Each year we attend a wide variety of country fayres within the region to showcase our range of dried fruits and nuts as well as our muesli, cereal bar and porridge ranges.

We are attending the Food and Drink Expo to showcase not only our wide range of products but also how our attitudes and values guarantee a fantastic breakfast.

The show itself runs from Sunday 25^th to Tuesday 27^th at the NEC Birmingham. This is the largest food and drink trade show of the year so it’s a must in all traders’ calendars.

The Ludlow Nut Company prides itself on being a member of Heart of England Fine Foods which looks to promote local companies that produce artisan products in the heart of the country. This year HEFF 
has a section of the exhibition which will allow potential customers and distributors to meet some of the companies united by HEFF.

Here at the Ludlow Nut Company we do like to try and be ahead of the trend. This is why this year sees the use of our new packaging as well as the inclusion of a QR code which will allow end customers to visit the website but also find out a little bit about us and what we stand for.

The show itself will host 550 exhibitors within the world of catering, wholesale, grocery and packaging. The show is a fantastic opportunity for deli’s and farm shops to take a look at what is available to them as well as taking home a few ideas for their stores.

As well as having the chance to see other producers and traders the show provides talks by soul food entrepreneur Levi Roots and his Reggie Reggie sauces,  talks by food critic Jay Ravner, Alex James, the bassist from Blur will also be making an appearance with his cheese company and many more special guests.

Why not pop by and say hello to us as part of the Heart stand, our panel is situated on stand Jl20l we are more than happy to talk about our selection

To claim your free tickets just visit : http://www.foodanddrinkexpo.co.uk/  if you don’t have enough time to have the tickets posted you can have them emailed to you the same day. Basically there is no excuse for not having the day out!

Snacking is a way of life that is hard to resist and with the nation’s sweet tooth at a high risk of decay, a naturally sweet alternative seems to be a little bit better.

As Lent is in full swing and I stupidly took up the challenge of going without chocolate for a staggering 40 days and 40 nights, this has meant that an alternative snacking option has been fine-tuned and exploited.

Luckily this has given me the drive to road test some of our products that are not chocolate coated. When you look at it, we have 21 types of dried fruit alone! Obviously working for The Ludlow Nut Company has enabled me to try an array of fruits, nuts, seeds and breakfast options that I perhaps wouldn’t have had the opportunity before. Saying that, the 3pm snack hunger pang is something not to be messed with.

This is why I feel the need to let our blog readers know that you can also snack to your heart’s content with a new website option. Instead of ordering our smaller 250g bag size we are now offering a snack size sample pot. These pots are ideal for keeping in your bag, on your desk or in your car for those nibble moments throughout the day. Each pot is big enough to fulfill that pang of hunger but small enough to carry around with you.

So many of our products are suitable to snack on from anywhere at any time that span such a wide variety of flavours, textures and tastes. We provide our classic Superfood the Goji Berry as one of the snack pot options, ideal to sprinkle on your breakfast, snack on or add to a variety of Chinese cuisine.

We offer such a spectrum of items that large businesses select our products as snack food for their meetings. Gone are the days where pastries were left on the table to dive into, healthy alternatives are keeping work forces healthier and more efficient. With large companies such as Paxton Access Ltd, Simon-Kucher & Partners and Google Denmark offering their staff healthy, natural nuts, mixes and fruit it definitely a service to think about.

If there is something you would like to try out or add to an existing item you see from the website just let us know.  Products that have proved popular so far are: tropical mix, all ranges of cashews, raisins, peanuts and diced pineapple. If this service interests you please drop me an email to natalie@ludlownutco.co.uk  and I can get a price list over to you.

With the intention of making the Heart of England flutter we have selected a tasty range of porridges, mueslis and nuts which are not only to be included in their Olympic hamper project but also their store and website.

The Ludlow Nut Company has perfected the range of breakfast cereals for some years which just gets better and better over time. Our whole breakfast range is hand crafted in small batches with the finest ingredients. With the batches being smaller and more manageable we can see exactly what goes into it and what makes it to your bowl.

Our muesli range is really popular in farm shops throughout the year, some of our customers like to add hot milk to their mixture in the mornings. This not only softens the mixture but warms you up. Each muesli starts off with the same blend of jumbo oats, rye, barley, wheat, bran, organic spelt flakes, oats, rice and millet. This mixture of complex carbohydrates keep you fuller for longer without bulking out your breakfast with unnecessary fillers.  Here at the nut company we also add a mix of fruit and nuts including almonds, peanuts, cashews, brazils, apricots, flame raisins, dates and seeds. This is our base mix; Therefore when you order date and walnut we add an additional 7% to that fruit and nut filled mix. The same applies for anyone selecting blueberry and mulberry.

If you are looking to stay warm after leaving your bed at the crack of dawn then our porridge selection is for you. Unlike some mass produced warming breakfast cereals, we DO NOT add any sugar, salt or preservatives which makes our luxury porridges a balanced and fantastic start to the day. We keep it simple with a blend of jumbo oats, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, golden linseed and sesame seed. Where you select your favourite porridge we then add even more fruit or goji berries.

We can supply samples via the Trading Desk for trade customers just in case you can’t quite decide what to go with, as well as information on the company and any serving suggestions. For anyone who doesn’t has access to that service we sell directly to our customers through our website.

Do keep a eye out for special offer on our website and our monthly newsletter. You can sign up here. (add your email address to the bottom left of the tool bar).

You can either directly visit our site www.ludlownutco.co.uk or just click the links for the individual items.

As soon as the autumn leaves have cleared and the frost starts to hit the fruit season is nearly over which means that preservation is key! It is such a shame that people don’t really think of dried fruit until the latter part of the year. There are so many ways of keeping fruit that doesn’t necessarily mean pickling or having twice the quantity of sugar you use.

The Ludlow Nut Company offer a whopping 21 different types of dried fruit as well as a vast supply of nuts that are raw, roasted, coated in sweet and savory goodies fit for any pallet.

Their dried fruit selection are either sun dried or air dried. This allows the full flavour and texture of the fruit to remain without adding sugar as a further preservative. As only water is taken from the fruit a large proportion of our customers leave their items to soak which rehydrates the item back to a plump fullness you would expect from fresh fruit.

Most people eat dried fruit as it is; you can also cook dried fruit to make a compot. Soak your chosen items in cold water for a couple of hours, if they are not soft enough for your liking simmer gently until tender. (You can always add a little bit of sugar to sweeten things up). The great thing is that dried fruit retains all the vitamins as fresh fruit with the exception of vitamin C.

As an alternative many companies freeze dry their products. You commonly find summer berries like strawberries, cherries and raspberries in breakfast cereals, these berries are frozen from fresh and placed in a large drying chamber. When placed in a vacuum the products are rapidly heated , these conditions cause the water to evaporate while keeping the shape and structure of the product pretty consistent. The advantage of this process is that the fruit is light, keeps its colour and gives an intense crisp flavour.

The more traditional method of preserving fruit is with jam, stewing and curd. Jam can be made using so many different fruits, you just need to remember to keep everything as sterile as possible. The fruit you use should be clean and dry and ideally slightly under ripe. If your fruit is slightly over ripe it can lose its shape texture and taste. The bottles and jars you use need to be as clean as possible and free from any cracks and dents. The equipment you use needs to be sterile with boiling water to eradicate any germs or bacteria that could get into contact with the product.

Don’t forget that your jam changes from a gloopy mess to the work of a culinary goddess through the setting agent pectin. Pectin is naturally found in fruit but you can buy jamming sugar that has added pectin to help the jam to set.   Different fruits need different amounts of sugar so its probably best not to go through the whole process now. Just remember to check you jam on a saucer, if the mixture starts to set on an angled dish its time to start decanting it into your jars.

If jam isn’t enough for you then stewing fruit and freezing it is another cheap way of making sure your desserts are always plentiful. We always have a freezer of stewed apples at the ready for a last minute pie or crumble.

With the Olympic countdown to July moving closer by the day everything energetic or near London seems to have olympic celebration connotations. However, many people seem to miss the historical connection with the small Shropshire town of Much Wenlock.

Much Wenlock was the birthplace of William Penny Brookes who founded the Wenlock Games as a push to revive the ancient Greek tradition. It was his dream to see the ancient principles were revived and unite the world’s athletes. William sadly died months before the first games but his legacy lives on today.

This historical link is used today within the London 2012 Olympics as one of the organisations mascots have been named after the Shropshire town.  Another addition  to the legacy is the relay torch passing through the town itself.

The Ludlow Nut Company as well as other regional local food producers have got on board with the celebrations by offering some of the areas finest foods. Wenlock Hampers offers food and drink from producers within 26.2 miles of the town itself(the distance of a complete marathon).

This idea was created by Heart of England Fine Foods (HEFF) who has strong links with the area as their offices were initially based in the town. They work with small companies that produce a fantastic range of products and services in the heart of England.

Each component of the hamper has been selected using the finest quality ingredients that make them not only a great gift but also a demonstration of the fantastic products on offer in the heart of England. Companies include Salop Pickle Works, The Flavoured Butter Company, Great Ness Oils as well as the Ludlow Vineyard and Distillery.

Here at The Ludlow Nut Company we have a range of mueslis and porridges showcased as
well as some of our most popular mixes including wasabi, trail mix and the best selling honey nut mix.

We are proud to be included within this project as well as being able to offer a variety of had mixed foods, nuts, dried fruit, muesli, porridge and cereal bars.

If you are interested in our products specifically please visit our website or alternatively visit the Wenlock Hamper page on HEFF’s website. 

Walnuts are thought to contain more antioxidants than any other nut which includes Polyphenol. This chemical is believed to protect you from molecule damaging tissue. In addition to Walnuts, Pistachios, Brazils and Cashews ranked very highly.

Not only are nuts good for you and should be eaten as part of a healthy balanced diet, they are also high in fibre, unsaturated fats and low in saturated fats (the bad fat we should limit).

Nut Facts

• Walnuts contain high levels of Omega 3, in fact they have the highest natural plant level. A single serving is around 10 whole nuts.
• Historically walnuts were thought to cure headaches as their shape resembled the brain!
• Another nut fact, if you are looking for more potassium in your diet and you really don’t like bananas why not try two handfuls of pistachios (without their shells) they actually contain more potassium than the nation’s favorite yellow fruit!
• If you are looking to increase your intake of Zinc then why not try pecans? One serving of pecans are thought to contain a sixth of your RDA of Zinc which aids the function of white blood cells to fight off colds and viruses.
• In case you are wondering why you can’t buy brazil nuts in their shells anymore this is because they are toxic and could be potentially fatal if eaten. Therefore, there is an import ban on brazils in their shells.
• For more information about our range of nuts visit our website, alternatively see our blog post titled ‘Happy New Year’ which offers insight into the world of luxury nuts.

If you have not spotted us in your local store why not give us their address and we can get in touch and potentially add a selection from The Ludlow Nut Company.

If you work in a store that might benefit from our range of products why not get in touch with us for a wholesale price list.

All of our wholesale products are individually bagged in 125g and 250g packets as well as our new 65g snack pots sizes. The snack pot is great for anyone wanting to sample a product in a smaller quantity as well as being able to keep a couple in your car or bag as an on the go healthy snack.

As well as being able to offer prepacked items we also work with companies to package their products. We are currently assisting a company with the production of their self assembly cake kits. By using our delicious fruit mixes and finest quality nuts we are able to bag all the dry ingredients you would need to make a Christmas Classic or Easter Celebration Cake, if this has got you in the mood to bake why not check out our cake ingredients page to bake your own goodies.

For those of you who are avid Radio 2 listeners, you might remember that just before Christmas one of the homework questions on the Simon Mayo drive time show was all about nuts!

One listener won a luxury nut selection and wanted to know what their prize would contain. Well that is definitely something that the Ludlow Nut Company could help with and we received a call from the shows producers.

A luxury nut is pretty much anything that isn’t a peanut. Peanuts  are seen to be the cheapest and most widely available nut which has resulted in it being so versatile with a selection of coatings and used all over the world in sweet and savory dishes as well as the childhood classic peanut butter.

A luxury nut mix is understood to be items that are traditionally hard to get hold of, these items classically include Almonds, Cashews, Hazelnuts, Macadamia, Pecans, Brazils and Walnuts.

The Ludlow Nut Company are able to offer a luxury nut mix that uses raw nuts, roasted and salted as well as the inclusion of seasonal fruit such as sour cherries and cranberries mixed in when the fruits are more abundant.

Traditionally, nuts have been a festive privilege that was included in your Christmas stocking along with a Satsuma as the distance the items travelled made them quite rare and expensive. As times have changed and the travel connections between countries have improved the world has become a smaller place with products from all over the world becoming a click away.

Being able to offer your visitors a selection of nuts throughout the year is not only seen as a privilege but also a positive perception of status. If you could afford to offer nibbles of that status you were a wealthy household. This psychological link to our products make them another reason to place an order with the Ludlow Nut Company.

We all love giving gifts during this festive and family time of the year but for those we have forgotten there is always a thank you present. Over the years the thank you card can become monotonous so why not send a healthy treat of dried fruit and nuts. (If a cheeky chocolate treat is what you are after we also have that covered).

Ludlow Nut Company has an established range of gift trays which make fantastic gifts for anyone. With Four delicious gift trays to choose from including:

1. Fruit Gift Tray – which includes Apricots, Cranberries, Dates, Figs, Golden raisins and White Mulberries

1. Nut gift tray – which includes Almonds, Walnuts, Hazelnuts, Cashews and more.

1. Fruit and nut combo gift tray- which includes Brazils, Cashews, Apricots, Dates, Cranberries and Almonds.
2. Confectionery gift tray- which includes Dark Chocolate Brazils, Yoghurt Covered Cranberries & Raisins, Milk Chocolate Orange, Dark Chocolate Ginger.

These amazing gift trays serve as perfect gifts for all your friends and relatives who drop by to see you in New Year. You can have different gift trays to select from, and we are sure that the people you give these to will rave about how thoughtful it is. These gift trays also come in really handy when someone out of the blue drops by, they are excellent as snacks while you entertain your special visitors. Besides, the gift trays are an amazing option to give your family and they are going to love you for it. You can also use these gift trays as healthier substitutes to eating chocolate.

But if you think that gift trays are not for you and you think trying something smaller is the way forward snack pots might be for you. Snack pots are ideal to be kept in the drawer of your desk, in your car or in your handbag. If you are a person who tries something new, then Snack pots are something that you should definitely try. They also serve as wonderful gift options to someone you just happen to meet and also can be used a great substitute to all the junk food that we  might end up eating while out travelling or working.

With New year representing a new start why not try something new from the Ludlow Nut Company and if you like it there is the opportunity to increase the size whenever you like, we are only a click away.

Yes it’s true; The Ludlow Nut Company has a QR code. The QR code was popularised by the automobile industry and is a form of matrix barcode. Owing to the fact that the QR code has a great storage capacity and fast readability it has become popular and is now used across a wide variety of industries. The reason why the Ludlow Nut Company is using a QR code on the packaging of its products is to offer customers faster access to their website.

Advantages of Using a QR Code

QR is the abbreviation of Quick Response, Denso Wave a subsidiary of Toyota who created QR code to keep a track of vehicles while manufacturing. QR code’s offer  several advantages over other forms of coding. The contents of the QR codes can be decoded at a very high speed. The biggest advantage of the QR code is that it is an open source hence it is available for free. URLs and addresses that appear in any magazines can also be stored in the QR codes. Even the symbols on business cards, buses etc can be stored on it. Thus you can get access to any information you want using the QR codes. QR codes have now found their place in cell phones and cameras too. Every new smart phone these days comes equipped with the ability to read QR codes. Thus QR codes have become indispensable in today’s fast past technical world.

Ludlow Nut Company offers customers a range of products which you can select from our online store. These include a variety of gift trays, snack pots, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, mueslis, porridges, cereal bars and confectionery to name a few. Each product category that we offer at The Ludlow Nut Company now comes equipped with a QR code on its packaging.

Ludlow Nut Company is based in Ludlow, Shropshire, which is the gastronomic capital of rural Britain. Ludlow Nut Company sells nuts, seeds, mixes, dry fruits which are all of the highest quality. We are well known for a collection of products which include hand made award winning mueslis and porridges and our all natural cereal bar which are created in small batches to guarantee the highest quality in every product.

The reason why we are known as the best in our industry and the reason for our success are because to us quality is paramount. We make sure that the quality of our products are at the highest standard and use local ingredients where we can, for example we use Shropshire honey, butter and oats in our cereal bar. We don’t just order our ingredients from suppliers, we visit their site to make sure we buy the best possible ingredients.  When we have sourced what we need we don’t just mix the ingredients we blend them in such a way that nothing tastes better. We also make sure the highest quality ingredients are used so that the product is healthy and tasty at the same time.

It is due to our commitment to our customers that we do not compromise on the quality of our product. We get into the nitty gritty of the product that we offer you and give our suppliers very detailed and strict specification of our ingredient requirement list and then follow this up with personally inspecting the ingredients each and every time. If you would like to know more about us and our products check out our website and store for all the yummy things that we have for our customers.