what you may do at home, is due to what you soak the nuts with and how long they dry for and at what temperature.
The activation of nuts is essentially the start of the germination process. Nuts are seeds (except for peanuts) and as such they contain within them protective compounds that the parent plant puts into them so they will not germinate in the wrong conditions, or rot or be eaten by bugs and so on. The relevant protective compounds for us are the phytic acids and enzyme inhibitors. These interfere with our digestive process, and are fundamentally indigestible to us (the enzyme inhibitors, for example, are there to prevent the germination enzymes in the seed from switching on until the right conditions are present; in our digestive system they equally serve to switch off our digestive enzymes).
This is why many people find that when they eat a handful of raw nuts, the nuts sit heavily in their stomach or they get bloated. In activating them, we are mimicking the start of the germination process when water floods into the cells and all sorts of biochemical reactions happen. The complex and indigestible protective compounds get broken down into simpler ones that our bodies can digest. So when you eat activated nuts, they are lighter and make you feel much better, even though you actually need far fewer of them to get the same nutritional benefit. The drying part of the process is not essential nutritionally, but serves to makes the nuts taste absolutely amazing, and also enables them to be stored and packaged. Drying at a low temperature ensures that the fats and the proteins in the nuts stay intact (they are destroyed at higher temperatures).
I believe—with, admittedly, a degree of bias—that our nuts come out of the process with an exceptional taste and texture. We use a little Himalayan Crystal Salt in the soaking process, so that as the nuts swell and absorb water they also absorb the dissolved salt. Then much of the salt is rinsed off, with the result that the nuts have a very subtle saltiness, but more than that the salt serves to bring out the taste of the nuts themselves. I have also read that soaking nuts with a little salt serves to increase the enzyme activity of the nut itself—although the researchers were not able to pinpoint exactly why this would be the case.
We dehydrate the nuts at as low a temperature as we can. I know some places dry at up to 70 degrees, which does speed up the process, but also makes for a different, almost roasted taste. We keep ours between 45 and 55 degrees. I have tried to dry at a lower temperature, so that the raw foodies who need to keep their food below 42 degrees would be able to have them also, but I always found that they went mouldy before they dried out.
We also dry the nuts for a long, long time—up to four days. This slow process definitely helps to bring out the taste of each nut and I do believe that you can somehow feel the care and the time that has gone into preparing food in this way!
What are some of your health and environmental goals with Totally Nuts?
Basically and fundamentally, even though it sounds clichéd, I really would like to be able to offer this fantastic and delicious health promoting food to as many people as possible. When people are interested in organic activated nuts, they are clearly becoming better informed about food choices and their own health, and I am extremely happy that my work and my business is part of this essentially consciousness-raising momentum.
I believe very strongly in the importance of organic food. In terms of our local and global environment I believe it is the only viable way forward; in social terms, it supports small local growers as opposed to global multinationals; and it clearly is the best option for our own individual health and well being—but certified organic nuts are expensive! I know that the cost can be a limiting factor for people, which is why I recently brought out a range of Australian grown, pesticide free activated nuts. These are not certified organic, but I have been able to talk to the growers and/or processors themselves about what, if any, chemicals they use, and why and when, and I personally am satisfied that they are still an excellent option.
One of the advantages to running your own business is that you can manage to align it with your own principles and ideals, and as such I am happy that I can focus on certified organic products, and use green cleaning products, and so on. The one area in which this does not fit at this point is our packaging—I have been unable to find a biodegradable packaging option that is still airtight enough to prevent the nuts from reabsorbing moisture from the air around them. Until some enterprising scientist finds a solution to this problem, I have at least decided to start selling at our market stall in bulk, so avoiding any packaging at all!
How to Have Your Nuts…
Storage Tip: so long as the nuts are stored air tight they will stay fresh for a long time. The activation process essentially ‘locks’ in the state of the fatty acids and so on in the nut, so they will not go rancid any more at room temperature (unlike raw nuts, which have a fragile fat balance). I have never stored them frozen, but I do have customers that do and I believe it works for them.
Breakfast: I use activated buckwheat or oats as a base to mix with activated nuts and seeds, some coconut and not-too-sweet dried fruit. My son especially love the oats one!
Butter: I make a variety of butters using different blends of nuts, including home-made coconut butter as well. Currently I only sell these at the markets, but once I tweak the recipes to my liking I will be selling them online as well. They make for a great snack with cucumber, celery, apple….. you name it, it tastes good with activated ABC butter or almond/coconut butter.
Baking: I do a lot of baking for afternoon teas for my son, and I aim to be as grain-free as possible. So there are a lot of different types of Goodie Balls (with apricot/ coconut/ walnut for example, or cashew/ cacao/ coconut); nut bars; muffins based on activated almond flour (made in the Vitamix).
Between meals: a handful of nuts is definitely the go-to snack in our house. Sometimes with a piece of fruit as well.
Go Totally Nuts this Christmas totallynutsonline.com.au
