Tasting notes

A new spring water is raising awareness of food waste

Spring water that helps the food-waste problem

SIPPING SPARKLING WATER isn’t an obvious solution for tackling food waste (the latest figures quote 10 million tons a year ditched by British households, while a third of food produced around the world for human consumption never makes it to our plates). Nor do the founders of Dash, the company that launched its artfully designed cans of infused carbonated spring water last May, claim to have the problem licked. But by using wonky cucumbers, ugly lemons and squished raspberries in its drinks, it is doing its bit to raise awareness – and serving up delicious, grown-up soft drinks to boot.

Founders Jack Scott and Alex Wright both come from farming backgrounds but pursued sales careers in the fizzy drinks industry, where they developed an idea for a product that would ‘fill a gap in the market for unsweetened flavoured water’, Scott tells me. Theirs is spring water, not filtered from the mains (‘so it hasn’t seen daylight for about 20 years, and has a more mineral taste’), infused with an extract of the raw vegetables and fruit (skins and all), with no sweeteners or sugar added. The produce itself comes direct from farms and is the stuff rejected by shops.

‘The charity Feedback were instrumental in our initial investigations,’ says Scott. ‘We worked with them to find farmers who had surplus ingredients.’

The result is a very true-tasting flavour: the raspberry version is bright and summery; the intense, grassy cucumber calls for a splash of gin. The citrus is my favourite, evoking old-fashioned lemonade without the tooth-slapping sugar hit.

Dash Water is made with ugly lemons, wonky cucumbers and squished raspberries