Red Palm Oil - A Cause and a Recipe

Orangutan in the wild - courtesy
of wikicommons

With the recent surge in popularity of palm oil in both natural food and personal care products, there has been a major concern of the effects on orangutans habitats from the growing and harvesting practices of the oil. In many countries forests are cut down to make way for palm oil plantations.  In places like South-East Asia these forests are the only natural habitat for orangutans.  Over the past few years the number of orangutan deaths has increased to nearly 5,000 yearly, and with only 60,000 estimated orangutans left in the world, the species is facing a very real threat of going extinct.

At Alaffia, we use red palm oil and other oils in several of our products.  However, our natural West African palm oil is grown and harvested by small-scale farmers in the Maritime region of Togo. Oil palms are native to West Africa, and have been grown as part of multi-cropped sustainable small farms for centuries. Furthermore, it is important to point out that orangutans do not exist at all in Africa.

If you have purchased some Alaffia Red Palm Oil recently, and are looking for some recipes to use it in, look no further. Below is a recipe that was recently featured in Whole Foods' online magazine Dark Rye.

Black-Eyed Peas in Red Palm Oil

Serves 10

Ingredients:

·         1 cup red palm oil

·         2 large red onions, thinly sliced

·         3 cloves garlic, minced

·         2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

·         1 or 2 jalapeño peppers, finely chopped (omit seeds if you want less heat)
1 teaspoon salt, divided

·         1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

·         1 pound tilapia or other whitefish

·         3 large carrots, cut in ¼-inch slices

·         4 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed or 6 cups cooked beans

·         1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced

·         2 Roma tomatoes, sliced

·         2 cups green beans, cut in 1-inch pieces

·         Rice, for serving

Method:

Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet (the larger the diameter the better). Add onions, garlic, ginger and jalapeños, and cook until onions are caramelized (add ½ teaspoon salt to develop flavor). Add tomato sauce and remaining ½ teaspoon salt (if desired) and cook until tomatoes are reduced. (Note: Adding a little salt at every step develops the flavor.) Add fish and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until fish is cooked through. Add carrots, cover and cook until crisp-tender. Add black-eyed peas, bell pepper, tomatoes and green beans to the pan, stir gently and thoroughly; cover and simmer until vegetables are cooked to desired consistency. Serve over rice.

For more recipes check out the latest issue of Dark Rye, and while your there please watch an amazing video taken by a team that went to Togo to see firsthand the amazing work Alaffia is doing.

Whole Foods' Dark Rye and Alaffia: Fostering a Body of People

Alaffia had the honor of working with Whole Foods Market on a video and story for their online magazine Dark Rye. Whole Foods sent a team to Togo last month with Alaffia's founders to document the Alaffia fair trade cooperatives at work. The compelling video can be viewed below and the article can be seen here.

2014 - Looking Forward

Dear Friends of Alaffia,

It is my wish this letter finds you and your entire family in good health. I am writing to you today to share my outlook for 2014 so we may together continue to strengthen Alaffia with the end result of empowering our communities.  But first, I would like to present my gratitude to you for all that you have done during 2013 in supporting Alaffia; the extra effort and guidance that each of you has granted Alaffia during 2013 has made it possible for us to conduct our largest community projects to date.  I would like to equally thank you again for all that you contributed towards making our 10-year Empowerment Tour a true success.

Looking towards 2014, I believe with great confidence that it will be a good year for Alaffia. By March, our entire line will have a completely new package refresh, in which we have incorporated your feedback and suggestions.  Our new packaging will ensure Alaffia is noticeable across all the brands, and will make it easier to identify which items are best for personal skin and hair needs. 

On our Togo side, it is with great joy in my heart that I inform you the Alaffia cooperative in Sokodé will be moving to a new location in May.  Our current cooperative location will be transformed into a Maternal Health Training Clinic, fully staffed by Alaffia.  This will lead to an additional 20% expenditure of Alaffia community projects towards the existing Maternal Health Program, with the goal of saving 2,000 women from unnecessary maternal death.  To me this will be Alaffia’s greatest impact in our communities.

Finally, because of the belief and conviction that many of you have, I believe 2014 will be a very meaningful year to Alaffia, and I wish you and your family a very happy new year.

Humbly Yours,

Olowo-n’djo Tchala