Let’s Talk About The Ingredients First

How many of us have a health scoring application on our phones or use a food database to check the scores of various produce and products to make a buying decision? While we are spending time and effort for our grocery list to make healthier choices for ourselves and our family, how often do we do that when we are going to eat outside? Don’t you wonder what kind of cooking oil do a restaurant use or whether they use organic produce? Let’s say you do, will a food business willingly share what ingredients they use in detail?

You are not alone.

My wife and I had to make dramatic changes in our food choices and, thus, shopping habits for health reasons in the past. We wanted to know what is in our food, not just in our kitchen but also in the food we eat outside. Unfortunately, it is still hard to come by a business that shares the quality of ingredients from the health perspective.

At Ninda, we do because it is important to us and we know that to you, too, as well.

Kemal OZALP
Baker and Founder of Ninda Bakery

What Goes In, Comes Out

With the onset of the industrial revolution, the level of environmental toxicity has been increasing with an ever accelerating pace. Although our bodies are capable of detoxifying toxins, there is a limit to it. Therefore, the first step of detox is to intake less toxic material.

Farming practices are impactful on the levels of toxins found in food. Expansive review (Smith-Sprangler et. al., 2012) and meta-analysis (Barański et. al., 2014) studies suggest that organic foods have significantly less pesticide and herbicide residues than their conventional counterparts. Thus, using certified organic products are likely to reduce the exposure to toxic farming chemicals.

Although the organic certification ensures certain production and farming standards, it is hard to get, especially for small farmers. Yet, there are plenty of dedicated small farms in NC using humane practices to grow food and dairy products. Ninda works with all ethical producers to ensure the highest ingredient quality.

Organic Grain Flour

Flour is the main ingredient in any bakery. At Ninda, we use organic flour from two organic flour mills, here, in NC. We get our unbleached white flours from Lindley Mills which is a 10th generation organic specialty flour mill and mix manufacturer using locally grown grains as much as they can. For our whole grain flours, we work with Carolina Ground which is a boutique flour mill in Western North Carolina. Carolina Ground produces cold-stone-milled flour from locally-grown grains. They ensure all of their flours are unbleached and unbromated.

Other Ingredients

We strive to go beyond labels and descriptors to know an ingredient better. To do that, we either use the network of other reputable sources or learn as much about the production practices of producers as we can. Below is a list of ingredients and brands we use. We excluded items that aren’t used as often to keep the list concise. That said, all the ingredients in each product can be found on the products page (under construction). Please contact to us if you have any questions at hello@nindabakery.com

  • Celtic Sea Salt (Celtic Sea Salt)
  • Eggs (Bracken Brae Farm), Pasture-raised Eggs (Piedmont Progressive Farmers Group)
  • Milk (Ran-Lew Dairy)
  • Butter (Pine River)
  • Organic Cane Sugar (Field Day)
  • Organic Tahini (Kevala)
  • Organic Sesame Seeds (Kevala)

References

Smith-Spangler, C., Brandeau, M.L., Hunter, G.E., Bavinger, J.C., Pearson, M., Eschbach, P.J., Sundaram, V., Liu, H., Schirmer, P., Stave, C. and Olkin, I., 2012. Are organic foods safer or healthier than conventional alternatives? A systematic review. Annals of internal medicine, 157(5), pp.348-366.

Barański, M., Średnicka-Tober, D., Volakakis, N., Seal, C., Sanderson, R., Stewart, G.B., Benbrook, C., Biavati, B., Markellou, E., Giotis, C. and Gromadzka-Ostrowska, J., 2014. Higher antioxidant and lower cadmium concentrations and lower incidence of pesticide residues in organically grown crops: a systematic literature review and meta-analyses. British Journal of Nutrition, 112(5), pp.794-811.