Ugly but good fruit and vegetables

We have many ways in which we waste fruit and vegetablesWe want it to have a perfect shape and an intense color, also to comply with absurd European regulations. With the result that, for example, the 30 percent of Italian citrus fruits, the best in the world, do not go on our tables and end up in the processing industryJuices or essential oils.

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Ugly but good fruit and vegetables

How foolish and wasteful we are when we do the grocery of fruit, vegetables and greens. For an ignorant idea of the aesthetic standards of agricultural products, and for the usual emulation of the worst habits of Anglo-Saxon, American and English consumers, let's throw away, or we don't buy, bruised food, with some stains, squat, generically defined "bad", confusing it with bad products. When perhaps the opposite is true. A helping hand to this absurd waste of food it also comes from the usual short-sighted and lunatic European bureaucracy which imposed aesthetic "standards" on agricultural products. With the brilliant result of a massacre, with 33 percent of fruit, vegetables and greens produced in Europe that don't even reach supermarkets or retail outlets because they are considered "ugly" by consumers.

What do we mean by “ugly,” first of all? A bruised appleA tomato that has a few cuts, not deep, on the skin. The squat lemon. The pear with a rounded shape. The carrot which has some ramifications along its body. potato that doesn't have the usual shape. Not to mention the colors: as soon as a fruit, vegetable, or vegetable doesn't shine, they're discarded. As if they were pieces of jewelry.

Usually, the correct equation is exactly the opposite of what poor, uninformed consumers think: “ugly” fruit is tastier and richer in precious substances such as the fibers. As it is produced without chemical additives, without pesticides and with very rigorous organic methods. Just as the color can be opaque because the ripening was only natural, and not artificially encouraged, to the point of modifying, at worst, the flavor of the fruit. A classic example are Annurca apples, oranges, or mandarins. It often happens that they have decomposed shapes, they are rather small in size, or have dents: and yet the taste is exquisite, and in the case of citrus fruits they are rich in juice, the really important thing about this type of fruit.

In short, there are at least four reasons why “ugly” fruits and vegetables are tastier:

The fruit may not be perfect aesthetically (for example with small imperfections, spots or irregular dimensions), but it is sweeter and tastier than the perfect one as it is grown more naturally.The “ugly” fruit is riper and therefore has a more intense flavor.The “ugly fruit” It is not stored in cold rooms, and this also has a positive impact on its flavour and taste.
The “ugly fruit” often has a greater freshness, especially when it comes from small local productions, where the use of pesticides or preservatives is less than that of the perfect fruit from supermarkets.

How much fruit and vegetables do we waste?

The country where the waste of unattractive agricultural products is highest is the Britain, where the association Global Food Security He calculated that 40 percent of agricultural products grown in the UK do not even reach their destination because they are "unacceptable from an aesthetic point of view." The result is that every year 4,5 million tons of fruit, vegetables and greens, they end up in the garbage (50 million tons across Europe). Carrots and potatoes lead the way, accounting for about 10 percent of the total mass.
Even Italy has now acquired this bad habit of discarding fruit because it is "ugly". And a study byUniversity of Edinburgh accuses the European Union In effect, this enormous waste of food for aesthetic reasons is fueled by its insane regulations. What can be done? The solution is to start with the consumer, and inform them correctly about the new equation: uglier, better. And to maximize alliances with retail chains. In France, for example, an experiment by several large-scale retail chains has been very successful: Discounts of up to 30 percent on agricultural products deemed "ugly" From an aesthetic point of view. Someone in Italy should do exactly the same.

How to eat fruit properly so as not to waste it

When we eat fruit we must be aware that the aesthetics and quality of a fruit are not synonymous, and do not go hand in hand. On the contrary. blueberry Black, round, perfect, and shiny, it's produced in a greenhouse, and it's decidedly less flavorful and less valuable than a squat, irregular wild blueberry. Peaches, apricots, pears, plums: when they're small, even misshapen, it means they're not full of water and have undergone a more efficient ripening process. Discarding them is simply wasteful, not to mention those who, just looking at them, throw them in the trash. And speaking of eating fruit, let's get into the good habit of not throwing any leftovers in the trash. They're perfect for making delicious fruit salads or for using in smoothies and smoothies.

The waste of kiwis

To understand how perverse and harmful the waste of fruit made in Italy is, just remember the case of Kiwi, well summarized in the Report We're at rock bottom by Fabio Ciconte and Stefano Liberti. Italy is the third largest producer of kiwifruit in the world, after China and New Zealand: but Since 2014 we have done nothing but lose market share and productionThe result is that over a third of our kiwi production goes unconsumed, while kiwis imported from Greece are flooding the fruit aisles of supermarkets (196 tons in the last year alone). They're more aesthetically pleasing than ours, but they're decidedly less flavorful.

Ugly but good vegetables and fruit