New life for rescued raspberries and renegade red onions
Perfectly good preserves
Food glorious food. Or, apparently not so glorious if it isn’t the perfect size, shape and colour. When exactly did we become so picky about our produce?
Over at New Smithfield Market in East Manchester, EMERGE have decided to do something about it. Since setting up the FareShare Northwest food depot back in 2008, the problem of surplus in-date food has become more and more prevalent. Seeing tonnes of edible food going to waste at the Market, often because of short shelf lives or a glut of a certain type of produce, was the real incentive. So, together they decided to set up an on-site kitchen to make use of some of the surplus fruit and vegetables.
All the fruit and veg is perfectly edible, perfectly tasty… And so to *Perfectly Good, the range of jams and chutneys made from the produce that no-one else wants. There’s nothing wrong with it. Okay, so maybe the carrots are a little nobbly, the apples a little ugly, the cauliflowers a bit too big, or maybe the onions just haven’t shifted this week. Whatever it is, the Perfectly Good team transform it into delicious jams, chutneys and preserves.
Today, more and more people want to feel like they’re ‘doing their bit’, turning away from the big brands and buying into something that has the added ‘feel good’ factor. And *Perfectly Good does just that.
The concept of *Perfectly Good developed from ideas for a social enterprise kitchen, food products and affordable meals matched with training opportunities for disadvantaged adults facing barriers to mainstream employment. Now, it’s becoming a reality.
Lucy Danger, Director at EMERGE, explains the reasons behind the project: “We know for certain that families and individuals in the north west are going without healthy food every day. As more and more people and organisations are realising the reality of the food waste and food poverty challenge in the UK, we believe the time is right to create local sustainable solutions. The concept of *Perfectly Good developed from ideas for a social enterprise kitchen, food products and affordable meals matched with training opportunities for disadvantaged adults facing barriers to mainstream employment. Now, it’s becoming a reality. Our preserves are proving to be a great success and 2014 looks set to be a really exciting year developing and testing our new product range.”
It’s early days but the Sweet Onion Marmalade and Chilli Jam are selling well and we have it on good authority that they are ‘absolutely delicious’!
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Rebecca is copywriter at Creative Concern. Since joining Creative Concern in 2005, Rebecca has honed her skills as a copywriter. Her strong writing skills and versatility have seen her work with almost all our clients. A varied portfolio, she is responsible for the writing, editing and proofreading across our whole range of specialisms including climate change, sustainability, culture, tourism, community campaigns and regeneration.
