Browsing: fairtrade

11th May 2013 is World Fair Trade Day

Today is World Fair Trade Day – a day when we celebrate the contribution that fair trade producers, importers, retailers and consumers are making to changing the very rules of trade. Rules which are stacked against the poorest people around the world. Rules that often leave them in abject poverty despite working long hours, in sometimes terrible conditions. Fair Trade seeks to redress that imbalance. Fair Trade is a movement to empower those who have little power in the world’s supply chains.

The terrible tragedy that occurred just outside Dhaka in Bangladesh reminds us of what happens when we put cheap prices ahead of treating people with dignity and respect. With more than 1000 people now confirmed dead, it is difficult to comprehend that there is a direct link between our cheap cloths and this unprecedented tragedy. While many bigger businesses now need to give serious and urgent consideration to their supply chains, you can buy confidently from fair trade suppliers knowing that they already are putting people first.

So what are we going to do from today onwards to make the world a fairer place?

Read the rest of World Fair Trade Day – What are we doing to make the world a better place? »

So Easter is coming and one of the great traditions of Easter is the Hot Cross Bun. I have never made them before so I decided I would have ago this year. The Hot Cross bun is a celebration food that celebrates the end of Lent and piles in all the things you may have given up for the last seven weeks. Made from a heavily spiced dough, the bun is laden with rich fruit. A delicious treat – and one we shouldn’t eat too often!

Hot Cross buns cooling in Andy's Kitchen

So with apologies to Nigella and Felicity Cloake of the Guardian who’s recipes I have butchered here is the official Ethical Superstore guide to making your own Ethical Hot Cross Bun.

Ingredients

200ml milk
¼ tsp powdered nutmeg
½ tsp powdered Suma Organic and Fairtrade cinnamon
¼ tsp powdered mixed spice
Pinch of saffron
7g of powdered “easy bake” yeast (or Doves Farm quick yeast)
50g golden Traidcraft Fairtrade caster sugar
450g Doves Farm organic strong white flour
100g butter
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground ginger
3 eggs
150g Suma Organic currants
50g mixed peel
3 tbsp Doves Farm organic plain flour 

Cooking time: In total this is going to take four hours and for the best flavour prepare the spicy milk the day before.

1. Heat 200ml milk gently in a pan along with the cinnamon,  nutmeg and mixed spice until just boiling. Set aside, preferably overnight.

2. Next day warm the milk to body temperature and then add yeast and 1 tsp sugar.

3. Mix the flour and  butter in a large bowl and rub together until well mixed.

4. Add the rest of the sugar, the salt and ginger.

5. Beat together two of the eggs and add with the yeast mixture to the flour\butter mixture. Stir in, adding enough milk to make a soft dough.

6. Place on a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

7. Cover and leave in a warm place for  a couple of hours until it has doubled in size.

8. Place back on a floured surface and knead for a minute or so. Flatten it out and scatter over the fruit and peel. Knead again to spread the fruit around evenly.

9. Divide into 16 equal pieces and roll these into round, bun shapes. Put on If you care grease proof paper lined baking trays and mark a cross on the top of each one. Cover and put in a warm place until doubled in size (again!).

10. Set the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and beat together an egg with a little milk. Mix the plain flour,  a pinch of salt and enough cold water to make a stiff paste. Paint the top of each bun with egg wash, and then draw a thick cross where you scored the cross on each bun.

11. Put into the oven and bake for about 25 minutes until golden.

12. Meanwhile, mix 1 tbsp caster sugar with 1 tbsp boiling water. When the buns come out of the oven, brush them with this before transferring to a rack to cool.

13. Eat with lots of butter, lots of friends and lots of chat of how to make the world a better place.

Have fun and have  a great Easter. Once consumed on Easter Sunday you will a strenuous Easter Egg hunt to burn off the calories. Make sure you have lots of Divine Easter eggs well hidden around your garden!

Take a tropical island paradise, a flourishing cocoa producer and a group of people determined to improve the lives of others and you get Cafédirect’s empowering story of its involvement with the people of Saõ Tomé & Principe.

Read the rest of Saõ Tomé’s Story »

It’s Fairtrade Fortnight!

Our friends at The Fairtrade Foundation are launching their annual Fairtrade Fortnight campaign this week. We’re really looking forward to a couple of weeks of events and publicity to raise awareness of this brilliant campaign, and we hope you are too.

Read the rest of Hunting for Bunting Competition »

We hear so many brilliant stories of the wonderful people we work with we want to tell you about them all! From individual producers in remote locations to co-operatives that are helping to transform whole countries, there is a story to go with the product.

Read the rest of Ines’ Story »

Everyone loves a good story, and here at EthicalSuperstore we love telling you about some of the amazing producers, cooperatives and suppliers that we work with.

Read the rest of Sarale’s story »

One of the chief criticisms of the burgeoning eco-fashion scene has been the relative dearth of stylish options for all the fellas out there. The fact is, even the most eco conscious chap with only the vaguest interest in style can’t help but feel a little put out when a hunt for an eco-friendly t-shirt can only produce a motheaten number that looks like something from a primary school nativity.

Read the rest of In Search of Eco Fashion For Men »

Now on 5 Cafédirect products!

Maybe it’s the essential cog in your morning routine. Or it’s that impromptu heart to heart forged from that timeless ice-breaker – “Anyone for tea?”. Or perhaps you just enjoy grinding your own beans at home on a sunday afternoon. Whatever the reason, everyone appreciates the perfect time for a good cuppa.

Read the rest of Five Stars for Cafédirect! »

Here’s the next in our series of short videos from Cafédirect. Raul, one of the producers of Cafédirect’s delicious Machu Picchu coffee answers more questions on the Cocla Cooperative in Peru where he works. If you’re curious about the way that Fairtrade works, then take a peek at this short video…

Read the rest of Cafédirect Producer Tales – Cocla Cooperative in Peru »

Less than a year ago, Cadbury’s announced their first foray into the Fairtrade arena. Since then, Kit Kat have also acquired the Fairtrade mark, and despite many raised eyebrows that people have directed at them, in my opinion this can only be a good thing in the long term.

Read the rest of Going Fair Trade »