This week's NPD gallery features healthier stock cubes from Knorr and a new soft drink promising to transform the humble Nettle into a great tasting, refreshing drink loaded with immune boosting health benefits.
GettyImages/Prostock-Studio
This week's NPD gallery features healthier stock cubes from Knorr and a new soft drink promising to transform the humble Nettle into a great tasting, refreshing drink loaded with immune boosting health benefits.
Image: Getty/Prostock-Studio
General Mills has launched its ‘One Pot Wonders’ pilot with Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge and Greggs Foundation. The campaign will provide free slow cookers [and food boxes] to families during the February half-term holiday and is inspired by the business’s involvement in Marcus Rashford’s Child Food Poverty Task Force during 2020.
The pilot will help provide nutritious meals to 24 families from Tidemill Academy in Deptford, London, and Morecombe Bay Community Primary School, Lancashire; the two schools selected for the trial.
Tom Kerridge, has developed a series of six healthy and easy-to-make recipes to accompany the slow cookers and help families prepare tasty meals. The recipe book includes delicious staples such as bean chilli and winter warmers like stews.
The pilot is aimed at helping reduce child food poverty in the UK and will act as an extension of General Mill’s partnership with Greggs Foundation through their Breakfast Club programme which, during term time, provides nutritious breakfasts to schoolchildren across the country.
By providing free slow cookers, ingredients and recipe cards, the campaign pilot seeks to help build the foundations of nutritious, affordable home cooking.
Ben Pearman, VP Managing Director of Northern Europe at General Mills, said: “Supporting an end to child food poverty by helping families cook healthy and nutritious meals is a natural move for us a global food company.”
“We are thrilled that Marcus Rashford is supporting ‘One Pot Wonders’ and delighted that Tom Kerridge has provided healthy and hearty recipes for the families involved.”
Image supplied by General Mills
Baby milk brand Aptamil is expanding its organic range with the launch of Aptamil Organic Cereals, which are available in two tasty flavours in resealable 180g packs: Aptamil Organic Banana & Strawberry Porridge (suitable from 6+ months) and Aptamil Organic Seven Grain Cereal (suitable from 7+ months).
Made with a blend of certified organic ingredients and vitamin B1, the new range contains no added sugar or preservatives.
Paula Nelms, Senior Brand Manager at Aptamil said: “Our products are designed to support parents with their little one’s feeding journey, and we’re delighted to launch Aptamil Organic Cereals. We know how important meals times are and enjoying them together during the early years is an exciting time for families.
“This range has been certified by the Soil Association, an independent organic certification body that ensures that the cereals have been produced in line with strict organic, social and environmental standards in the EU and the UK.”
“Our Organic range is inspired by 40 years of knowledge and research in early life science and is crafted with the care and expertise we believe every parent and baby deserves. We know from listening to parents and watching market trends that parents are increasingly seeking more natural and organic options. The organic market is a rapidly growing segment having achieved its highest year-on-year growth in 15 years in 2020. With the market now worth £2.79bn, there is a clear opportunity for retailers to cater for this increasing demand.”
The new Aptamil Organic Cereal range will launch in Boots, followed by other major retailers including Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Waitrose and Ocado later in the year.
Both Aptamil Organic Banana & Strawberry Porridge and Aptamil Organic Seven Grain Cereal have a RRP of £3.00.
New oat milk chocolate brand, HiP (Happiness in Plants) has now officially launched and is available to purchase. The brainchild of James Cadbury (founder of Love Cocoa and the great-great-great grandson of Mr Cadbury), the four-strong line-up promises a creamy oat-based alternative to milk chocolate and has 35% less sugar than your average bar of dairy milk chocolate.
The flavours include Smooth & Creamy, Cookies No Cream, Salted Caramel and Salty Pretzels variants (RSP £3.00/70g bar), available online and via Selfridges and Holland & Barrett over the coming weeks.
Unilever has unveiled new zero salt stock cubes by Knorr (veggie, chicken and beef). Knorr’s study of more than 6,000 adults across six different European countries showed that 77% of respondents wanted to explore different ways to flavour their food and 61% would love to prepare flavour-rich dishes without all the salt.
To that end, the new salt-free cubes are completely free from artificial colours and added MSG, and made with high-quality ingredients including free-range chicken, beef from organic farming and sustainably grown vegetables.
Unilever said the cubes are made from a unique blend of vegetables, herbs and spices such as rosemary, nutmeg, lovage and turmeric, the cubes help build up a rich flavour in food, leaving cooks to decide, after tasting, how much, if any, salt is needed.
Creating a salt-free stock cube has been a complicated process, requiring food researchers at the Hive, Unilever’s Global Foods Innovation Centre to go back to basics.
“That’s because salt normally has two important roles in bouillon cubes. It strengthens other flavours and forms the structure of the cube, with salt crystals holding all the other ingredients together,” said Gunabalan Raju, Technical Project Leader, The Hive, Wageningen.
“We found the right balance by extracting vegetables, herbs and spices – and meat for the chicken and beef bouillon,” Gunabalan continues. “And then we combined them with some fat and ingredients that can create crystals so that the cube held its structure – all with zero salt.”
The product is already on shelves in the UK, but will roll out globally.
Image supplied by Knorr
Ice cream brand RØAR has added a new Salted Caramel and Macadamia flavour.
Made exclusively from raw, high quality ingredients all sourced from nature, the new flavour is made up from a premium vanilla almond milk base and swirled with salted caramel and caramelised macadamias throughout.
It joins the existing range of Hazelnut Chocolate Cookie, Hemp Seed Chocolate Brownie and Coconut Mango Passionfruit Oat Cookie. RØAR says it marries high quality plant-based ingredients with the luxurious flavours of Caramel, Hazelnut, Coconut and Chocolate. It is available to buy from key retailers including Tesco, Sainsburys and Ocado at £5.00, and will be available in M&S in April.
Image supplied by RØAR
Two UK chemists are launching the first ever soft drink to harness health and healing properties of nettles.
Emunity has transformed the humble Nettle into a great tasting, refreshing drink loaded with immune boosting health benefits. It is 100% natural, with no artificial ingredients and only 53 calories per can. Emunity is available in two flavours: Wild Strawberry and Gooseberry.
The Stinging Nettle (Urtica Dioica) has been used for centuries in traditional medicine. Nettles contain a significant amount of biologically active compounds, particularly carotenoids and polyphenols, that are good for you and your body, claims the makers of the drink.
Pharmacists Roy Lamb and Nasir Isaji, have infused the drink with a range of garden botanicals, each with their own health properties.
"We're both passionate about helping people stay healthy, and so developing a drink full of genuine health benefits seemed the obvious thing to do." said Nasir.
"The recipe for Emunity is inspired by my herbalist great-Grandfather who used to create a 'cure-all tea' from nettle. When I looked into it, I could see why nettle was so effective." said Roy.
Image supplied by Emunity
