Commonly believed to be a grain and prepared and eaten like one, quinoa or 'Chenopodium quinoa', is in fact a seed botanically speaking and is a relative of spinach and chard. The plant is indigenous to South America, originating in the mountainous area surrounding Lake Titicaca in Peru and Bolivia ...

Fibre is an important part of a healthy diet and one that is often overlooked. There are two categories of fibre: soluble and insoluble, and both are only found in plant foods. Soluble fibre blends with water and turns into a gel-like substance that can be digested by the body whereas insoluble ...

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 ...

Matcha tea is certainly among the new wave chiefs when it comes to hot drinks with some folks drifting away from coffee to get their caffeine kick by drinking matcha shots. For some of you who don’t exactly know what matcha tea is, it is a special form of Japanese green tea which has been at ...

Milk thistle seeds are one of nature's most powerful detoxifiers. All parts of the Silybum marianum plant are able to be used, however the seeds are the most medicinally valuable, having been used as a herbal remedy for liver disorders for over 2,000 years. The name 'milk thistle' comes from the ...

Most commonly grown in Somalia, but also Yemen, Oman and India, Frankincense is a miraculous oil sourced from the resin of the Boswellia sacra tree and others of a similar species. It is an extremely durable tree, with the ability to grow in little soil with low amounts of hydration. Frankincense ...

Not just for warding off vampires and giving us (ahem) powerful breath, garlic has been used for generations as a medicine with the first recorded use dating back to the Ancient Egyptians. Fast forward into the 21st century and it's still as popular as ever. Read on to discover the Top 5 Health ...

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 ...

Soya and soya products tend to receive a bad rap in the media. Health claims about soya are sometimes over inflated more than necessary and don't paint the full picture. Let’s look at five of the most commonly discussed now in Top 5 Soya Health Claims! 1. Soya is a source of complete protein ...

Is drinking coffee good or bad for you? This question has been circling around the world for ages. In the UK we drink around 70 million cups of coffee every day and it is the second most traded commodity in the world, after oil. In recent decades, scientists have studied the positive effects of ...