Food & Drink
Functional craft beers
Why adaptogenic mushrooms make the perfect partners for these alcohol-free beers.
3 September 2021
This article first appeared in our Organic September 2025 issue of My Green Pod Magazine. Click here to subscribe to our digital edition and get each issue delivered straight to your inbox
Growing up, Aaron Providence had a not-uncommon attitude to diet: ’The only aim was to feel full’, he remembers; ‘there was no conversation or education around good nutrition. Ultra-processed foods were the norm, from frozen pizzas to turkey dinosaurs.’
Like his three siblings, Aaron became overweight and had poor skin and low energy – but a change in environment led him to connect health with food.
‘Attending university outside London was eye-opening’, he tells us. ’99% of people were fit and healthy – they weren’t in the gym, they simply ate differently. Even the supermarkets felt different, with less ultra-processed, high-sugar products at the front of the store. I then realised that my ‘normal’ was not normal; I felt like I, along with millions of others, had been brainwashed into craving and eating those foods.’
Today Aaron has a completely different approach to food and is on a mission to make good health the norm.
Simplicity is key; he always checks the ingredients on labels and if a product contains lots of sugar or anything artificial he simply won’t buy it.
‘High sugar, anti-caking agents, sweeteners, maltodextrin, rapeseed oil, glycerol and any E numbers are just some of the ingredients that would make me put a product straight back on the shelf’, Aaron tells us. ‘I also try to buy organic where possible and affordable’, he says.
Aaron launched Aura Salts in 2025 following a lightbulb moment in his local Sainsbury’s.
’It was date night and I’d picked up two nice organic steaks’, he recalls. ’I walked to the salt and seasonings section and found zero organic products! I was spending over £15 on the steaks and had nothing organic to add to them.’
On inspection, a number of the basic salt products available contained the anti-caking agent sodium ferrocyanide. ‘That was the spark that inspired me to create the best salt possible’, Aaron shares.
Salt plays a vital role in overall health by helping to regulate fluid balance, support nerve transmission and enable muscle function.
It also provides essential electrolytes like sodium, which are crucial for hydration and cellular function.
Aaron created a range of salts – Aura Salts – using Celtic sea salt, one of the most mineral-dense salts in the world. It contains a range of trace minerals like magnesium, potassium and zinc.
‘The mineral content within our food today has decreased significantly’, Aaron explains, ‘due to intensive farming practices, soil depletion and the ultra processing of foods. This is one way to add extra minerals back to your diet.’
While most other salts are either boiled sea water, an energy-intensive process, or heavily mined from the other side of the world and transported to the UK, Celtic sea salt is sun-dried on the salt marshes in northern France and hand-harvested as it has been for hundreds of years.
‘Sustainably sourced salt protects both the environment and the salt itself’, Aaron tells us. ‘It often retains a higher mineral profile as it is less processed, making it more nourishing – and better tasting! Traditional hand-harvesting also helps to preserve coastal ecosystems and marine life.’
Aura Salts contain 30% less sodium than table salt and come in a range of completely natural flavours: Hint of Pepper, Wild Garlic, Cayenne & Paprika, Mushroom & Herb and Turmeric & Black Pepper.
Yet the thing that really sets them apart from a nutritional point of view is that each pinch will deliver your daily recommended dose of vitamin D, supporting bone, teeth, skin and muscle health, thanks to a not-so secret adaptogenic ingredient: organic shiitake mushrooms.
‘Our shiitake mushrooms are not just the normal mushrooms you find in the supermarket’, Aaron explains; ‘they’re exposed to light at just the right time in the growing process to ensure they naturally produce a higher level of vitamin D. This ensures we can add your daily vitamin D in every pinch of Aura Salt and do this organically using a natural and organic food source, rather than synthetic vitamins.’
The addition of shiitake mushrooms is part of Aaron’s broader plan to make good health the norm.
‘In today’s world, prioritising health in general is not easy’, he acknowledges. ‘Childhood obesity is on the rise and in adults, rates of chronic conditions linked to diet and lifestyle are also increasing. The way society is set up, it takes conscious, proactive action to be healthy. Most people do not have the time or resources to fight this battle alone – they need support.’
Aaron accepts that there’s no realistic quick fix but feels that, in the short term, he can support the shift to healthier diets in two ways.
‘We will do our best to tell the people who are looking to improve their health, and who care about the ingredients they eat, that Aura Salt is an option for them. We also want to make it as easy as possible for them to find us, which means making sure we are available in places like Sainsbury’s.’
Aaron is also determined to make the food giants of the world ‘sit up and take note’; ‘When they see that people are buying Aura Salt because it is clean, organic and functional’, Aaron says, ‘they will have no choice but to move with the market and ditch the bad ingredients they use!’
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