FAQs

It’s a single species chilli grown and processed organically for us in Murcia, Spain.  It is Capsicum frutescens. The variety is Super Hot (Demon). It has an above average heat but is not super hot.

We do not operate as a gluten free business. But we do not have or handle gluten, wheat or gluten-based products on site. In addition, we test both the factory and products on a regular basis for gluten-forming proteins to check that there is no contamination. However, because our supply chains are complex, it is not possible always to be totally sure that all parts of the chain are clear, which is why we don’t market anything as gluten-free, even if we’ve done everything we can to keep gluten out of the system.

Not all of them are. We handle celery, mustard and sesame here, so some products contain these. We show them in bold in the product descriptions. We, also, operate so as to prevent cross-contamination from these allergens into other products. We do not handle gluten or gluten containing cereals, tree nuts, peanuts, fish, molluscs, lupin or sulphur dioxide.

Yes. All our products are vegan, vegetarian and plant based. Some of our products are registered with the Vegan Society but most are simply plant seeds or leaves, so it would be stupid to spend money to verify that they are what they and get them registered.

No. None of our raw materials is grown via intensive farming and most are certified to organic agriculture.

No.

No.

We are committed to reducing the amount of oil-derived plastic packaging. Our core spices packaging is in glass with a stainless steel lid. These contain recycled material (around 60%) and can be recycled through most council recycling schemes. Our main tea packaging is cartons that can be recycled and an inner bag that is made from cellophane. The cellophane can be home composted but is best put into food waste for industrial composting, where available; it can be put through normal waste where it will either be used for waste-to-energy or will decompose in landfill. Our transit packaging is all cardboard or paper based, using various levels of recycled board, and can be recycled in paper and cardboard recycling. There are bits of plastic, for example the grinder tops cannot currently be recycled and some of our mini bulk lines are packed in plastic, because they either leach out essential oils or attract water into them and so need a more impermeable barrier. These should go into normal waste.

The glue for the labels is not water soluble. We tried that but they begin to bobble off quite quickly and spices, herbs, etc., have a long life in your cupboard. They come off with heat, so use a hair dryer and the glue will melt and they will peel off. We use a heat gun here to remove them but, if you use one, be very careful and don’t burn your fingers.

Some of Steenbergs’ products do indeed come from China, simply because that is where they come from – for example, China teas like bamboo, lapsang souchong and pu-erh originate from China. Furthermore, some of our packaging and some of the factored products on the Steenbergs website come from China. This does not mean we approve of the Chinese political system; in fact, we seek to minimise what we buy from places with poor human rights records. Indeed, we buy from people not political regimes, so it’s about working with people we trust and like, because there are lots of political systems and people who we don’t like or trust who are not from China.

No, Steenbergs does not operate in any areas where there is conflict. We are peaceful people, despise conflict, and hate wars. Because we buy some of our ingredients from tricky places, Steenbergs might by mistake purchase products that are ultimately grown in areas where there is localized conflict, but we do not believe that our trade has any negative impact on tensions within any of the areas that it ultimately purchases its raw materials from, rather we believe that by supporting agriculture and basic industries in any area where there might be conflict we are helping normal people to get one with life in those areas. We do not buy anything from Russia (stop the war in the Ukraine), the Xinjiang or Tibet parts of China (Tibet must be given back its independence and the rights of the Uighurs must be respected), Burma, Israel or any other nasty regimes.