More “va-vaa-voom” from Vinegar?

It’s amazing how many everyday products have properties you wouldn’t believe. Apple cider vinegar has got to be near the top of the list. It’s one of the most popular products in the shop, so we thought we’d find out why. It’s reputed to have been used as a remedy & health booster for thousands of years and there is a very long list of things it can do to help your health – some proven, some anecdotal.

First things first, you need to make sure that you’re buying raw, unprocessed, unfiltered apple cider vinegar which contains the “mother” – if it does, it will say so on the bottle. The mother is strands of proteins, enzymes and friendly bacteria and when you look at the bottle, the vinegar looks cloudy at the bottom.

The list of health benefits attributed to apple cider vinegar is impressive and includes:

• Heart health & maintaining healthy blood pressure
• Diabetes – it has been shown that 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar a day can lower blood glucose levels
• Lowering cholestorol
• Detox & weight loss
• Anti-bacterial & anti-fungal
• Gout
• Joint pain, arthritis & rheumatism
• Sinus problems, sore throats and ear infections
• Diuretic
• General tonic & pick-me-up

….and that’s just the start. We have customers who use it to give their dogs healthy, shiny coats & to get rid of fleas and to give humans similarly shiny hair, free of dandruff. Of course you can use it as you would a regular vinegar too – great for salad dressings and homemade mayonnaise.

If you decide to try it for yourself, be sure to dilute it in some water. Undiluted, it can damage tooth enamel and irritate the inside of your mouth. Most advice suggests drinking a couple of tablespoons mixed in water, once a day. If you’re using it to help with a sore throat, add some honey too.

We’re wondering why we hadn’t heard of it before – it sounds like something everyone should have in the cupboard!

 

 

 

 

New Year, New Us…..

A bit late but Happy New Year!

We’re really looking forward to 2016. 2015 was a year of working out where to go and what to do – how to fit our local food business with health food & healthcare and we discovered that it all fits together really well.

So, for the coming year, we’ll be bringing you all sorts of good things. Things which are sourced locally; things which are made without “nasties”; things which will help with a healthy lifestyle; things which are kind to the planet.

 

 

We’ll also be giving the shop a bit of a facelift. We’re really excited about that and we’re already giving some old things a new lease of life and a change of use to make the place more interesting!

 

 

With the facelift will come some other changes but we’ll tell you about them nearer the time. In the meantime, we hope that you all have a fantastic 2016!

Hello!

Come in, we’re open!

Welcome to our Nature’s Corner blog!

7 months ago we moved our local food shop (The Achray Farm Shop) into Callander’s health store and we’re working hard to create a shop which is full of things which are healthy, environmentally friendly and where possible, locally sourced. There are a lot of things we are learning about as we go along and we thought it would be good to share those things with you too. So, we’ll be writing about good food, good things for your health and some good things you can find at Nature’s Corner.

We hope you’ll enjoy reading about what we’re up to and that you’ll find the information we share useful. If you want to come and see how we’re getting on for yourself, you can find us at 2a Cross Street in Callander, Scotland.