Carrots are one of the more abundantly grown and commonly used staple vegetables that can be found on the shelf of pretty much every grocery store on the planet, but how much do we really know about this reliable root? The carrot as we know it today is orange in colour, but back in the 10th century ...

Water is doubtless the most important fluid with 60% of your body being composed of it. Water enables vital chemical reactions, digestion, getting nutrients into cells, toxin removal and regulation of body temperature. Having said that, tea continues to be one of the most commonly consumed ...

Produced primarily in china, the walnut is the ‘drupe’ or stone fruit of the walnut tree. A drupe is identified as a fleshy fruit that surrounds a stone or pit containing a seed, the seeds of the walnut fruit are the shelled walnuts that can be purchased from supermarkets. The most common varieties ...

Using dried sumac for its deep tangy, lemon-tasting flavour is becoming more and more popular in the culinary world, moving outside of its Middle Eastern roots. Added to a number of meat, rice, spice mixes and meze dishes, or even used as a whole fruit to make sumac-ade, this spice is a tasty ...

The often forgotten half of the classic salt and pepper pairing, black pepper has some impressive health benefits. Originating in India, a peppercorn is actually a dried fruit from the black pepper plant, and is sold either in peppercorn form or ground down into a powder. As the world’s most traded ...

Jackfruit is the world's biggest fruit to grow on an actual tree and can grow up to 3ft (1m) long and weigh up to 100lb (45kg)! Indigenous to the Southwestern rain forests of India, jackfruits are related to figs, mulberry and breadfruit. The trees are widely cultivated for their fruit, seeds and ...

Hibiscus, or Hibiscus Sabdariffa, is a tropical flower belonging to the Malvaceae family. Botanists believe that there are eight original hibiscus species that can be considered ancestors of the hibiscus hybrids found today. These are said to be native to India, China, Mauritius, Hawaii, Fiji, and ...

Saffron, otherwise known as ‘Kesar’ in Hindi is a prized condiment and by far the most  expensive spice in the world.  It is native to Southern Europe's Crocus sativus plant and renowned globally for its culinary and medicinal characteristics. Its distinct flavour comes from its innate chemical ...

See that weighty sphere of yellow fruit perched on the shelves -do you often walk past it when you do your weekly shop? If the answer is yes, then halt your trolley! Galia melons (see our previous article on watermelon) are full of so many nurturing goodies and go great with trifles, smoothies and ...

If you’ve ever tried making hummus without tahini (sesame seed paste) you’ll have come to appreciate its role in making it so delicious - but there’s a whole lot more to these nutty little nutrient-dense seeds than middle-eastern dips, toppings on bagels, sushi or those internationally ...