Organic producers

Spices and herbs

Organic herbs and spices are an essential ingredient for all cooks who want to liven up their everyday dishes, and Bart Spices have become specialists in sourcing the very best. Bart Spices also source supplies for the Waitrose own-label organic herbs and spices range.

Bart Spices has dedicated growers all over the world who nurture their crops and pick them while they are at their prime. The herbs and spices are then transported to Bart Spices in Bristol for packing. The organic range available at Waitrose is growing in popularity as people become more aware of how their food is produced.

Flour

Milling top quality organic flour has been a specialist skill of the family run enterprise W H Marriage and Sons Limited since 1824. Certified by the Organic Food Federation, the millers produce a range of flour for Waitrose helping customers achieve great baking results.

Much of their plain and self-raising flour is made from grain sourced from within the UK but in order to provide the very best organic strong flour, they also need to look a little further afield. The wheat for these types of flour usually comes from North America, Canada, Ukraine or Australia and is often a blend to ensure Waitrose customers get the very best. General Sales Manager Les Skepper explained, 'We're a small company and we put a lot of effort into ensuring that we purchase the best wheat available to consistently make top quality flour. This is of prime importance to Waitrose and their customers. Waitrose was one of the first major multiples to stock organic flour when we started producing it and it has really grown in popularity since then.'

Shortbread

Walkers Shortbread Ltd, the makers of Waitrose own-label organic shortbread, is a family-run business based in the Highlands of Scotland. Established in 1898, generations of the Walker family have consistently endeavoured to find the very best blend of the finest ingredients to make their shortbread irresistible.

The ingredients for making shortbread are simple flour, butter, sugar and salt. And the method for making the shortbread, whether organic or standard, remains the same. But for the organic range, each ingredient has to be produced to strict standards, which regulate the fertilisers and pesticides that can be used.

Walkers Shortbread has certification from the Soil Association and follows strict procedures which include thorough cleaning of all equipment to ensure there is no cross contamination from the facilities used to make non-organic products.

Bread and cakes

Nicholas and Harris have been supplying Waitrose with organic bread and cakes for 20 years. 'We have a very good relationship with Waitrose,' Seb said. 'They were one of the first supermarkets to offer organic produce to customers. It was a small market at first but it has grown and we've grown in tandem with Waitrose.'

They source the finest organic ingredients from around the world to ensure the quality of their produce is consistently high. All the ingredients meet the Soil Association's organic standards. All Nicholas and Harris organic products are made using pure natural ingredients. They are raw and unprocessed materials which contain no artificial additives, yet when these simple ingredients are mixed together using specialist techniques, the result is exceptional.