Nature produces the most wonderfully shaped fruits and vegetables - heart shaped tomatoes instead of round ones, curved cucumbers, multiple legged carrots. But until now only smooth apples, straight cucumbers and perfect strawberries could be seen in the supermarkets. Now their individualised peers will get a chance to be eaten too.
Different
For the first time there are apples, potatoes and carrots in the German supermarkets that may look different, but have immaculate quality and taste good. "Until now these fruits and vegetables were left on the fields, fed to the animals, processed or transported thousands of kilometres away to be sold elsewhere," says Alfred Probst of Rewe International.
This kind of fruit and vegetables will now be offered cheaper on a special shelf at Rewe. A 2 kilo package of defective carrots costs the same amount as 1 kilo of first class carrots, so half the normal price. At the same time Rewe states that this action has no economic background, it is more about wanting to do something good. However this cannot be verified, as the company refuses to release figures concerning this area, But according to Rewe the grower is getting more for the misshapen fruit this way than they would if they had to sell them for further processing. Fruit and vegetables with flaws have been available at Coop in Switzerland since August.
Even healthier
The misshapen foods aren't just intended to support the growers, they are also a statement against our culture of waste. Research in to asparagus has even shown that the misshapen products are often even more aromatic and healthy than the perfect ones. When asparagus are grown in an especially mineral rich soil as opposed to sand, they may grow squint but have a better flavour. And when asparagus are partially purple, which is seen as a defect, this is due to a higher level of healthy anthocyanins. It can also be assumed that no crop protection was used in the cultivation on multiple legged carrots. After all, crop protection agents kill nematodes in the ground, which is often the cause of carrots branching off. The non conformist foods aren't all that bad.