Fine organic ingredients, named by origin

New Forest is an international business specializing in working with micro-producers in Guatemala, Mexico and Indonesia to bring certified 100% organic ingredients to the international market.   We work with approximately 300 small producers and their families to produce high-quality, sustainably-produced spices, essential oils and vanilla.

New Forest began with a single sale of a certified 100% organic ingredient coming from the biologically diverse and fragile forest in the Peten in northern Guatemala.   The community there is made up of people from all over Guatemala who moved there for the Chicle trade.   When buyers stopped coming for Chicle, these people were left without a source of income.

New Forest had a customer looking for Ramon or “Breadnut”, a seed that falls from the canopy trees and is collected from the forest floor.   In a continuous streak of good luck, there was a viable Allspice harvest in the same region right after the Ramon harvest which gave the community more work and New Forest more reason to continue their work.

From there, we moved right into the Cardamom harvest which has become our most important commodity for sustaining our company.

Most of these supply chains were developed by the former ForesTrade, Inc. which was dissolved in early 2011.   It was these supply chains and buyers that came directly to the founders of New Forest in the hope of continuing the work started by their predecessor.

Working everyday with the socio-economic and environmental aspects at the forefront of our business dealings, Fernando Beza and Ian Diamondstone realize that we must first and foremost maintain the financial bottom line in order to support our ideals in business practices.

New Forest works with supply chains in Indonesia offering products like Cassia Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Turmeric, Ginger and Cloves.   We have established a working relationship with suppliers in Mexico for Chia Seed, Vanilla, Allspice, Oregano and Damiana.   In Guatemala and Nicaragua we have built relationships with small producers of Cardamom, Allspice, Turmeric, and Ramon Seed.   We pride ourselves on paying top market prices for certified 100% organic ingredients.   In this way, we are supporting sustainable agriculture, natural resource conservation and paying fair wages. We support community projects like buying school supplies and offering small interest-free loans for building infrastructure and prefinancing harvests.

We name the country behind every ingredient. Cardamom, allspice, ramon nut, lemongrass and turmeric come from Guatemala; cardamom from Indonesia; ginger from Peru; vanilla from Mexico; and ramon nut or ojoche from Nicaragua.

Knowing where an ingredient grows lets you understand its character and choose with confidence.