By admin
Food waste is a huge problem worldwide, which is one reason why snacks made of upcycled food are becoming more and more popular.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, about one-third of the food produced in the world each year never makes it into someone’s mouth. That means billions of produce, grains, meat, dairy, and seafood go to waste because it either never leaves the farm, is lost or spoiled during distribution, or is thrown away by stores, restaurants, hotels, schools—and us, from our own homes.
This obviously presents dire humanitarian concerns considering how many people in the world are food insecure, but there are environmental issues at stake too: Food waste is likely responsible for about 8%–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which are directly responsible for global warming, according to a 2020 report by the United Nations’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
One way to divert food from a landfill and curb those numbers is by upcycling—more specifically, by food upcycling. Here’s what you need to know about it. (And some tasty options to give it a try!)
What is upcycled food?
“Put simply, upcycling is all about taking advantage of and utilizing products that would otherwise be wasted,” Kelly McGlinchey, who runs the food sustainability consultancy Table & Tilth, tells SELF. “Within the context of the food industry, upcycling is all about identifying pieces of the supply chain that are typically destined for the landfill and giving new life to them.”
What started as a small trend has blossomed into a full-blown movement over the last few years, with the word turning up on more and more packaging. Now, there’s even an official food-upcycling membership association and certification process launching this year.
The Upcycled Food Association, a nonprofit founded in 2019, has more than 150 members and estimates that there are already over 400 upcycled products in the U.S. marketplace. On Earth Day 2021, the association launched an official certification symbol—similar to vegan or gluten-free marks already on packaging—that qualifying products can place on their food item beginning in August. Criteria for certification include sourcing approved by a supply chain audit, a minimum amount of upcycled ingredients, and a minimum amount of food waste diversion.
Quick emphasis here: There’s nothing unsafe or unhealthy about upcycled foods—they’re not made from spoiled or rotten food, or by parts of food that you shouldn’t eat. Instead, think about things like broccoli stems or carrot tops (perfectly edible items which you probably throw away in your own kitchen), spent grain from breweries, fruit peels, pulp from juiced produce, fish skin, and even unattractive or odd-sized produce that doesn’t sell at grocery stores.
“It’s about rethinking what waste is and how we define waste in the food system,” says McGlinchey. Another bonus? By eating different parts of food, you’re likely getting different elements of nutrition, which can include things like different nutrients, vitamins, or minerals, than you might otherwise. For instance, a 2012 study published in Agrotechnology found that certain fruit peels are rich sources of fiber and contain more vitamin C than the pulp.
And while you may not think “food waste” sounds very appetizing, that may change when you learn about the tasty, nutrient-rich foods innovative food producers have created. Here are some of my favorite ready-to-eat upcycled snacks.
All products featured on SELF are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
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Amazon1 Rind Snacks Variety Pack
These thinly sliced fruits leave the peel on, creating much less waste. Somehow, once the peel is dehydrated, it becomes soft, chewy, and totally edible. (Plus, the rind contains tons of nutrients, notably fiber, which can help your digestive system operate smoothly.) The brand’s mixtures show that the dried fruit category has definitely evolved from traditional boxed raisins and prunes: They include fruits that aren’t easy to find dried, like watermelon, strawberries, peaches, cantaloupe, persimmons, and kiwi. And yes, even the kiwi’s hairy skin is left on, but I swear I didn’t even notice it.
Rind also has a knack for pairing complementary fruits together in their bagged blends. I love their Coco-Melon blend, which has dried cantaloupe, watermelon, and coconut; and their Straw-Peary with apples, Bosc pears, and strawberries is definitely hard to stop eating. But my favorite has to be the Orchard blend with peaches, persimmon, and apples. I didn’t know I needed dried persimmon in my life until I tried it, and realized it was the tastiest way to eat this underappreciated fruit, which is often hard to find at the proper ripeness. Problem solved!
$20 at Amazon
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Pulp Pantry2 Pulp Pantry Pulp Chips
Ever wonder what happens to the vegetables when you order a green juice? Juicing machines squeeze out the juice, leaving a mushy pile of fibrous pulp that usually gets tossed in the trash. Pulp Pantry works with juice companies like Suja Juice, Project Juice, JuiceFarm, and Made with Love Wellness to collect their leftover kale and celery pulp and turn it into crunchy chips.
They combine the pulp with flour from Renewal Mill, which makes flour out of upcycled soybeans, cassava flour, tapioca flour, chia seeds, and tasty seasoning to create flavors like Jalapeño Lime, Spicy Barbecue, and Salt ‘n’ Vinegar. All of that adds up to a chip that’s rich in fiber, vegan, and gluten-free. I love the Jalapeño Lime flavor straight from the bag or dipped in salsa, guacamole, or hummus.
$16 at Pulp Pantry
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Renewal Mills3 Renewal Mill Chocolate Chip Cookies
When cofounder and CEO Claire Schlemme founded one of Boston’s first juice trucks, she saw firsthand the mountains of pulp left over. After meeting the owner of tofu producer Hodo Foods and discovering that making tofu leaves behind a high-protein byproduct called okara, she worked with Hodo to turn it into a flour suitable for baking. Renewal Mill recently introduced upcycled oat milk flour as well, made from the byproduct leftover from making oat milk.
They worked with James Beard Award–winning cookbook author Alice Medrich to develop cookie and brownie mixes, and if you’re lazy like me, Renewal Mills has you covered. They even have a ready-to-eat chocolate chip cookie that’s so, so good. Soft and buttery, the cookies are not too sweet and are studded with high-quality milk chocolate chips. Plus, these babies have three grams of protein.
$4 at Renewal Mills
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Blue Stripes4 Blue Stripes Cacao Whole Cacao Superfood Trail Mix
When Oded Brenner, who founded the famous Max Brenner Chocolate Shop in New York City, realized how much waste was created from harvesting cacao fruits just to get their precious cacao seeds (which are used for making chocolate), he knew he had to do something. So he launched the Blue Stripes label and created items like cacao water in various flavors, dried cacao fruit, cacao fruit pulp, cacao fruit sugar, and cacao shell flour—a flour made from grinding up the seed husks normally thrown away.
I can’t get enough of his Whole Cacao Superfood Trail Mix, which combines dried cacao fruit, cacao chocolate, and cacao beans with goji berries, cashew and Brazil nuts, and dried coconut for a satisfying snack. It should have been obvious that the entire cacao fruit would be as tasty as the seeds—now I wish I learned this way earlier.
$15 at Blue Stripes
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5 Seconds Crackers
Carrots are among the most waste-creating vegetables: Aside from their leafy tops, they’re also peeled, spiralized, juiced, and cut to make bagged “baby carrots.” All of that processing leaves tons of carrot pieces on the cutting room floor, which is where Seconds comes in. They collect these carrot bits and bobs, dehydrate them, mill them into a flour, and then use it to make delicious, crunchy baked crackers, which are gluten-free.
Available in three flavors (Original, Chipotle Ranch, and in an ode to the founders’ NYC heritage, Everything), I love the Chipotle Ranch flavor topped with cheese.
$15 at Seconds
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Amazon6 Goodfish Snacks
Honestly, I was skeptical of a snack whose main ingredient is fish skin. I usually give my salmon skin to my dog (who devours it, for the record) even though I’ve heard how nutrient-rich it is. The only time I do eat it is when it’s crisped up in a pan. Which is why I finally decided to give Goodfish a chance—these salmon skin chips are highlighted as being crispy and akin to a chicharrón.
The description is accurate—they are good, although I won’t pretend there’s no fishy taste—and it comes in tons of flavors like Sriracha Lemongrass, Spicy BBQ, Tart Cranberry, and my favorite, Chili Lime. They’re also packed with 10 grams of protein and a good amount of omega-3 fatty acids, a type of fat known for its anti-inflammatory properties, as SELF reported previously. Best of all, Goodfish exclusively sources salmon skin from Bristol Bay, Alaska, which is one of the largest entirely wild salmon runs in the world. They upcycle the skin, providing an additional source of revenue for Alaskan fisherpeople.
$28 at Amazon
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I Am Grounded7 I Am Grounded Bars
Similar to the waste created from making chocolate, coffee beans also come from a fruit that is often discarded for its seed. Enter the Australia-based I Am Grounded, founded by Lachlan Powell and Vanessa Murillo. The company sources coffee cherries from a small number of micro-lot farms in Colombia, giving farmers additional revenue and a waste removal solution.
Like coffee itself, coffee cherries are rich in antioxidants, but they contain much less caffeine than the beans do, which I noticed gave me a more gentle energy boost, similar to when I drink green tea.
To make their bars, the company takes the coffee cherries and combines them with organic dates, organic cashews, pesticide-free almonds, and various other ingredients depending on the flavor—Lemon, Coconut & Coffee Fruit also has coconut flakes and lemon oil, while Cocoa, Almond Butter & Coffee Fruit has cocoa powder, almond butter, sea salt, and carob powder. And contrary to what you might think, coffee fruit tastes more like a tart berry than coffee, so don’t expect these bars to taste like a cup of java (unless you get the Espresso, Tahini & Coffee Fruit flavor)—but they are a delicious, energizing snack.
$36 at I Am Grounded
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Amazon8 Regrained Puffs
I really love a good puff. Put a bag of Pirate’s Booty, Hippeas, or good ol’ fashioned cheese puffs in front of me, and I can’t resist. But now I can feel better about the environment as I munch on these crunchy snacks, since they’re made from spent brewer’s grain.
You might know that beer is made from malted barley, wheat, and rye, but you may not have known that after the brewing process, tons (literally) of malt grain husks and other layers of the grain are left over. While many breweries turn their spent grain into livestock feed, Regrained creates its patented SuperGrain+ from it, creating puffs that are high in fiber, protein, and other nutrients.
The SuperGrain+ is used to make its tasty, toasty puffs in flavors like Mexican Street Corn, Texas Pit BBQ, Aged Sharp Cheddar, Urban Garden, and Smoked Sea Salt & Pepper. I especially love Smoked Sea Salt & Pepper, because it has a peppery kick without being too spicy. Whichever flavor you choose, these puffs are the perfect movie snack and great for munching on while working from home.
$14 at Amazon
