The Organic Collection

Charles Redfern talks to us about The Organic Collection, a company known for their high quality specialist food.

The Organic Collection, launched very successfully 3 years ago, is part of the Organico Realfoods portfolio of products and shares the same pre-occupations. It is organic- of course- but of equal importance are issues of provenance and quality.

Whereas Organico in general promote the best in Mediterranean foods, the Organic Collection is about indulgence products, both seasonal and year-round. It is an array of the finest speciality products sourced from all over Europe.

The marzipan comes from Lubeck, a historic Baltic port town in North Germany which has a reputation for producing marzipan dating back to the Middle ages. It is made made with honey instead of sugar and a very large percentage of ground almonds.

The nougat is from Montelimar, a famous producer of nougat with its own protected denomination recipe for nougat that specifies a specific ratio of almonds, honey and sugar- and no artificial binding agents.

A similar product with an Arabian background is Turron, famous throughout Spain in many varieties. Of these varieties, the most popular are the Turron from Alicante and Jijona, halva-like turron, again made according to strict recipes and a traditional process. softand hardour

The chestnut products are manufactured in the Ardeche, a region where the Chestnut trees, which need a specific combination of acidic soil, altitude and temperature, were originally planted by the Romans.

The Panettone comes from the Veneto area of Italy and is made there by a bakery - established in the 1920's - which still runs a traditional business at the foot of the city walls. The sparking blueberry and raspberry drinks that have been so praised for their fruitiness and natural taste are made in the middle of bio-dynamic apple orchards near Nantes that produce the most stunning and varied range of eating apples.

New for 2008 is our Original Nuremberg Lebkuchen baked by a city guild member according to a 600 year old recipe which contains no flour, industrial white sugar or artificial aromas. Also- a bubbly blackcurrant from the apple orchard (just carbonated juice) and three great new fizzy drinks in glass bottles: Sicilian lemon and blood orange and pomegranate flavours - made with mineral water that used to supply a Roman spa.

As you can see; behind each product in The Organic Collection range is a heritage of centuries of careful farming, skilled craftsmanship and the quest for outstanding quality.