25+ Ways to Stop Wasting Ugly, Bruised, and Dying Produce — Tips from The Kitchn

Summer produce brings to mind plump, juicy tomatoes, perfectly round peaches and plums, and overflowing bundles of vibrant green herbs. But you know what's just as delicious as a picture-perfect peach? A slightly bruised or misshapen one, puréed into a smoothie, sliced into wedges and nestled into cake batter, or stewed into a sweet peach jam.

Supermarkets often reject "ugly" or "imperfect" produce because it doesn't meet their display standards. This could be anything from an eggplant with funny curves to an apple with scars to a bell pepper that's somewhere in between red and green. Although most of it is perfectly edible, these fruits and veggies (as well as unplanned-for surplus produce from farms) often end up in landfills.

"Innovative companies use it as animal feed or compost it, but that's more expensive than paying a trash company to throw it away," says Evan Lutz, CEO and founder of Hungry Harvest, a farm-to-doorstep produce delivery service founded on the belief that every fruit and vegetable — regardless of how it looks — deserves to be eaten.

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