It could get ugly in kitchen as wonky veg rules relaxed

A NEW appreciation for wonky vegetables could be one of the legacies of coronavirus as Waitrose is changing its guidelines on “ugly” produce to help struggling farmers.

Size and shape guidelines for carrots, parsnips and asparagus will be relaxed over the summer to enable farmers to sell produce that would have otherwise gone to waste.

Social distancing measures for workers on packing lines have forced Waitrose to cut back on the number of extra preparation steps such as trimming and finishing details, which are designed to make vegetables as visually appealing as possible.

Lockdown has resulted in sales of vegetables rising by 31 per cent compared with last year after the closure of restaurants and cafés led would-be customers to cook at home from scratch instead. Mushrooms and root vegetable sales have also risen by more than a quarter.

Customers have developed a taste for more unusual ingredients during the pandemic, with sales of gourds increasing by 51 per cent.

More commonplace ingredients such as garlic have also benefited from people turning to the stove, with an increase in sales of 47 per cent.

Farms supplying carrots and parsnips will now have more flexibility when it comes to skin blemishes.

Allowing more “ugly”-skinned carrots and parsnips, which retain their taste quality, will mean that more British produce will be available for the customer, much of which would have previously gone into food service, according to Waitrose. Larger British asparagus, which would have been normally confined to processing and catering, will also be available for purchase.

Amanda Frisby, the Waitrose fresh produce technical manager, said: “We are committed to supporting our farmers through a really difficult time. By changing and being flexible with our specifications, it has meant we have minimised wastage of fantastic British produce and it has allowed us to take on even more veg for our customers.”