For the past 20 years Tideford Organics has been making award-winning organic gluten-free food from its Devon kitchen. So if like me you enjoy their range of delicious soups, you’ll be delighted to learn that they have gone entirely vegan!
Driven mostly by the environmental impact of conventional meat production, Tideford Organics has decided to go plant-based in order to make it easier for anyone to adhere to a more sustainable diet. Their website includes a “Pledge To Eat More Veg” sign up, a handy calculator so you can work out your own impact when going vegan as well as an infographic showing how small changes can make a big difference.
Not only does Tideford Organics have a brand new look, but they have also just launched the UK’s only organic range of fresh unpasteurised misos! And I am lucky enough to be amongst the very first people to have tried it 🙂
Winding back to June, the reputed chef Arthur Potts Dawson prepared for us a delicious vegan lunch designed around Tideford Organics’ miso range. Having enjoyed dining at his Acorn House restaurant in the past, I was excited to see what he had in store for us. And of course he did not disappoint!
Tideford Organics’s miso range includes a Fresh Red Miso, a Fresh White Miso, a Fresh Brown Rice Miso and a Fresh Soya-Free Miso.
Working his magic through some pretty amazing seasonal ingredients, Arthur created the following vegan menu:
- Asparagus with White Miso and Mint
- Carrot, Beetroot, Fennel and Quinoa with Red Miso Dressing
- Carrot, Beetroot, Fennel, Mushroom and Parsley Miso Broth
- White Miso Strawberries with Soya yoghurt
I was intrigued by the menu, especially the strawberries. I love miso and add it to soups, dressings or even porridge ! The flavour combinations created in this menu worked really, really well and we happily tucked in. You can find the details of the recipes here.
As the morning went on though, it became obvious that Tideford Organics’ Miso range is very special and quite different from any other I have tried before.
There is a whole new taste dimension here, simply because the misos are fresh and unpasteurised. They are produced in the Nagano region at the base of Central Alps in Japan – an area known for producing some of the highest quality misos in the world. The range bears the Soil Association’s organic seal and includes four very different pastes to spruce up your dressings, soups, stews, sauces, broths etc…
Slow-aged, the Fresh Red Miso has probably the deepest and most complex taste. It is made from from soya beans, rice and koji culture.
With a touch of sweetness, the White Miso is perfect when you want to add a lighter flavour. It is made from soya beans, yeast and koji culture.
My personal favourite is the Brown Rice Miso which is not as bold as the Red Miso but has a lot of depth. It is made from soya beans, brown rice and koji culture.
Anyone allergic to soya can still enjoy a fantastic miso with this soya-free paste. It is made from rice and koji culture.
Besides adding a tasty umami dimension to your dishes, miso also offers many health benefits. It is also incredibly nourishing. High in B vitamins, calcium, magnesium and fibre and bursting with digestive enzymes, it’s also protein rich – helpful in balancing the nutritional value of vegan or vegetarian soups and stews and helping you to feel fuller for longer. It’s also alkalising, an immune strengthener.
Tideford Organics’ misos are very different from other misos available in the UK. They are fresh and unpasteurised, preserving the probiotics created during the fermentation process. These friendly bacteria are essential to keeping our guts healthy.
Look out for this unique miso range in the chilled area of these stockists.
You can keep up with Tideford Organics on their website, by following them on Twitter or visiting their Facebook page.
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