Speciality-Food-Magazine-March-2025

6 @specialityfood from the likes of Harvey Nichols and around the world – the first international purchase coming fromDavid Porat of Chelsea Market Baskets in NewYork. 20 years after their creation, Summerdown’s Chocolate Peppermint Creams are best-sellers loved around the world for their rich chocolate and signature authentic peppermint – testament to the craftsmanship, dedication and teamwork that led to their invention. Katie Westwood, marketing manager at Cobbs Farmshops, one of our longest standing stockists, said, “We love Summerdown Peppermint Creams because they perfectly align with the values we hold dear—local, sustainable, and crafted with care. We’re proud to support a brand that’s dedicated to farming practices that respect the land, while creating a truly delicious product." Not only are Summerdown’s Chocolate Peppermint Creams beloved by fine food shoppers, but they are B Corp certified. The InMarch 2004 the taste of English peppermint was long-lost and, inspired by a bag of traditional peppermint candies brought back by farmmanager IanMargetts, Summerdown founder Sir Michael Colman decided to explore the idea of creating a unique sweet made using English peppermint. Anthony Terry suggestedmaking luxurious peppermint creams, so the team partnered with confectionery experts andmanufacturers to produce the ultimate peppermint cream. Naming the new brand Summerdown Pure Mint bestowed a sense of English provenance and heritage, as well as a taste of what the new product brought to the market, and its now instantly-recognisable green packaging was a hit at its launch at 2005’s Speciality & Fine Food Fair. The launch was an immediate success, with the Chocolate Peppermint Creams winning a Bronze award from the Academy of Chocolate and orders coming in Summerdown celebrates two decades of Chocolate Peppermint Creams Pioneers of BlackMitchamPeppermint, Summerdown, are celebrating 20 years of their Chocolate Peppermint Creams – a product which began as a mission to revive the taste of pure English peppermint and has become an award- winning confection enjoyed all over the world. Summerdown team is dedicated to cutting its carbon footprint, cultivating nature stewardship and connecting people with nature. The business is now carbon net neutral and continues to explore newways to decarbonise – including by removing carbon-based plastic from its packaging, moving towards 100% sustainably sourced ingredients by 2030, and gaining a deeper understanding of their Scope 3 emissions which incorporate how waste is handled, how customers use their products, and how sustainably their suppliers work. Summerdown’s peppermint fields are havens for birds, insects and flowers, with each hosting a beehive and wildflowers as well as seeds sown for the benefit of wild birds. Consumer education is also a key part of Summerdown’s sustainability mission, and it hosts stays and experiences to educate visitors about regenerative farming. Summerdown works with wildlife conservation charity Plantlife, supports the Farming Community Network (FCN) and is involved in research initiatives, plus all of its teas are RSPB Fair to Nature Certified, helping consumers to make sustainable shopping choices. ‘Room for growth’ for EU charcuterie, says recent research According to recent research by FICT (Les Entreprises Françaises de Charcuterie Traiteur) the UKmarket is demonstrating space for growth for charcuterie made in the EU. A group of 2000 nationally representative consumers were surveyed for the research, which found that despite the popularity of charcuterie boards and use of charcuterie on grazing platters, UK consumers had little understanding of charcuterie products and the sector as a whole. The survey showed that 51% of British consumers state that they knowwhat the term ‘charcuterie’ means, yet just 32% of Millenials knew that it referred to curedmeat. Indeed, some of the consumers questioned believed that a charcuterie board would feature cheese, bread, olives and fresh fruit in addition to fresh and curedmeat. 79% of those surveyed aged 55+ reported that they believe they have poor knowledge of the category. According to the research, 48% of consumers stated that they would purchase these items at a supermarket, and only 13%would buy them from a specialist shop. Trade research was carried out with 100 retailers, 93% of whom stated that EU qualitymarks such as AOP and Label Rouge played an important role when deciding whether or not to stock charcuterie products, but that the range of items with these marks were limited. 70% of retailers felt that their stocking decisions were largely shaped by the products’ availability at wholesalers rather than consumer requests.