Ugly Fruit

My Foot Smells · July 21, 2016

Watched a segment on the local news about ugly produce from a Wal-Mart rep. Obv. ugly fruit is not allowed, even in most of the farmer market type arrangements. There are governing bylaws about ugly fruit.

Generally, there is nothing wrong with ugly fruit. The report indicated that almost 50% of produce goes to waste due to this phenom. That is simply amazing.

Maybe ugly fruit is best ate in the dark when no one is looking?

What do you do with all your ugly fruit? Does your market have sanctions against selling. Seems like we could feed the world with discarded ugly fruit...........

I admit, I use the "uglies" for canning and sauces myself.

<edit: here is the article reporting that Wal-Mart is going to be selling ugly fruit, which I think is a great idea>

Over the past few years, so-called ugly fruit and vegetables have been gaining a host of admirers.
Now, Wal-Mart has officially joined the bandwagon. Starting this week, America's largest grocer says it is piloting sales of weather-dented apples at a discount in 300 of its stores in Florida. If this were one of those Hollywood movies where the mousy girl gets a dramatic makeover, this would probably be the scene where she gets asked to the prom (minus the sexist subtext).
"We're excited to announce that after months of discussion, a brand of apples from Washington state, called "I'm Perfect," will make its debut in Walmart stores this week," Shawn Baldwin, senior vice president for global food sourcing, produce and floral for Wal-Mart U.S., writes in a company blog post. He adds, "We're proud to be the first retailer to bring these apples to you." The apples will be sold in 2- and 5-pound bags, he says.
Ugly fruits and vegetables are a fact of life on the farm. Sometimes the dents and scars are so minor that you wouldn't think twice about buying them. They're perfectly edible, delicious and just as nutritious as their unmarred brethren — or perhaps even more so. But their cosmetic challenges (think hail-pocked apples or curvy leeks) have traditionally kept them out of retail stores.
Imperfect produce often ends up in landfills instead, contributing to food waste, which, in turn, is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Salt

Beneath An Ugly Outside, Marred Fruit May Pack More Nutrition

Across the U.S., there's no good documentation of how much produce gets tossed because of cosmetic imperfections, and losses vary from crop to crop, says JoAnne Berkenkamp, a senior advocate for food and agriculture at the Natural Resources Defense Council. But "we've typically found that growers reported [cosmetic-related] losses ranging up to 20 percent of production in a given year, but it could be higher in years of bad weather."
For apples, blemish-related losses can reach as high as 30 percent, according to data from Columbia Marketing International that Wal-Mart cites.

The Salt

This Is What A Feast For 5,000 Made From Food Waste Looks Like

But efforts to help consumers and U.S. retailers see the inner beauty of gnarly produce have stepped up of late. In March, as we've reported, Giant Eagle announced a small pilot program to sell less-than-perfect produce at a discount in its Pittsburgh-area stores, and Whole Foods announced a similar effort in its Northern California outlets. But, as Berkenkamp notes, "it's hard to get bigger than Wal-Mart."
Wal-Mart has more than 4,000 U.S. stores. So it has the potential to "completely change the market," says Jordan Figueiredo, founder of the @UglyFruitAndVeg Campaign, which uses humor to raise awareness of food waste.

The Salt

Silly, Saucy, Scary: Photos Show The Many Faces Of Ugly Fruit

In fact, Wal-Mart has been testing sales of uglies since late April, when it started marketing "Spuglies" — a brand of weather-damaged potatoes — in its Texas stores. "They're still on shelves" in some 400 stores in the state, says Wal-Mart spokesman John Forrest Ales. He says Wal-Mart doesn't make public how many pounds of spuds have been sold under the Spuglies program, but "we're hearing good things about it from our customers."
The "I'm Perfect" apples and "Spuglies" potato programs are a "good step," says Figueiredo. But he wants the grocery behemoth to expand the program with more produce available year-round and in more states — and perhaps, a cheeky marketing campaign that glorifies the crazy and curious shapes that crops can take.

The Salt

Think Nobody Wants To Buy Ugly Fruits And Veggies? Think Again

Figueiredo is one of the organizers of a Change.org petition with more than 143,000 signatures urging Wal-Mart to sell ugly produce, and he visited Bentonville, Ark., on Wednesday to deliver it in person to the company's headquarters. (Whole Foods' decision to test sales of ugly produce followed a similar petition that Figueiredo organized.)
Figueiredo notes that earlier this year, Wal-Mart's UK grocery chain, Asda, began selling "wonky veg" boxes — each containing 11 pounds of various misshapen fruits and vegetables — in hundreds of stores. The boxes, which sell for the equivalent of $4.60, have proved popular. He'd like to see Wal-Mart launch a similar program across the U.S.
That's not currently in the cards, says Wal-Mart's John Forrest Ales, but the company is looking at various ways to expand its offerings of ugly produce.
"All of our conversations are about, how do we maximize the harvest?" he says. The challenge though, he says, is creating an efficient infrastructure and network that can scoop up enough misfit produce from farmers to meet demand and get it to the stores before it goes bad.

Urbanheirlooms · July 21, 2016

I use my "uglies" as well for salsa, sauces, ect. I also offer them for discounted prices. In the heirloom world, it is rare to have perfect looking fruit especially when you don't use pesticides or fertilizers like I grow them. R & R's not so much.

It is truly a shame that there are so many people in this world who are starving and so much food gets wasted based on the appearance of the item. It is also a shame that people don't understand that by having that perfect looking fruit/vegetables, they are giving up flavor.

My Foot Smells · July 21, 2016

the "uses humor" section in the article is mildly entertaining.

I agree UH. It amazes me that ppl do not have to disclose use of pesticides and insecticides in selling fruit. The connotation is derived that a home grown tomato is generally grown by organic means - for the most part. But often times, that is not the case. Chemicals are at the disposal of the home gardening these days and sometimes used in excess.

Probably not a question many buyers would ask (I would and have) about the use of non-org stuff. It is one of the primary reasons I grow my own vegetables to know what I am actually getting. Simply grabbing something off the grocery store shelf, one has no idea what methods were applied, even if it is labeled, "organic."

The pursuit of the perfect looking fruit or mass production by any means, may very well be killing us.

Urbanheirlooms · July 21, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by My Foot Smells

the "uses humor" section in the article is mildly entertaining.

I agree UH. It amazes me that ppl do not have to disclose use of pesticides and insecticides in selling fruit. The connotation is derived that a home grown tomato is generally grown by organic means - for the most part. But often times, that is not the case. Chemicals are at the disposal of the home gardening these days and sometimes used in excess.

Probably not a question many buyers would ask (I would and have) about the use of non-org stuff. It is one of the primary reasons I grow my own vegetables to know what I am actually getting. Simply grabbing something off the grocery store shelf, one has no idea what methods were applied, even if it is labeled, "organic."

The pursuit of the perfect looking fruit or mass production by any means, may very well be killing us.

You say " The pursuit of the perfect looking fruit or mass production by any means, may very well be killing us". I agree completely. You often hear people say my grandparents used to eat fatty foods and use lard and use lots of butter, ect and they lived to be in their 80's-90's and I am sure that is true to some extent. I believe that many of the newer pesticides, fertilizers and preservatives used today is what leads to health issues. The longevity thing kind of offsets as our older generation people were not subject to the bad stuff, but health care technology has improved.

GrowingCoastal · July 21, 2016

" Probably not a question many buyers would ask (I would and have) about the use of non-org stuff. It is one of the primary reasons I grow my own vegetables to know what I am actually getting. Simply grabbing something off the grocery store shelf, one has no idea what methods were applied, even if it is labeled, "organic." "

Yes. I once asked about the crust of a homemade pie at a farmer's market. The pie was labeled as an organic apple pie. The apples were but the crust was not. So, is it an 'organic' pie? Nope.

BigVanVader · July 29, 2016

What is considered unmarketable produce I sell the same as the pretty. My customers know to come early for better selection.

swellcat · July 29, 2016

Quote:

It is truly a shame that there are so many people in this world who are starving and so much food gets wasted based on the appearance of the item.

That's the real ugly, right there.

Ricky Shaw · July 29, 2016

I think that's the thrust behind these programs and grants for small grower greenhouses and tunnels. You put the fresh produce closer to the communities, cutting shipping and spoilage. Cutting waste by staying local.

bower · July 29, 2016

If the ugly is right, we sometimes use our crazed vegetables as the centerpiece or decoration for a special dinner party.

Takes a bit of extra effort to clean eg a mutant carrot or potato, but the visual effect can be very pleasing.

To us, anyway.
I had a wonderful sack of russet potatoes last year, that were fused in all sorts of ways. We roasted them whole and they made a supremely beautiful dish.

Ugly tomatoes are a bit more tricky, as they often have uneven ripening or just such a scarry surface it's not appealing to eat without resorting to the sauce pot.

Captain Neon · July 29, 2016

You'd be amased at how many people buying pre-made mashed potatoes will complain about dark spots or eyes. They claim the occasional eye is an insect.

I once got a complaint from a guy that complained about germs because he found a small piece of glove in his mashed potatoes. He wasn't concerned that he had foreign material. He was concerned about germs. He went on and on in his written complaint about knowing that the potatoes were cooked and heat killed germs but that there were still germs on people's hands and by extension the glove. He obviously didn't know that potatoes grow in the "dirty" germ-loaded ground. I think he may have had a heart attack if he were to find out how organic products are fertilized.

swellcat · July 29, 2016

https://www.change.org/p/whole-foods...e-in-the-us-31

Glad a number of folks are pushing back against waste and irrationality.

AKmark · July 29, 2016

I sell them in bulk as # 2's for canning etc for about half price. They always sell.

clkeiper · July 29, 2016

I still sell them. Usually for a reduced amount but I don't throw all of it away... just some of it. I can't begin to use it all and I can't sell it all before some of it goes bad.

Cole_Robbie · July 29, 2016

Everything at the farmer's market gets sprayed when being raised. If it is not labelled organic, then it was raised on Sevin, Daconil, and probably Malathion. And those are at a minimum. A lot of fruit requires sprays that the state mandates one have a spray license to buy. There are a few vendors who do raise produce all-naturally, but generally they don't have much selection or quantity.

That's an unfortunate situation, but it is the customers who have created it. Everyone says they don't like pesticide, but no one will buy produce with bug damage.

pmcgrady · July 29, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Everything at the farmer's market gets sprayed when being raised. If it is not labelled organic, then it was raised on Sevin, Daconil, and probably Malathion. And those are at a minimum. A lot of fruit requires sprays that the state mandates one have a spray license to buy. There are a few vendors who do raise produce all-naturally, but generally they don't have much selection or quantity.

That's an unfortunate situation, but it is the customers who have created it. Everyone says they don't like pesticide, but no one will buy produce with bug damage.

Ive got toms with nothing more than bleach spray,plants are pretty much dead,
A good year! I planted so many, it doesn't matter.

July 21, 2016	#1
My Foot Smells Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Pulaski County, Arkansas Posts: 1,239	Ugly Fruit Watched a segment on the local news about ugly produce from a Wal-Mart rep. Obv. ugly fruit is not allowed, even in most of the farmer market type arrangements. There are governing bylaws about ugly fruit. Generally, there is nothing wrong with ugly fruit. The report indicated that almost 50% of produce goes to waste due to this phenom. That is simply amazing. Maybe ugly fruit is best ate in the dark when no one is looking? What do you do with all your ugly fruit? Does your market have sanctions against selling. Seems like we could feed the world with discarded ugly fruit........... I admit, I use the "uglies" for canning and sauces myself. <edit: here is the article reporting that Wal-Mart is going to be selling ugly fruit, which I think is a great idea> Over the past few years, so-called ugly fruit and vegetables have been gaining a host of admirers. Now, Wal-Mart has officially joined the bandwagon. Starting this week, America's largest grocer says it is piloting sales of weather-dented apples at a discount in 300 of its stores in Florida. If this were one of those Hollywood movies where the mousy girl gets a dramatic makeover, this would probably be the scene where she gets asked to the prom (minus the sexist subtext). "We're excited to announce that after months of discussion, a brand of apples from Washington state, called "I'm Perfect," will make its debut in Walmart stores this week," Shawn Baldwin, senior vice president for global food sourcing, produce and floral for Wal-Mart U.S., writes in a company blog post. He adds, "We're proud to be the first retailer to bring these apples to you." The apples will be sold in 2- and 5-pound bags, he says. Ugly fruits and vegetables are a fact of life on the farm. Sometimes the dents and scars are so minor that you wouldn't think twice about buying them. They're perfectly edible, delicious and just as nutritious as their unmarred brethren — or perhaps even more so. But their cosmetic challenges (think hail-pocked apples or curvy leeks) have traditionally kept them out of retail stores. Imperfect produce often ends up in landfills instead, contributing to food waste, which, in turn, is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. The Salt Beneath An Ugly Outside, Marred Fruit May Pack More Nutrition Across the U.S., there's no good documentation of how much produce gets tossed because of cosmetic imperfections, and losses vary from crop to crop, says JoAnne Berkenkamp, a senior advocate for food and agriculture at the Natural Resources Defense Council. But "we've typically found that growers reported [cosmetic-related] losses ranging up to 20 percent of production in a given year, but it could be higher in years of bad weather." For apples, blemish-related losses can reach as high as 30 percent, according to data from Columbia Marketing International that Wal-Mart cites. The Salt This Is What A Feast For 5,000 Made From Food Waste Looks Like But efforts to help consumers and U.S. retailers see the inner beauty of gnarly produce have stepped up of late. In March, as we've reported, Giant Eagle announced a small pilot program to sell less-than-perfect produce at a discount in its Pittsburgh-area stores, and Whole Foods announced a similar effort in its Northern California outlets. But, as Berkenkamp notes, "it's hard to get bigger than Wal-Mart." Wal-Mart has more than 4,000 U.S. stores. So it has the potential to "completely change the market," says Jordan Figueiredo, founder of the @UglyFruitAndVeg Campaign, which uses humor to raise awareness of food waste. The Salt Silly, Saucy, Scary: Photos Show The Many Faces Of Ugly Fruit In fact, Wal-Mart has been testing sales of uglies since late April, when it started marketing "Spuglies" — a brand of weather-damaged potatoes — in its Texas stores. "They're still on shelves" in some 400 stores in the state, says Wal-Mart spokesman John Forrest Ales. He says Wal-Mart doesn't make public how many pounds of spuds have been sold under the Spuglies program, but "we're hearing good things about it from our customers." The "I'm Perfect" apples and "Spuglies" potato programs are a "good step," says Figueiredo. But he wants the grocery behemoth to expand the program with more produce available year-round and in more states — and perhaps, a cheeky marketing campaign that glorifies the crazy and curious shapes that crops can take. The Salt Think Nobody Wants To Buy Ugly Fruits And Veggies? Think Again Figueiredo is one of the organizers of a Change.org petition with more than 143,000 signatures urging Wal-Mart to sell ugly produce, and he visited Bentonville, Ark., on Wednesday to deliver it in person to the company's headquarters. (Whole Foods' decision to test sales of ugly produce followed a similar petition that Figueiredo organized.) Figueiredo notes that earlier this year, Wal-Mart's UK grocery chain, Asda, began selling "wonky veg" boxes — each containing 11 pounds of various misshapen fruits and vegetables — in hundreds of stores. The boxes, which sell for the equivalent of $4.60, have proved popular. He'd like to see Wal-Mart launch a similar program across the U.S. That's not currently in the cards, says Wal-Mart's John Forrest Ales, but the company is looking at various ways to expand its offerings of ugly produce. "All of our conversations are about, how do we maximize the harvest?" he says. The challenge though, he says, is creating an efficient infrastructure and network that can scoop up enough misfit produce from farmers to meet demand and get it to the stores before it goes bad. Last edited by My Foot Smells; July 21, 2016 at 10:02 AM.

July 29, 2016	#13
clkeiper Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: ohio Posts: 4,350	I still sell them. Usually for a reduced amount but I don't throw all of it away... just some of it. I can't begin to use it all and I can't sell it all before some of it goes bad. __________________ carolyn k

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July 21, 2016	#2
Urbanheirlooms Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: New Castle, Virginia Posts: 205	I use my "uglies" as well for salsa, sauces, ect. I also offer them for discounted prices. In the heirloom world, it is rare to have perfect looking fruit especially when you don't use pesticides or fertilizers like I grow them. R & R's not so much. It is truly a shame that there are so many people in this world who are starving and so much food gets wasted based on the appearance of the item. It is also a shame that people don't understand that by having that perfect looking fruit/vegetables, they are giving up flavor.

July 21, 2016	#5
GrowingCoastal Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Vancouver Island Canada BC Posts: 1,253	" Probably not a question many buyers would ask (I would and have) about the use of non-org stuff. It is one of the primary reasons I grow my own vegetables to know what I am actually getting. Simply grabbing something off the grocery store shelf, one has no idea what methods were applied, even if it is labeled, "organic." " Yes. I once asked about the crust of a homemade pie at a farmer's market. The pie was labeled as an organic apple pie. The apples were but the crust was not. So, is it an 'organic' pie? Nope.

July 29, 2016	#6
BigVanVader Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Greenville, South Carolina Posts: 3,099	What is considered unmarketable produce I sell the same as the pretty. My customers know to come early for better selection.

July 29, 2016	#8
Ricky Shaw Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Zone 6a Denver North Metro Posts: 1,910	I think that's the thrust behind these programs and grants for small grower greenhouses and tunnels. You put the fresh produce closer to the communities, cutting shipping and spoilage. Cutting waste by staying local.

July 29, 2016	#9
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	If the ugly is right, we sometimes use our crazed vegetables as the centerpiece or decoration for a special dinner party. Takes a bit of extra effort to clean eg a mutant carrot or potato, but the visual effect can be very pleasing. To us, anyway. I had a wonderful sack of russet potatoes last year, that were fused in all sorts of ways. We roasted them whole and they made a supremely beautiful dish. Ugly tomatoes are a bit more tricky, as they often have uneven ripening or just such a scarry surface it's not appealing to eat without resorting to the sauce pot.

July 29, 2016	#10
Captain Neon Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Florence KY Posts: 234	You'd be amased at how many people buying pre-made mashed potatoes will complain about dark spots or eyes. They claim the occasional eye is an insect. I once got a complaint from a guy that complained about germs because he found a small piece of glove in his mashed potatoes. He wasn't concerned that he had foreign material. He was concerned about germs. He went on and on in his written complaint about knowing that the potatoes were cooked and heat killed germs but that there were still germs on people's hands and by extension the glove. He obviously didn't know that potatoes grow in the "dirty" germ-loaded ground. I think he may have had a heart attack if he were to find out how organic products are fertilized.

July 29, 2016	#11
swellcat Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Cowtown, Texas – 7B/8A Posts: 192	https://www.change.org/p/whole-foods...e-in-the-us-31 Glad a number of folks are pushing back against waste and irrationality.

July 29, 2016	#12
AKmark Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Wasilla Alaska Posts: 2,010	I sell them in bulk as # 2's for canning etc for about half price. They always sell.

July 29, 2016	#14
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Everything at the farmer's market gets sprayed when being raised. If it is not labelled organic, then it was raised on Sevin, Daconil, and probably Malathion. And those are at a minimum. A lot of fruit requires sprays that the state mandates one have a spray license to buy. There are a few vendors who do raise produce all-naturally, but generally they don't have much selection or quantity. That's an unfortunate situation, but it is the customers who have created it. Everyone says they don't like pesticide, but no one will buy produce with bug damage.