Naturally grown fruits and vegetable come in all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, it is only the best looking produce that is chosen to supply the major food supermarkets and retail stores. While there has been a rise in the popularity of 'ugly' or 'wonky' fruit and vegetables being taken up by consumers who choose to not overlook those specimens that are not quite supermarket-perfect, the majority of consumers will still choose to buy standard-looking produce.
So, what happens to all the 'wonky' fruits and vegetables that don't make the grade? Well, for years the fresh produce that isn't destined for the supermarket shelves or the fresh market are usually sent to food processors to be made into juice, purees, extracts, tinned foods, dried food ingredients, and other products.
Traditional farming practices
For hundreds of years, small farming families never wasted a thing! They would make good use of all the food that their farm would produce, so any imperfect produce would always be used up in some way to prevent food from being wasted.
How many people can remember their grannies making endless pots of jam or jars of chutney and pickles? Previous generations of home producers would dry, preserve, jar or can their own fruits and vegetables long before the invention of the home freezer and it was those imperfect fruits and vegetables that would go into the fillings of pies and be the base of many sustaining, hearty soups and stews.
What food ingredient companies are doing nowadays is no different to what these old farmers did to preserve their food and keep food waste to a minimum. But it is only fairly recently that people have become obsessed with the sustainability movement and have become more aware of growing and harvesting practices.
Responsible food ingredient company
JC Dudley has effectively been saving wonky fruit and vegetables for many years, however, we have never compromised on quality! Our business helps to reduce food waste by utilizing all of the resources available to us.
Our supply chain business partners produce the most amazing, high-quality food ingredients that use up all of those slightly less pretty-looking fruits and vegetables that would never make it to the supermarket shelves. Using their knowledge and skills, they take this wonky produce and transform it into many different quality food ingredients, including dried and frozen fruits that can be used to make fruit-based foods, snacks and drinks.
We know that fruit used for a delicious filling needs to be high-quality fruit, but that product doesn't require the most beautiful looking fruit to make it taste wonderful.
When you stroll down a supermarket aisle and see food that has fruit as the main ingredient, then it is most likely made using wonky fruit. That fruit ingredient used may also have been supplied by JC Dudley!
Working closely with our international partners of many years, we can proudly say that JC Dudley is a food ingredient company that is part of a conscientious supply chain which is very effective at turning every wonky fruit and vegetable produced into a quality food ingredient that people love to consume.
Do not hesitate to contact our team at JC Dudley to discuss your food ingredient needs.