My heart and deepest sympathies go out to all those distressed people who lost their loved ones and production sites in the March 11th earthquake.

My personal guarantee to the Japanese food producers is that I will work with utmost determination, to continue to bring their valuable and safe foods to consumers around the world. The world has so much to learn from Japan about traditional and sustainable food production. Clearspring currently distributes traditional and authentic Japanese foods to 36 countries, with the goal to reach 50 countries in 2012.

I trust and hope that the Fukushima calamity will soon be history. My prayers are that such a calamity will make humanity reflect on what is truly sustainable power on both personal and technological levels. Do we really need so much nuclear power and atomic energy? Nature's power is phenomenal and unlimited. Yet we have hardly tapped into its potential. True power is the sustainable one and should be realised on a personal level, not gained externally at the expense of nature or humanity.

Best wishes,

Christopher Dawson

Founder

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New Addition! Organic Orange Fruit Spread

Clearspring has just launched a new orange flavour to its existing range of Organic Fruit Spreads. Its refreshing flavour, fine cut zest and beautiful colour capture the high quality of the fresh, juicy Mediterranean oranges from which it is made. It's good enough to rival the best traditional marmalades!

Clearspring Organic Fruit Spreads have a wonderful full?bodied, fresh fruit flavour without any added refined sugar, colours or artificial preservatives. Each variety is made using at least 50% certified organic fruit and the remainder is just fruit juice and sea vegetable extract which is added in order to balance the fruit acidity and enable the fruit pectin to set. Delicious spread on bread or toast, as a glaze on cakes or simply as a topping on a bowl of plain yoghurt with muesli.

Product Focus: Oriental Noodles

Noodles are one of the main staples in Japanese cuisine. Many types are served either chilled with dipping sauce or in hot soups. As the weather is getting warmer, refreshing cold noodle dishes are a great idea for a delicious seasonal lunch. Clearspring Organic Oriental Noodles are made to traditional recipes characterised by a slow drying process. The aim of this long, slow production method is to develop the best possible flavour and digestibility.

Another notable point of our noodles is that we use semi wholewheat flour. The wheat is lightly sifted so that 75%-85% of the original wholegrain remains. The resulting noodles have a smooth texture. Most conventional oriental noodles use 100% refined wheat flour, and this is why our noodles are very tasty and better for you.

• Clearspring Organic Soba Noodles – Made from buckwheat flour (soba-ko) and semi wholewheat flour. Buckwheat has been cultivated in the Far East for a long time and is known to be a good source of health-promoting rutin. Rutin is a flavonoid which is believed to have many beneficial properties such as being anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, strengthening capillary walls, and helping vitamin C to be more bioavailable.

• Clearspring Organic Udon Noodles – Made from semi wholewheat flour with round or flat shapes.

• Clearspring Organic Brown Rice Udon Noodles – Made from semi wholewheat (75%) and brown rice flour (25%). The addition of brown rice flour gives a characteristic nutty flavour and slightly firmer texture than standard udon noodles.

Japan Update

Since the earthquake on March 11th Japan is still experiencing significant aftershocks. We have been very fortunate that most of our suppliers did not suffer any lasting damage. The country is in the process of rebuilding itself our suppliers are getting back into production and many have already started shipping foods to us again.

There are measures in place both in Japan and in the EU to ensure that all products exported from Japan meet stringent safety regulations. All products originating from defined regions around the Fukushima nuclear plant have to be tested prior to departure to ensure they are safe for human consumption. On arrival at a European port they will be subject to additional checks including random testing.

Clearspring is doing everything possible to ensure constant supply of the foods from our long standing Japanese producers.

After asking our suppliers how best we can support them, the overwhelming response has been by continuing to stock and sell their products. Only in this way they can recover from the damage of the tsunami devastation. We thank you for your continued support in making this possible.

We will be updating our website regularly to keep our customers informed of the latest situation or you can always email us if you have a specific question. Please also see our Frequently Asked Questions.

National Vegetarian Week – May 2011

National Vegetarian Week 2011 (23-29 May), sponsored by Cauldron Foods, is the UK's annual awareness-raising campaign promoting inspirational vegetarian food and the benefits of a meat-free lifestyle. Created by the Vegetarian Society and celebrated since 1992, the Week gives organisations, schools, community groups and individuals the free promotional tools and inspiration to give vegetarianism a go while highlighting their activities to the public through the popular What's Happening page.

To be a part of NVW 2011, visit www.nationalvegetarianweek.org

Meet & Greet

Yuki Nagashima, Clearspring's purchasing manager. She is responsible for placing orders with our suppliers all over the world and ensuring that we have enough stock for our customers.

How long have you been with Clearspring?: 2 years

Favourite Clearspring product: Of course Clearspring Organic Tofu! It is very soft, smooth, and the best tofu I have eaten here in the UK. I can rate it even in the higher rank among all the tofu sold in Japan. I use this very versatile food as an ingredient for many different recipes but my favourite use is as a simple ‘hiyayakko', a cold tofu eaten with various seasonings. This is the way to properly taste the flavour of soya beans.

Our Rice Cakes won Free From Food Awards 2011

We are delighted to announce that we have won Free From Food awards in the savoury biscuits and snacks categories for two of our new Flavoured Rice Cakes. They are a delicious gluten-free snack.

• Wholegrain Rice Cakes – Tamari & Black Sesame
• Wholegrain Rice Cakes – Tamari & Sea Vegetable

We are also receiving many complimentary messages from our customers via Facebook – mostly about how addictive they are!

Next Warehouse Sale, Sat 28th May

The next warehouse sale will be on Saturday 28th May.
Starting 9am through to 5pm.
Just one day this time.
Christopher will be available for product Q&A from 11am-12 noon.

It will be a great opportunity to meet the Clearspring team, taste some products and we will have some good bargains for you. We will make sure that we have plenty of tills in place and staff to help to avoid the long queues from last time. Please bring your own shopping bag and we can only accept cash or cheque. We look forward seeing you there! Click here for details.

Job Opportunity at Clearspring

We have a full time vacancy for a quality assurance administrator, to be a key member of the Clearspring quality team. Ideal candidate will already have a strong technical background and similar work experience.

Please email your CV to maria@clearspring.co.uk for full details of this position.