Speciality-Food-July/August 2025

press are continuing to highlight the issue, whichmeans public awareness is also growing. This will mean pressure on retailers to change their purchasing from cheap imports to more quality honey from the UK and beyond.” For Carmen Ferguson, brand manager at Windmill Organics, selling food that is good for both people and planet is of paramount importance. “We have a number of different brands in our portfolio, and, as the name suggests, perhaps the most inherently pure brand in our portfolio is RAW. The ethos behind RAW is the belief that the food we eat should be as close to its natural state as possible; unfiltered, uncomplicated and untampered with.” The RAW range includes three honeys – a rich and aromatic Pure BlossomHoney, a mellow Tropical Forest Honey, and a fragrant Acacia Flower Honey – “all of which provide a healthy and organic sweetness to food,” she says. Next gen spreads In recent times, even supermarket shelves have started to span beyond the conventional options to provide versatile culinary adventure to ensuring that only respectfully produced, high quality honey is purchased across the board. “In general people have come to expect honey to be a bland, runny syrup with not much of an idea of how it’s produced,” says Paul. “When we do honey tastings at events people are always blown away by the variety of flavours, textures and colours and this just from our range of British honey varieties which is solely from the pollens and nectars that the bees are foraging on at a particular time of year in a particular area.” The future is looking brighter for the British honey sector. “We’re campaigning for stricter regulations to remove adulterated honey from our shelves,” says Paul, “and the the additives used in the production of many mass-produced jars, so it’s always worth checking the ingredients deck of your products before you display them on your shelves. An increasing number of savvy consumers will be turning jars around for themselves, and when high quality staples such as these can and should contain only a small number of ingredients, it is easy to be put off by the listing of multiple items one cannot pronounce. The buzz about honey Honey is a hot topic of conversation right now, with experts campaigning for better understanding of the difference between high and poor quality options – and the good news is that shoppers are starting to demand better. “Consumers are becoming muchmore aware of the huge issue with honey adulteration and are demanding better from retailers,” begins Paul Webb, co- founder and beekeeper at Black Bee Honey. How to tell the difference at a glance? “Check for country of origin,” Paul says. “If there isn’t one it’s probably mechanically dried and adulterated honey from China. We include the name of the beekeeper and hive location on every jar.” Education is paramount to T he British spreads category is the perfect microcosm of the wider industry at present, and a world of potential contrasts; shoppers are seeking value but not at the expense of quality, and they want innovation but not to replace traditional products. Jams, honeys and spreads have long been staples in kitchen cupboards up and down the country, and while the classics – raspberry jam, peanut butter and a jar of locally-produced honey – are as popular as ever, consumers are after more. The health benefits of these products with ingredient lists just a handful – or fewer – items long are becoming increasingly recognised as shoppers become more aware of @specialityfood 32 CARMEN FERGUSON WINDMILL ORGANICS SIMON GREENWOOD-HAIGH PROPER NUTTY JOHN SINCLAIR CRAIGIE’S FARM SHOP COMMENTATORS PAUL WEBB BLACK BEE HONEY SPREAD THE STORY Traditional spreads are as popular as ever, but 2025’s shoppers are seeking quality and education PANEL RETAILER John Sinclair of Craigie’s FarmShop has found that traditional jams and honeys often wins out over innovative spreads “We started out making jam in the eighties, and we’re definitely seeing a rise in popularity of people making their own jams again. I think people are starting to recognise that if you buy a mass-produced jam it doesn’t have the flavour of fresh jam, and that’s what people are looking for – if they’re not able to make it themselves, they want a product which tastes homemade. It’s important to bring in new lines, but people keep coming back to the good old favourites – strawberry jam, raspberry jam and classic marmalade. We even run frozen jammaking classes for kids in the summer! “I don’t know if there’s any truth in it or not, but we’re happy to promote the health benefits of honey in terms of local ones being good for hayfever. We set up an education and environment foundation which has 16 hives, and the honey produced is sold in the shop alongside other Scottish honey – it’s important to us to support local producers. “We have a machine that customers can use to make their own peanut butter; it draws the crowds more than peanut butter sitting on a shelf would. Beyond that, we sell a few nut butters made using different nuts, but it’s definitely the DIY machine that sells the most spreads for us.” People are blown away by the variety of flavours, textures and colours from Britsh honey varieties