Jamie's War on food waste

To paraphrase Shirley Conran 'Life is too short to peel a carrot and it doesn't need it and it doesn't need to be straight!

Just added raclette cheese to my shopping list so that's at least dinner sorted some time this week. Glad you mentioned it Granjura We have ours with cold ham and pickle.

Missing the point Granjura?
I meant that as Aldi & Lidl are making a point of selling good food cheaply, they could include less-perfect-looking fruit & veg in that.

Of course, if Waitrose or anyone else wants to start it, that would be great. Go to it, Jamie!

Enjoy Agus ;) Must say supermarket raclette sold in packs, especially abroad, is a bit too fatty and tasteless for me, the Swiss mountain girl lol.

For DH's 60th I bought him a 'proper' raclette machine- where you put half a cheese, or even for a big group, 2 half cheeses- on and then scrape the all length of the cheese when molten. Of course no good for 2- and the Scraper needs to get some to replace him from time to time so he can have his fair share- but it's much more fun this way. Our local farmhouse raclette is fa-bu-lous and so so tasty.

My machine is for 6 so OK for DH and I, still enough pans for GDs to use when they are here, they love it.

I buy my cheese from a fairly local Cheesemonger but I have seen a lot more Raclette in supermarkets now compared to never seeing it at all. Bon apetit.

Great to hear you've got a good cheesemonger- it makes all the difference.
Raclette cheese is also sold here in supermarkets- but just like any cheese in the world- the local farmhouse stuff is always better.

We are huge fans of English cheeses btw- our daughter brought us a Lancashire cheese bomb (round and covered with blac wax) which was so tangy and tasty- and of course we used to live in Stilton country- and great Leicestershire. I'll always remember the first time I visited Ye Olde Cheese Shoppe in Hartington, when I was a newcomer to the UK, and was amazed by the diversity of UK cheeses- we love to get out neighbours and friends here taste the best of UK cheeses, both in FRance and Switzerland.

Farnorth, Waitrose does, from time to time, sell weather-damaged apples. At least it's a start.

The price of premium quality foodstuffs has to include the cost of farmers ploughing mis-shapes back into the ground, so if the mis-shapes were sold at a discount it would reduce the cost of the premium foods as well.

I'm not sure that washing carrots is less hassle than peeling.

Apart from topping and tailing, I just gently and quickly scrape my carrots.
I suspect that they have all been washed so many times before, that there cantpossibly be anything left of harm on them. And I dont want to take away any more goodness from them.

Pesticide residue can linger in the skin. Best to wash them thoroughly or peel them (as I intend to carry on doing! ).

Always have raclette in someone else's house. The smell is as though something has died ,rotted and blocked the sewers. Tastes fine.

Can't say I have shared that experience Stansgran

Think that's putting me off now Stansgran

nah- it's not that bad. We do open all windows and place a couple of bowls around with sodium bicarb and the smell goes quickly. Fondue is much worse!

But I thought that our supermarkets already sold "wonky" produce as part of their value ranges? This is from the Sainsbury website, and I assume others have a similar system:

"Our three own-label ranges - basics, by Sainsbury's and Taste the Difference - allow us to use fruit and veg from growers very efficiently and give our customers the choice to buy what they want. For instance, one orchard will produce apples that all taste fantastic, but if some were smaller than expected or an irregular shape they'd go into a 'basics' bag, while others that we know are the size and shape many customers would view as just right would go into the other ranges.

If you shop from our basics range of fruit and veg, you might not show them off in your fruit bowl or vegetable rack but the leeks are still good for soup, potatoes are perfect for mashing and strawberries will perk up a smoothie."

Never mind the not quite perfect fruit and veg. My DH works in the local Co-op and he is appalled at the amount of perfectly good fruit and vegetables they throw away just because they are past the sell by date. He said that on Christmas Eve he had to throw away two trays of beautiful bananas, several good pineapples and loads of brussels sprouts. The waste amounted to about £200.
Jamie Oliver - here is your next mission, sort out the supermarket waste!

My mother used to save weird potatoes and carrots if she thought the shapes would amuse us. As a child I thought it normal to have a duck shaped spud sprouting on the windowsill. Looking back - maybe she was in too much of a hurry to peel them?

She also worked on a cucumber farm just post-war ww2 and even back then they had to sort into different sizes/shapes/straightness. I remember her complaining in the 1960s there was no point and that they were all jumbled together 'these days'

(and raclette - I remember back when I could eat cheese, my daughter crying at the smell of the raclette grill, probably because they were cooking meat and cheese on it - we sent her outside)

back to the veg - I am def a "Peel if not organic" person, however curvy.

Granjura

"Pesticide residue can linger in the skin. Best to wash them thoroughly or peel them "

I eat a raw carrot with my breakfast every morning, I always peel them, but sometimes they have a very strong chemical taste to them. I assume it must be pesticide or some such agrichemical.

"My mother used to save weird potatoes and carrots if she thought the shapes would amuse us. "

You're not Esther Rantzen, are you?

That is my point really crun.
Wouldnt they be the same peeled as unpeeled?
Either they have chemicals all the way through, or they dont?
[I am not necessarily right by the way].

hilda where I used to live we were in Lions and we used to collect up the good but not sold fresh produce from the local large supermarket for distribution to vulnerable people on low incomes. The problem was this scheme became less and less successful as it became harder to identify who needed/wanted it as all agencies involved said due to confidentiality they could not give us any contact details. The Rotary Club here wanted to do it but ran into the same problem. I think a great deal here goes to the local food bank now.

That Chief Medical Officer for Health bloke did say we should peel all carrots except organic ones.

Does scrapping count?

I would think so.