Wonky Vegetables & Fruit

Morning Glory

Morning Glory

Obsessive cook
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19 Apr 2015
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Maidstone, Kent, UK
A lot of supermarkets here in the UK now sell 'wonky' vegetables and fruit at considerably cheaper prices than the 'perfectly shaped'. It is said that consumers want nice symmetrical produce so the wonky produce used to be thrown out (and still is in many cases, I believe). But why? Mostly, they get chopped up so it makes no difference at all what shape they have to start with. Do the shops/supermarkets in your country sell wonky produce at reduced rates?

Here are the wonky peppers I received in my on-line order yesterday. They look pretty normal to me.

38721
 
Here, that's referred to as "ugly produce," and I've never noticed it, but Kroger supposedly has another brand name for whatever produce they deem too ugly for regular pricing.

Personally, I do like my fruit and veg to look nice, but I'm not obsessive about it. Size doesn't matter all that much, and I'll many times even go for smaller apples, because so many of the apples nowadays are freakishly large, the size of softballs. I don't want apples that big.

My biggest concern, if I'm looking for something, is if a blemish goes through to the flesh. If there's a bad spot on an orange, I probably don't care, as I'm likely not using the peel. Bad spot on a pear...I'm putting that pear back!
 
If the price is reduced, I think a lot of people will take a look at it. But, if the pice is exactly the same, I think it is human nature to pick the best looking veggies.

TR, my Kroger offers small and large sizes of the popular apple varieties in separate bins. I buy the large ones for cooking, and the smaller ones for snacking.

CD
 
No special ugly produce here, you pick what you want from bins, there's a free bin of fruit for kids to eat for free as you enter supermarket, I like that idea. We grow some strange chillies and veges, they all get used.

Russ
 
I do live in an area with a fair amount of apple orchards, and thinking about it, they definitely sell their less visually appealing apples for less. They'll bag them up separately and sell them as second quality.
 
Yorky said:
I don't whether these radishes could be considered "wonky" but they are a different shape to those I remember in UK. These were from my mate's allotment yesterday.
Click to expand...

These are the ones that we bought recently in the supermarket. The 'wonky' ones had far more taste than these.

radishes s.jpg

radishes s.jpg

 
Shape is not so important for me it is taste in a dish. Back home all is used unless bad, as morning glory say if they are chopped who sees? I get some very strange shape from my greenhouse. I think it is from how I was told, never throw anything out unless bad. My Tesco do wonky and many go straight past it. If I get for less I am happy to do it, and Yorky is correct some taste more. I feel it because if fruit like apples are all the same easier to stack on the shelf. Much too much good food is thrown out, buy because it tastes good, do not refuse because it is not pretty. To me beauty is on the plate not in the bag!
Sarana x
 
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