A food related trend that is coming to the fore in 2024 has been termed “culinary upcycling”.
In our Western society we tend to create a lot of waste – food being one of those. The parts of the food that we would normally discard is what culinary upcycling targets. Those peelings and bits and pieces that are cut off and thrown in the waste bin still have an enormous amount of nutrition in them. For example, take the humble potato…the peels contain 40-50% dietary fiber. They have also been shown to be rich in phenolics and vitamins such as riboflavin, ascorbic acid, folic acid and vitamin B6. All this goodness is ending up in the bin.
Here are some more facts – a peeled apple contains up to 332% less vitamin K, 142% less vitamin A, 115% less vitamin C, 20% less calcium, and up to 19% less potassium that an apple with the skin on.
Environmentally, reducing the wastage of food means less food has to be produced for your direct consumption. This would result in saving those precious resources that are used to grow that food. It also means there is more for everyone else.
Apart from the obvious environmental and health benefits, the new flavors and textures that are present in the bits and pieces that are normally thrown away will give your palate some new and exciting experiences.
At Savour Solutions, this is the kind of trend we enjoy seeing. “Zero waste” is one of our goals. We love to see trends that move towards sustainability and less food wastage. In fact – these are some of the values that drive us to create the products that we do.
We would love to hear your comments on culinary upcycling…