Press Release

July 2009

FOUR COURSES OF FRUITY FEASTING WITH DELICIOUS SUN-DRIED
APRICOTS FROM TROPICAL WHOLEFOODS

FROM savoury to sweet - pioneering dried fruit company Tropical Wholefoods has produced a four-course meal to show the versatility of one of its best-selling products, Fairtrade sun-dried apricots.

The award-winning fair trade company sells a range of dried fruits and has also recently added apricot kernels - the almond-like treats found inside apricot stones - to its product list. Delicious on their own, the kernels are also used in the savoury biscuit recipe below.

Now the company's Marketing Director Kate Sebag has come up with a range of apricot recipes as the perfect addition to a late summer meal. She has devised a four-course menu consisting of:

Nibbles with Drinks: Apricot Kernel Biscuits / Savoury Apricot Kernels
Starter: Endive Salad
Main course: Lamb Tagine with Jewelled Rice
Dessert: Apricot Cake.

The salad combines the rich taste of apricots with the crunchy texture of apricot kernels while the tagine offsets any fattiness of the lamb with apricots and a colourful rice side dish. The light cake has layers of tasty apricots and can be served on its own or with cream or crème fraiche.

Kate says: "This menu shows that dried apricots and their kernels are fabulously versatile and tasty. They can be used in sweet and savoury dishes where they look very attractive and have a delicious taste. They are a great store cupboard standby and they also make a healthy alternative to sweets for children."

Dried apricots from Tropical Wholefoods come in 125 packs and have a rrp of between £1.25 and £1.40. Apricot kernels are sold in 50g packs with a rrp of 99p. They are available from health food stores nationwide and from Tropical Wholefoods (www.tropicalwholefoods.com) and other online stockists.

The apricots and the kernels carry the FAIRTRADE Mark. This means farmers are paid a fair price for their fruit and receive an extra premium which they can invest in their villages, schools and land.

Dried apricots are being sold in the company's striking new packaging. The new look involves bold, black and white imagery with an African and Asian feel, incorporating strong splashes of colour. The company's new logo is a lino-cut type impression of the sun. Using this logo, Tropical Wholefoods aims to reinforce the positive environmental impact of its farming methods.

To celebrate all things apricot this summer, Tropical Wholefoods is offering webshop customers who spend more than £30 a free pack of Fairtrade Divine Apricots in Chocolate, New Fairtrade Tamari Roast flavoured Apricot Kernels and a Fairtrade and Organic Apricot and Kernel snack bar - goodies worth more than £6 when purchased separately. This offer is available until September 1, giving shoppers plenty of time to enjoy the warm tropical weather with Tropical Wholefoods products.

SEE THE RECIPES IN FULL

Ends

Caption: Lamb Tagine and Jewelled Rice
Savoury biscuits

For more information, samples, packshots and other images please contact Helen Riley helenriley@headlinemedia.co.uk 020 8348 3103 / 07931 300 425 or Margaret Rooke margaretrooke@btinternet.com 0790 44 55 666.

Notes to Editors
Tropical Wholefoods' range of products includes: organic Fairtrade mango, sun-dried pineapple, chewy banana chips, bogoya bananas, Fairtrade apricots, Fairtrade apricot kernels (3 flavours), 4 types of dried mushrooms - organic chanterelles, shiitake, porcini, oysters, 6 flavours of organic, Fairtrade fruit and cereal bars - mango &brazil, date & walnut, apricot & kernel, pineapple & cashew, banana & honey, tropical fruit bar. Pack sizes range from 50g to 150g. Bars are 40g. All fruits are also available in bulk on line.

The company was established by husband and wife team Adam Brett and Kate Sebag seventeen years ago in order to win lasting markets for farmers in developing countries. It supplies its branded products to supermarkets and also supplies dried fruit to them for use in their own brand products. Most of their products carry the FAIRTRADE Mark, the only independent consumer guarantee of a fair deal for farmers in developing countries. In the UK the FAIRTRADE Mark is administered by the Fairtrade Foundation. Tropical Wholefoods supplies Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrisons, Oxfam, Boots and smaller health food stores nationwide. It has a significant niche in the independent sector with products well known for their healthy and ethical qualities.

Tropical Wholefoods works with business partners in some of the world's poorer countries. It buys dried bananas and pineapples from Fruits of the Nile in Uganda which in turn works with more than 700 farmers. It buys dried apricots, walnuts, almonds and apricot kernels from Mountain Fruits which works with more than 1500 farmers in the remote, arid mountains of northern Pakistan. It buys dried mangoes and cashews from Farming Associations WOUOL and TON in Burkina Faso.

The company which packs and manufactures all of its own products on site, employs 30 people in Sunderland and three in London.