This Christmas let ethy help you shop sustainably

UK-based company, ethy, is championing sustainable shopping by connecting savvy shoppers with verified environmentally and socially conscious brands in one easy and free-to-use app.

Amidst rising allegations of  'greenwashing' to capitalise on the biggest marketing trend of the decade, ethy's validation and trust marks are restoring consumer faith in brands that are really, genuinely eco-friendly, green, ethical, and sustainable, giving shoppers peace of mind.

So, how does ethy work? 

It's validation and trust marks are restoring consumer confidence in the most sustainable brands

As sustainability becomes the key purchase driver across consumer goods sectors, especially in the run up to Christmas, ethy's trust marks are giving customers faith in the brands that are truly green and sustainable, with booming sales as a result. 

ethy's easily recognisable hexagonal trust marks for packaging and digital are rapidly becoming the most widely regarded validation of a brand's overall commitment to being truly sustainable.

Celebrating over 100 brands passing through ethy's scalable validation and accreditation process and more than 10,000 active users of its ethical shopping guide app, ethy CEO Callum Miller, said: "Sustainability has finally become a key consideration for consumers. 

"Challenger brands with sustainability at their heart are capturing a significant market share of even long-established sectors, and this trend is set to only strengthen and continue into the future. Across beauty, fashion, health, food and even financial services, customers are moving towards brands that have a greater purpose than simply making money. And those brands are, of course, booming."

Underpinning Callum's comment, the 2020 Compare Ethics Report showed even two years ago 83% of consumers were more likely to trust a product's sustainability claim if it had been verified by a third party.

ethy's purpose is to support brands that put people and the planet first and make it easy for consumers to identify and choose those brands. The organisation's scalable audit and accreditation process allows brands from start-ups to multinationals to prove their eco and ethical credentials and benefit from ethy's visual trust marks.

ethy's trust marks cover 35 socially and ethically responsible initiatives across six core paths representing the most pressing sustainability challenges today. 

These easy to recognise hexagonal logos for packaging, advertising and digital media come together to form the brand's overall Impact Hive, giving consumers a striking representation of the brand's proven social and environmental commitments.

Callum went on to say: "There are literally hundreds of very worthy accreditations for specific market verticals (Fairtrade, Vegan etc), but ethy is the first organisation to offer validation across initiatives that matter to the planet and have relevance across every consumer sector.

"We are committed to simplifying the sustainable message by creating one unified system of trust marks that consumers can recognise and trust instantly – and ensuring truly sustainable brands, of any size in any sector, can benefit."

Brands that have already gone through ethy audit, validation and accreditation and are benefiting from the organisation’s trust marks include Friendly Soap, Neem London, Circa5000, Forager Health, NuMind Wellness, Planty, Serious Tissues, Mix Green Clean, Wild, GreenGrowth, Kabloom, Bamboo Barter, Truthpaste…. and many, many more. See the ethy consumer shopping guide app to discover the truly sustainable brands benefiting from ethy validation.

Formed in 2020, ethy's intention is to to give all consumer goods brands the chance to prove their ethical and sustainable credentials by significantly lowering the cost audits and accreditation. In line with UN Sustainable Development Goals, and partnered with organisations such as Carbon Neutral Britain, WWF and the Association of Sustainability Practitioners (ASP), ethy is further championing sustainable shopping with bright, visual accreditation trust marks for consumer packaging and digital marketing, and a consumer app platform highlighting the best ethical brands.

That's Food and Drink: Gosnells Opens Mead Bar on Bermondsey Mead Mile

That's Food and Drink: Gosnells Opens Mead Bar on Bermondsey Mead Mile: Gosnells, which is London's sole meadery, has opened The Gosnells Mead Bar at 72 Enid Street, London SE16. It is secreted in a deep rail...

That's Food and Drink: Cheese of the Month - October - Sharpham Cheese Ca...

That's Food and Drink: Cheese of the Month - October - Sharpham Cheese Ca...: Introducing Sharpham Cheese's cheese of the month for October. It's a very special moist, soft, creamy, surface-ripened cows' mi...

Mason's Yorkshire Gin for Christmas

Masons of Yorkshire Targets 100,000 Consumers in Biggest Ever Experiential Activity

James Bell, Head of Marketing, Masons of Yorkshire spearheaded the campaign. 

James said: “We are Yorkshire's original gin, the first in fact, and we're proud to be based here and live and breathe all things Yorkshire.

"This campaign isn't just a celebration of our region but to highlight our credentials as the best reviewed and one of the most loved gins in the country with 3,000 reviews on Trustpilot and in excess of 125 international awards, and counting,  and we're hoping to get even more glowing reviews and positive feedback face-to-face in the last week of September around Leeds. It's time to put Masons on the map!”

Masons is targeting over 100,000 samples in just a single week via the on-trade bars in Leeds alongside a prime sampling spot at Leeds Trinity over the weekend of 30th September: locals will spot an impressive stand next to M&S where they can sample the range, plus a full OOH Banner takeover of the whole Trinity Arcade and surrounding shopping areas and ringroad.

Influencers will be supporting the campaign over Youtube, Instagram and Facebook with hashtags, #MakeItAMasons #MasonsOfYorkshire #NotAllGinsAreCreatedEqual.

Masons of Yorkshire are also hosting a Cocktail Competition at Pastel Leeds on the 29th September, in which some of the best bartenders in the North will use Masons The Original Gin to create new concoctions to celebrate all things gin, an opportunity to hero Yorkshire talent and promote local trade.   https://www.masonsofyorkshire.com/blogs/news/cocktail-star-of-the-north-masons-of-yorkshire-launches-late-summer-gincredible-competition

This has been an incredible year for Masons with multiple award wins across the whole portfolio of  brilliant gins and British vodka of the highest pedigree, securing  listings in Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Ocado, Waitrose Cellar , Booths & Fenwicks.  The Distillery is based in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire. This new campaign is part of a long term goal to build national awareness for Masons as being the UK's most richly decorated Gin producer.

You can learn more at the Mason's Gin website here https://www.masonsofyorkshire.com.

Mason's Yorkshire Gin is superb and ideal for your Christmas drinks, either over ice, with a fine tonic water (Double Dutch is ideal, we find) or as the base for some good, Christmas cocktails. 

 

That's Food and Drink: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and His Team Explain W...

That's Food and Drink: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and His Team Explain W...: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall  Organic is at the very heart of everything that River Cottage does. Their farm carries organic certification ac...

Pumpkin Spiced Swiss Roll With Cornish Clotted Cream

It's pumpkin spiced latte season, so why not try all the warming flavours of autumn and created this stunning Swiss roll? 

That's Christmas would like to thank Trewithen Dairy for their help in providing this recipe. 

Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and clove combined in a fluffy sponge, rolled up with rich Cornish clotted cream. It's so light, you'll want to go back for seconds - or thirds!

Pumpkin Spiced Swiss Roll with Cornish Clotted Cream

Ingredients

200g Caster Sugar

100g Plain Flour

½ tsp Fine Salt

1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Ground Ginger

¼ tsp Ground Nutmeg

½ tsp Ground Cloves

3 Eggs

150g Pumpkin Puree

200g Trewithen Dairy Cornish Clotted Cream

100g Mascarpone

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Icing Sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 180c. Line a 35 x 25cm Swiss roll tin with baking paper.

In a large bowl, combine all the dried ingredients - sugar, flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and spices. 

In a stand mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar together for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract. Then gently stir through the dried ingredients.

Spread into the prepared baking tin and bake for 12-15 minutes until cooked through.

While still warm, turn the cake out onto a clean tea towel and gently peel off the baking paper. Score a slight indentation across one of the short sides, then very carefully roll the cake into a tight log, taking the tea towel along with it. Allow to cool in the rolled position.

In a large bowl, combine the Cornish clotted cream, mascarpone and vanilla extract until smooth. 

When the cake is completely cool, gently unroll and spread with a thick layer of the cream filling. Carefully roll it back up and place seam-side down. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

To check out the dairy please visit them here https://www.trewithendairy.co.uk.

Superb Christmas Drinks for Every Occasion from Hattiers Rum

Ideal for serving neat, over ice or to create deliciously festive cocktails which are perfect for the party season, the UK's first B Corp certified rum, Hattiers' three premium aged rums also make wonderful gifts and stocking fillers.  

Specialising in sourcing fine blended aged rums from around the world, which they blend using sustainable techniques in Devon, their unique rums include Egremont Premium Reserve Rum, Eminence Blended Aged White Rum and Resolute Navy Strength Rum.  

Not only do Hattiers' rums taste absolutely delicious, with six awards from the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) to prove it, they're also sustainable, plastic free and committed to carbon neutrality.  

It's the supreme Christmas gift for the rum connoisseur in your life, premium sipping rum Egremont Premium Reserve Rum, is a blend of four cask aged rums hand selected from across the Caribbean and Central America and gently paired with pure soft spring water from the Dartmoor hills.

Filtered by layer on layer of ancient granite, Dartmoor spring water balances the alcoholic strength of the base rums to a more accessible level and helps produce a long, creamy finish.  

A fragrant, medium bodied rum that's complex yet accessible, Egremont is perfect in Hattiers' original Hot Hattiers and The King's Hat Christmas cocktails.  £42.00, 40% ABV, 70 cl.

With a fruity but not sweet taste, gentle nutty pineapple aftertaste and long cream finish, Eminence Blended Aged White Rum is the perfect gift for cocktail loving family, friends or colleagues.  Divine served with mixers too, Eminence is crafted using cask rums from Barbados, Australia, Trinidad and Jamaica and is smooth, light-medium bodied with a great depth of flavour and character. 

With light and attractive soft fruit notes and a vanilla pod, creamy fudge and ripe pineapple aroma, it has been carefully carbon filtered to remove the colour while maintaining the impact of the barrel.  £37.50, 42% ABV, 70cl.

Guaranteed to pack some punch and sure to make Christmas parties go off with a bang, Hattiers Rums' Resolute Navy Strength Rum is a blended aged navy strength rum, made using rums from Barbados, Australia, Guyana and Jamaica.  

With a toasted brown sugar and charred oak aroma followed by warm banana, on the palate it has an intensity of fruit with pineapple, apple, banana, mango and a buttery pastry taste with darker notes of liquorice which linger.  Wafts of coal smoke drift in on the finish, with a dominance of banana cream.  £56.00, 54.5% ABV, 70cl.

Treat party guests to an exquisite Christmas inspired Hot Hattiers or The King's Hat, or both, at your next festive celebration.  

What about some nice, Christmas cocktails to try? 

Hot Hattiers

Combining sweet cider with sugar, spice and all things nice, Hot Hattiers is a delicious winter warmer that makes all that wind and rain worthwhile.  So, embrace the season, close the curtains, light a fire and invite friends and loved ones around for Christmas carols, mince pies and hot rum and cider.  After all, Hot Hattiers is best enjoyed shared!

Ingredients

70ml Hattiers Egremont Premium Reserve Rum

500 ml sweet cider 

100g Demerara Sugar

One apple - finely sliced

Two allspice berries

Dash of vanilla essence

Three drops of Angostura Bitters

Method

Combine all of the ingredients and mix well in a large saucepan.

Warm gently over a medium heat, stirring occasionally and being careful not to boil.

Use a sieve or strainer to pour the mixture into a glass and serve hot.

The King's Hat Ingredients 

25ml Hattiers Egremont Premium Reserve Rum

25ml The King's Ginger

25ml Dry Vermouth

25ml Fresh Lemon Juice

15ml Sugar Syrup (also known as simple syrup or gomme)

Unwaxed Orange

Method

Build all of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.

Shake vigorously.

Strain into a pre-chilled coupe glass.

Garnish with a twist of orange.

Hattiers Rum is available from hattiers.com as well as Waitrose & Partners, Harvey Nichols, Master of Malt, Fortnum & Mason, The Whisky Exchange, Enotria & Coe, Drink Finder and Daylesford Organic.