Bulletin
SPOTLIGHT ON MERU HERBS F R O M G R O W T H TO TA B L E
BIG SUMMER DISCOUNTS
T R A I D C R A F T S H O P. C O . U K
ICE COOL FRAPPE RECIPE
J U LY 2022
In this issue... 2
Traidcraft Summer Savings
3
Letter from the editor
4-5
Spotlight on Meru Herbs
6-7
Traidcraft Exchange Update
8
Zaytoun Bath Salts
9 Frappe Recipe
Traidcraft Summer Savings If you haven’t had chance to flick through our Summer 2022 Catalogue yet, you may not have spotted some of our exclusive catalogue offers. So, we’ve rounded up our very best discounts into this month’s Bulletin. Don’t say we don’t spoil you! Remember, all discounts are 100% on us. Everyone throughout the supply chain has received full payment from us.
20% OFF
Meru Tomato & Chilli Sauce 32020 (295g) £3.50 32096 (6 x 295g) £18.90
SHOP MERU OFFERS
Offer until: 26th July inclusive.
SHOP CAFE DIRECT OFFERS
Offers until: 2nd August inclusive.
20% OFF
SHOP DIVINE CHOCOLATE OFFERS 2
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Dear Fairtrader, We are now well into summer weather and the thought of long days and fresh air. There are some real treats from the Traidcraft shop which are ideal for picnics, bike rides, walks and holidays. There is a lot of change going on in the world and we continue to help our producer communities to sell great products in the UK. We also have some changes at Traidcraft HQ. We welcome our interim CEO Mark Buchanan, who has very kindly offered to support Traidcraft whilst our current CEO is recovering. Our delicious new chocolate bars have just arrived and there are still some great offers on many of our products, some of which are featured in this Bulletin. We have some fabulous, delicious recipes in future communications which are tasty and make a little go a long way, whether you are feeding a large family or a community.
READ THE ARTICLE traidcraftshop.co.uk
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Spotlight on: Meru Herbs Meru Herbs is a female-led organisation in rural Kenya and is dedicated to fair trade principles, with a clear mission to empower women, alleviate poverty and improve standards of living. This month, we spoke to Sally from Meru Herbs, who talked us through the many stages of fair trade sauce production. So, the next time you open a delicious jar or Meru Herbs sauce, you’ll know exactly how it got from rural Kenya to get to your kitchen table! Stage 1. Receiving: Each farmer carries their bags with the tomatoes to Meru Herbs Factory site. Stage 2. Grading: The produce is graded for quality check. Any foreign plant materials, leaves, roots etc. are removed. Stage 3. Weighing: After Grading the produce is weighed and then recorded in each farmer’s record book and the factory’s records book.
Stage 8. Peeling: Tomatoes are dipped in hot water to remove outer skin. The fruits/ tomatoes are peeled and the seeds are extracted, this waste is carried to the compost pit. Stage 9. Grading: The produce is graded to check to confirm quality for cooking. Stage 10. Weighing: In the recommended containers the produce is weighed and the information is recorded in a “production records book”. Sugar, lemon juice and other ingredients are weighed in this step and recorded in the same book. Stage 11. Cooking: After weighing fruits/ tomatoes are cut, squeezed and/or chopped to obtain the pulp ready to cook. The cooking is done in the cookers. Stage 12. First Check: The first check is done during the cooking with specific instruments. Parameters such as PH, brix and temperature are checked and recorded.
Stage 4. Storage: After recording of all the information regarding the tomatoes, the produce is stored. Stage 5. Sorting: When the production starts, the tomatoes undergo another quality check before approval for processing. Stage 6. Weighing: Selected tomatoes are weighed again.
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Stage 13. Sterilizing of the empty jars and cups: During the cooking the empty jars and the cups are sterilized in hot water to clean and to avoid external contamination. Stage 14. Scooping: When the jam/sauce is ready it’s scooped with special tools and put in a big bottling pot with a tap to fill the jars.
Stage 19. Storage: The jars are stored in the warehouse in well partitioned cartons. Stage 20. Labeling: Jars are then labeled with approved labels printed according to different clients. Expiry dated must be printed neatly with no smudges on every label. Stage 21. Packing: The products are collected in the cartons printed according to different clients and on each carton is stamped the code of jam, expiry date and the batch no. Stage 22. Dispatch: The final product is dispatched according to the customer: container by plane or sea for export, lorry for local sales.
Stage 15. Bottling: The jars are filled and each jar is sorted according to the quality. The jars are then closed with the sterilized cups. The temperature is controlled during this entire step. Stage 16. Sterilizing: The closed jars are sterilized in the cookers with the boiled water for 30 minutes. Stage 17. Cooling: The jars are then moved in the trays according to batches and left overnight to cool. Stage 18. Second check: Next day the jars undergo a weight and vacuum check. PH and brix level are tested for each batch before putting a batch number at the bottom of the jar.
SHOP MERU JAMS AND SAUCES
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“This project had really taken us far” Back in 2018, we launched the Hidden Entrepreneur appeal – where your donations were doubled by the UK Government to help people in low-income countries build businesses and create a better future for their families and communities. Gladys Gathoni, farming entrepreneur, Meru County, Kenya
Four years later, we now want to share just what that appeal – and your generous support – has meant to communities in Meru County, Kenya. The region faces many challenges – the increasingly fragile climate is prone to severe droughts and because farmers are so isolated, it’s difficult to get the training, seeds and routes to market that are fundamental to a successful farming business. At the heart of all of these challenges are farmers like Gladys. When we started working with her, she already demonstrated the drive and commitment central to the Hidden Entrepreneur appeal. 6
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Credit: Traidcraft Exchange/Ian Gatere
She said… “If I have a lot of work to do, I just have to stretch myself, I just have to work a little harder every day to get all the work done.” Your donations – matched pound for pound by the UK government – supported amazing people like Gladys, who have all the talent and determination needed to succeed in Gladys and Julius Mwangi Maina, a trainer with the project Credit: Traidcraft Exchange/Ian Gatere
When we caught up with Gladys in 2019, she expressed her hopes for what she could achieve with the help of the project: “I hope that if we come together as farmers, we will be uplifted. I’m hoping that it will be easier to get seeds because we are working together and easier to find a market with a good price.” Almost 3 years later, she has gained even more from the project than she predicted:
“[This project] has trained us on many sound farming practices, but the time we were trained using the demonstration farms was the time they really helped us. That is where we saw spacing, how to cover nursery beds. We knew nothing about nursery beds! Nothing about the right crop-protection products to use!”
Gladys Gathoni’s farm ledger book Credit: Traidcraft Exchange/Ian Gatere
The Hidden Entrepreneurs project – which recently came to an end - has helped to shift this imbalance by sending market price updates to farmers via SMS messages. “You can negotiate as you know what the price in the market is. It really helps. You can tell him, no, in Isiolo it is at this price, in Meru it is this much,” As Gladys says… The project has not been smooth sailing all the way – Covid-19 made it impossible for farmers to meet for many months and caused vegetable prices to hit record lows. But through it all, farmers like Gladys have shown the drive and determination to meet these challenges head on – with your support they are working for a better future for their families and communities. When we caught up with Gladys in 2021, despite all the challenges of the pandemic, she said this…
Because they live and work so remotely, local farmers like Gladys are dependent on middlemen to get their crops to market. These middlemen consistently undervalued their produce.
“This project has really taken us far. My yields have gone up.” As we look ahead, challenges in this region will remain, but thanks to your support there are thousands of farmers who are better equipped to use their skills to create a better future traidcraftshop.co.uk
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Natural Bath Salts from Zaytoun ... Coming Soon Coming July Zaytoun Dead Sea Salt Bath 10345 (750g) £7 10346 (6 x 750g) £37.80
COMING SOON
Great for soothing aching joints and muscles, this Dead Sea bath salt from our friends at Zaytoun has just landed and is available to buy now, while stocks last. This salt has been harvested by hand by a Palestinian family since the 1960s, along a strip of Palestinian shoreline, that is of huge significance as it is the only access Palestinians have to the Dead Sea. Soothe your aches and pains the sustainable way… SHOP DEAD SEA BATH SALTS
Traidcraft Gardening Gloves Go International! Some feedback from our outstanding Customer Services Assistant, Julie. “Fairtrader, Sue Howland, has ordered more of our gardening gloves as she said they are the best gloves she has ever had! She rates them so highly, she has also sent them to her son in new Zealand!” SHOP TRAIDCRAFT GARDENING GLOVES
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Fair Trade Coffee Frappe Recipe SHOP ZAYTOUN DATES
Why not offer coffee frappes at your next coffee morning for something a little bit different?). Love an ice cool coffee frappe? Follow this recipe and you'll be blitzing frappes for you and your community all summer long. You may be surprised to hear they're this simple to make! WHAT YOU'LL NEED (for one serving): 120ml oat milk 1 banana – sliced and frozen 3 Medjoul dates, pitted ½ tsp cinnamon powder A pinch of nutmeg 6 frozen coffee cubes (to make coffee ice cubes, simply brew 170ml fair trade coffee and freeze in ice cube tray. You can even make decaf version using decaf coffee if desired.) HOW TO MAKE: Puree all ingredients in a blender until smooth as a slushy. It really is that simple!
SHOP FAIR TRADE COFFEE traidcraftshop.co.uk
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