1. Troo Granola
This is the first breakfast cereal to be sold in plastic free pouchs which makes it even more appetizing. The bags are 100% plastic free, compostable and recyclable. The pouches are made from paper and then coated with a special plastic free material that seals in the freshness. TrooFoods is the first company to use them but hopefully others will follow.
The granola contains only natural ingredients and is full of prebiotics. If that wasn’t enough, it’s gluten free and has less than 3% sugar.
It’s big in ethics but even bigger in taste. It has a warm, roasted flavour from ginger and cinnamon and is alive with a myriad of seeds. A wonderful and welcome addition to breakfast.
RRP: £4.99
eattroo.com
Reasons to love: Delicious, environmentally-friendly, original
2. The Wildcrafting Brewer: Creating Unique Drinks and Boozy Concoctions from Nature’s Ingredients by Pascal Baudar
This is a fascinating and adventurous guide to using wild and cultivated plants, berries and fruits to brew fermented drinks including wild sodas, non-grape based country wines, primitive herbal beers and meads.
Although written by an American, the majority of recipes feature ingredients that can be easily found in the UK and it's full of ideas that will allow readers to create their own brews using local ingredients wherever they live.
The recipes are beautifully photographed and they are described simply enough to inspire immediate brewing. Particularly special is the attention that the author pays to ‘the Zen of local flavours’, overlooking the usual berries and seeking out the unusual ingredients on offer such as barks, stems and autumn leaves.
RRP: £22.50
chelseagreen.com
Reasons to love: Unusual, detailed, fascinating
3. Bird and Wild Coffee
This is the first ever coffee that is triple certified by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre as Bird Friendly, Organic and Fairtrade and the RSPB benefits from 6% of the sales.
Before we start wondering if Bird-Friendly that means that birds like its rich aroma, we should say that this means that the beans are grown in such a way that tropical ‘agroforests’ are preserved and migratory birds can find a healthy haven when travelling from northern climes to coffee farms in Central America.
It tastes luxuriously chocolatey and has a floral brightness that lifts it. It’s certainly a talking point and there’s no doubt, a cup of coffee that is one of the most truly ethical coffees in the country does make for especially enjoyable drinking.
RRP: £4.49
rspbshop.org.uk
Reasons to love: Flavour, triple-certified, charitable
4. John Deere Tractors by Jonathan Whitlam
Packed full of photographs, this is a thorough pictorial guide showing the evolution of the iconic tractors over the decades.
It charts the journey of the machines from the early two-cylinder tractors developed in the USA to the innovations in the 90s when the company effectively re-invented the tractor with its full-frame designs.
It is astonishing to see the development from simple machines originating from steam traction engines to the monster machines with huge radiator grilles, articulated tractor power and four independent rubber track units.
This is the perfect gift for the John Deere aficionado.
RRP: £14.99
amberley-books.com
Reasons to love: Visual, informative, thorough
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