Jamie's War on food waste

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."

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!

Think that's putting me off now Stansgran

Can't say I have shared that experience Stansgran

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

Plenty of nutritional value is left in a peeled carrot.

The deep orange color of a carrot indicates the presence of beta carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, and when you peel the carrot, it is just as orange when you take off the outer layer.

There is a possibility of pesticide residue in the skin. So IMO best to peel unless they're organic.

granjura I absolutely agree. When the fruit is rejected it is usually returned to the supplier and by then cannot be sold elsewhere so it gets composted or ploughed in.

I had some of that raclette at the Xmas market we went to in Basel granjura. Was delicious!

I'd say you are missing the point there, sorry FarNorth- on the other hand, it would be brilliant if Waitrose and Sainsbury's took the idea up first, somehow.

Maybe it's something Aldi & Lidl should take up, in their cheap 'n' cheerful way!

Indeed FarNorth, and that s the issue.

Flickety, the problem with this need for perfection', as well as the waste- is the fact perfection in looks has overtaken perfection in other ways. It does not matter if fruit tastes of nothing, as long at is looks good on the shelves. The sort of fruit you take home and have to ripen on the window sill- and by the time it is ripe still tastes, at best of nothing, at worst like **! Give me mishapen fruit that actually taste of fruit- bliss.

Anything substantially misshapen or below par would be sold more cheaply.
That's the point - at the moment they are not being sold to the public at all.

In Japan in the supermarkets they are fanatic about perfect looking fruit. They even started a fad about square melons . Our japanese friend thought strawberries were something she must have even though imported and the wrong time of the year and she didn't share. As we were paying for the food I tried one, tasteless but looked perfect.

Picking and choosing vegetables and avoiding the misshapen ones dates back to long before supermarkets. Whenever my mother or grandmother went to the green grocer they would pick and choose the best of everything. Anything substantially misshapen or below par would be sold more cheaply. In fact as long as people have been going to markets or shops (how many thousand's of years?) this has been happening.

The problem with the supermarkets is that they set exceptionally stringent rules for perfection. If an apple is a few millimetres above or below their stipulated size; it is rejected. If the red blush on an apple is a few percentage above or below the stipulated amount; it is rejected. Yet if we saw these apples on a market stall we would happily pay full price because their 'imperfection' is only obvious to a supermarket buyer tasked with screwing the price down even lower.

tiny potatoes are very popular here in FRance and Switzerland in winter- as they are served with a favourite winter dish 'raclette' (hot molten mountain cheese scraped onto potatoes and served with pickes).