Ugly Vegetables and Food Waste

Every so often, you may stumble across a few misshapen vegetables in your CSA box. Upon slicing them open or cooking them up, you will realize that these ‘mutant veggies’ contain the same great flavor and nutritive benefits as the ‘standard’ looking varieties. In the field, it is very common for fruits and vegetables to have discrepancies because Mother Nature loves to change things up all the time.

Each year, millions of pounds of produce are discarded because they lack uniformity. 

In the grocery world, ugly vegetables are deemed unmarketable. In 2010, the USDA estimated that 31 percent (1.33 Billion pounds) of harvested produce went uneaten, while 48 million Americans lacked access to affordable, nutritious food.  These statistics are due in part to cooking waste and produce rot, but they are also due to processing plants and grocery stores throwing away perfectly edible, but not particularly beautiful produce.

Are you happy to contribute to food waste reduction? We certainly are! Send us pictures of your ugliest fruits and vegetables to be featured on our facebook page. We look forward to showing off a superstar that’s bursting with inner beauty!