Projects

Organic Mangoes

Mangoes are one of the most widely grown tropical fruits and are available in literally hundreds of different varieties. Each variety has a unique flavour that can be sharp, sweet, fragrant, soapy or a combination of all of these! They are a great tasting fruit.

Community Foods buy the Brooks and Amelie varieties of Mango which are perfumed and sweet from Burkina Faso, Western Africa – one of the world’s financially poorest nations with severe drought and soil erosion problems. With attention and care however, it is well suited to growing the delicious varieties we have carefully selected and have found to be the best for producing dried Mango, with excellent flavour and texture. The farming communities we buy from have chosen to farm the soil organically because of the benefits it brings to them and the environment.

The mango is simply picked when very ripe, washed, peeled, sliced by hand and dried on racks without any other ingredients. That’s it – no colours, preservatives, flavours or added sugar. Our mango will vary in colour and flavour from season to season because we do not process it to make it homogenous (some suppliers add sugar, which masks any variance in flavour, and add colour to ensure a uniform colour – we do not).

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Burkina Faso has notoriously thin and poor soil. Our growers are experimenting with under canopy cropping, this means growing secondary crops under the mango trees. By rotating crops and mulching in green manure, we hope to improve soil fertility and reduce pest problems through biodiversity.
Where we can, our packers are using locally made, ventilated solar heated drying trays. This new technology, by using the sun, reduces the need for electricity and dependence on expensive financial investments, whilst improving the quality and output of the organisation.
Our mangoes come from a large number of individuals with one or two trees, plus a host of smaller more organised local farms, all owned and run by the locals themselves. Trade, not aid, in action!

Organic Apricots

Our dried organic apricots were among our first organic products and are prepared in the traditional manner. Dried naturally in the Turkish sun, with no added preservatives or colouring, they have a firm texture and are excellent on their own and perfect for baking.

We have been recruiting farmers to organic farming in Turkey for over 25 years, which we are doing through our membership of the Good Food Foundation, www.goodfood.nl The Good Food Foundation have their own agronomists who are specialists in organic farming, and they advise farmers on organic farming methods and conversion to organic farming. Community help to underwrite the farmers risk of “going organic” by making a commitment to buy their organic produce.

Organic farming relies on a progressive, comprehensive system based on increased understanding of the environment and how best to work to ensure a sustainable future. Our apricot farmers have implemented a drip feed irrigation to reduce both water loss and the impact on natural water resources – our farmers were among the first in Malatya and in Turkey to trial this system.

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Organic Apricots are naturally dark because they are dried without using sulphur dioxide as a preservative. This means that you taste the rich, dark and intense flavour of a naturally dried apricot. They are delicious, sweet and full of flavour. Our apricots are also a good source of fibre, vitamin A and iron and are superb to snack on and bake with.
Sulphur dioxide is used to preserve the bright orange colour of conventionally grown apricots, and is largely responsible for the tangy taste often associated with dried apricots. Sulphur Dioxide is a known allergen and can be responsible for a “gripey” or “windy” stomach, often associated with eating conventionally grown apricots – this has little to do with apricots and more to do with the preservative sulphur dioxide. So if you have a sensitive stomach, try our organic apricots and see if they make a difference.

Organic Figs

Our figs come from an organic project we have worked with since the late 1980’s. We had been buying conventionally grown figs but when we wanted to source organic figs, we found that there were none. Working with farmers, we made commitments to buy their organic production and they made commitments to farm organically, with advice on methods provided by agronomists from the Good Food Foundation Project. Whole villages have now converted to growing organic!

The project has been a massive success, and each year we have returned to buy more organic figs and to help more farmers convert to organic farming.

Our figs are cropped later than most figs because they are grown in the hills rather than typically in the valleys. This means the figs are slower growing, have thinner skins and we believe a much superior flavour.

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Figs are fertilised exclusively by the fig fly. This symbiotic relationship has developed over tens of thousands of years and no other creature or method is capable of fertilising the fruit! Neither fig nor fly can exist without the other. Each fig flower is uniquely designed to allow only this species of fly inside to fertilise her. Every year, fresh “male” figs containing the fruit fly are hung in the orchards and the flies emerge to fertilise the new crop.
On a buying trip to the village in 2006 we were picking our way through the enormous variety of wild herbs and flowers surrounding the orchards, marvelling at the display of insect life it supported. All of a sudden we saw a bird of prey swoop down to the orchard and capture a snake, which it carried off. That moment symbolised so much of what we work for – natural harmony, ecological diversity, and the sheer pleasure of seeing wildlife in action. It isn’t just about food for the stomach, but food for the soul.

Organic Basmati Rice

Both our basmati brown rice and polished white rice come from the Kaddar rice growers co-operative in Kaddar. The rice is grown on the foothills of the Himalayas, in India on the borders of Nepal. The rice growing area is very special as it falls in a valley that floods regularly once a year with the snow melt. It means the growers only get one crop a year from their fields, but each year, the fields are fertilised by the melt waters. The result is spectacular rice, very white and firm with a fantastic fragrance.

Growing organically in this area is very important as otherwise harmful residues and pesticides would run off in to the rivers, affecting all those down stream.

Of course being limited to one crop a year compared with two crops in other regions poses a few problems so the Fairtrade rice premium ensures above market prices for the Basmati plus a social premium that is paid directly to the co-operative and invested in projects nominated by the farming community.

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Basmati Rice, Brown - This is a de-husked but unpolished brown rice that contains the germ of the plant and is highly nutritious.
Basmati Rice, White - Highly prized for fragrance and length of grain – our Basmati will swell and lengthen up to 2 ½ times its dry length when cooked and serve as a bright white, fragrant rice. Second to none, it has very few “brokens” and “chalks” and has been double water polished so that it cooks very cleanly.

Organic Sesame Seeds

Community Organic Sesame seeds come from Nicaragua, South America. Although many countries produce sesame, in our opinion, Nicaragua produces the sweetest seed. Sesame was first cultivated in Africa and Asia. We buy our seed from a Fairtrade co-operative which we have worked with for many years. This ensures the farmers receive a good price for the seed, and the community are paid a social premium for building or supporting locally nominated projects such as schools.

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Community Organic Sesame is well cleaned and a has good uniform white colour – the local growing conditions in Nicaragua mean that the seed is particularly sweet and is well suited for baking and cooking without any residual bitterness.
Sesame seeds have to be husked before they can be eaten as the outer seed casing is poisonous – next time you see a budgie fiddling with sesame seeds in his beak, picking out the kernel and dropping the husk in a mess all around his cage, you will know why! Don ’t get mad with him.
Sesame seeds are a good source of protein, calcium and zinc.
To intensify the flavour of sesame seeds, lightly toast them in a dry pan then add to salads, mashed potato, rice or anything else that takes your fancy.

Sesame oil can be extracted from the seeds for use in cooking but it is very delicate, with a low smoking point. The best oil comes from toasted sesame seed and is used as a dressing for oriental cuisine – see www.sanchi.co.uk where our sister company has an award winning toasted sesame oil under its Sanchi brand of Japanese products.
Tahini is a paste made from it and can be bought in jars or ground from seed at home in a blender. It is used in savoury recipes such as hummus or in a confection such as Halva, a sweet made from sesame seeds and honey. Both can be found in health food shops, supermarkets or delicatessens.

Australian Dried Fruits

Community Foods have been supplying Australian dried fruit since 1982 and today act as agents for Sunbeam Foods, the largest group of packers of Australian dried fruit sold in the UK.

Australian Quality
Australian dried fruit has a reputation world wide, for superior quality and flavour. The fruit grows in the North West corner of the state of Victoria, where the vineyards and orchards cluster around the Murray river. The fertile, sandy soils, are ideal for growing fruit. The strong sunshine, irrigation from the river and the unique, Australian soils, ensure the fantastic flavour and quality of the fruit that grows there.

Sunbeam Foods
Sunbeam Foods Pty Ltd was established in 1926. Founded originally as a co-operative of the three main packers of Australian Fruit. Today, Sunbeam supplies the Australian market with it’s famous Sunbeam pack, as well as export sales to us at CommunityFoods.

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Range and Quality: we source pack private label fruit for retail (42g, 500g, 1 Kilo and upwards) and are able to supply quality, specified fruit for manufacturing and also supply food service packs. We are also able to pack product for customers in the UK, if necessary.
The Range Includes:
• Sultanas (3 Crown to 6 Crown)
• Lexia Raisins (Muscat Gordo Blanco plus other varieties)
• Currants • Dried Mixed Fruit
• Dried Apricots
• Prunes (Dried Plums)
• Dried Peaches
• Dried Pears
• Tropical Dried Fruit
• Dates
• Other niche varieties of dried fruits
To find out more about Australian dried fruit and the farmers and packers that we represent, visit www.sunbeamfoods.com.au