“Even when the earth shakes beneath our feet,
we rise up to the challenges, embrace change
and continue to prosper”

We look forward to an exciting year ahead. Despite the current economic climate we have invested time and resources into making our brand more available.

We have just upgraded and re-launched our website to make it more user friendly and signed up to Facebook. We are scheduling more in-store tastings of our products.

Our focus in 2012 will be to get more feedback and direction from our customers so we will be attending more consumer and trade shows throughout the year. We are also planning to launch some delicious new products in the autumn. You will like them!

From us all at Clearspring

Best wishes,

Christopher Dawson

Founder

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Product Focus: Kuzu (Pueraria lobata)

Kuzu is a high quality starch with a smooth texture and neutral flavour that is naturally extracted from the roots of one of Japan's most vigorous mountain plants. It is an ideal thickener for soups and stews, sweet and savoury sauces, glazes and pie fillings and it is easy to use. It has also been praised for centuries in Japanese poetry and legend as a bracing tonic with renowned health benefits.

Why Clearspring Organic Kuzu is different from the rest

Clearspring's Organic Kuzu producer has been making kuzu for five generations and still carefully follows the traditional 120-day process of washing, settling, filtering and drying the pure organic kuzu root starch. Located in southern Kyushu, where the volcanic soils produce exceptionally vigorous kuzu plants, they are one of the few remaining producers of pure kuzu starch in Japan.

Even though kuzu is a thickening agent it should not be confused with arrowroot, potato starch or corn starch. Corn starch, in particular, is not recommended because it is highly processed and treated with chemical bleaches and toxic extracting agents. Potato starch is also mass-produced and chemicals are used to accelerate the extraction process. While arrowroot is made by a simple, natural process, kuzu is far superior in gelling strength, taste, texture and healing qualities. Read more here.

Cooking with Kuzu

Kuzu is unsurpassed as a thickening agent. It produces sparkling, translucent sauces; adds a shiny gloss to soups; and provides a smooth texture for sauces and gravies without altering their flavour. Kuzu is also able to balance food acidity making it ideal in desserts such as kantens and puddings and it is the perfect ingredient in icings, shortcake toppings and pie fillings.

Kuzu and health

Kuzu has been valued for centuries as a starch that is soothing and easy to digest. It is thought that kuzu contains very high concentrations of flavonoids, which are responsible for its strong medicinal effect on the digestive and circulatory systems. Flavonoids, which occur naturally in kuzu and other plants, are known to be antioxidants. However, they also have the ability to inhibit the contraction of smooth muscle tissue, thereby increasing blood flow and relieving cramping in the intestines. In many cases of abdominal aching and intestinal irritation, a bowl of kuzu gruel or pudding brings quick relief particularly for children who often do not like the taste of over-the-counter stomach medications. Here is a rejuvenating tonic made with kuzu which is known to aid digestion. For more detail see here.

【Ingredients (makes 1 cup)】

• 1 cup cold water
• 1 ½ tbsp crushed Clearspring Organic Kuzu
• 1 Clearspring Umeboshi, pitted and minced, or 1 tsp Clearspring Umeboshi pureé
• ¼ - ½ tsp fresh ginger juice
• ½ - 1 tsp Clearspring Soya Sauce (optional)

【Method】

1. In a small pan, dissolve the kuzu in cold water.
2. Add umeboshi and bring it to a simmer over a medium heat, stirring occasionally.
3. As soon as it begins to the boil, stir constantly until the kuzu thickens and becomes translucent. Gently simmer for 1-2 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and add the ginger and soya sauce to taste.

Meet & Greet

Eri Ito – UK Warehouse Manager & Customer Liaison

How long have you been with CS: 4 years

Favourite Clearspring product: I use most of Clearspring products for my everyday cooking, especially Japanese ingredients like Soya Sauce and Sea Vegetables and also Unrefined Oils but the item which I never go a day without is Kukicha Roasted Twig Tea. When it’s cold in winter, I like to have Kukicha with loose twigs instead of from a tea bag and heat it up for a long time to make it stronger. Sometimes I have it with Umeboshi, grated fresh ginger and a drop of soya sauce.

Best part for working for CS: Cooking healthy, wholesome and vegetarian meals for lunch and eating with everyone at Clearspring kitchen.

Sign up your local store on our ‘Store Locator’ and win a Clearspring gift!

We are currently building the ‘Store Locator’ search engine on our website and need your help! If you email us the details of your local independent store selling Clearspring products, you could be one of 20 winners who will be receiving some Clearspring products in the post. Please email us with the name, location & telephone number of the shop AND your name & address. We will follow up and contact the store to get them listed on our ‘Store Locator’.

Other News

Warehouse sales report:
We had another very succesful Warehouse Sale on Saturday 26th November 2011. By opening an hour earlier we managed to avoid the long queues from past events and this time we allocated a lot more space in the warehouse for browsing which worked really well. We are planning to have another Warehouse Sale in the Spring but this time with lots more opportunities to taste our products and to try some easy recipes made using our ingredients. Date and time in the next newsletter so watch this space.

New Year, New Look, New Website:
We have re-launched our website to make it easier to use, more attractive to look at and more informative. We have added a few new sections such as our ‘Store Locator’ which will list all stores selling Clearspring products (please note however that this is work in progress and will rely on our customers to help update this database!). Do have a look and give us your constructive feedback.

Our Fruit Pureé in Sophie Dahl’s cookery book:
We were very excited that Sophie Dahl mentioned our Fruit Pureé in her recently launched cookbook ‘Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights’ . See page 83 for pear and ginger muffins recipe. If you come across any Clearspring products in the press or other literature then please do let us know.