Business set up to produce quality vegan ready meals

● Food is prepared for the minimum possible impact on the environment

An obsession with caring for the planet and letting nothing go to waste is fuelling innovation for a new “post-capitalist” business in the north-east of Scotland.

Green Grow, based in the Moray town of Forres, has been set up to produce highquality vegan ready meals in a way that has the minimum possible impact on the environment.

To do that, founders Iain Findlay and Isabella Guerinna capture the unused value in discarded agricultural residue, brewers grains, sawdust and oat husks and waste heat from industrial processes such as brewing to cultivate gourmet oyster mushrooms.

The mushrooms, which are high in protein, fibre and micro-nutrients, can be grown in just six weeks. The leftover ‘soil’, which is entirely biodegradable, can also be re-used for other purposes.

The whole process is designed to illustrate circular economy principles in practice, according to Mr Findlay.

“We replace single-use plastic mushroom grow bags with food tubs we get from a local bakery,” he said.

“We collect our growing substrate from local sources too, because that’s how we keep the impact low, but it’s also about rebuilding local networks and economic partnerships.

“This makes more use of the embodied energy used in the tubs’ manufacture rather than it being lost in the recycling process. We use the tubs again and again, increasing the savings with every cycle.

“Once the growing medium no longer produces mushrooms, it is used as a powerful and beneficial soil conditioner.

“We generate no waste in the production process, and our product packaging is home compostable so there is no waste at that end either.”

The mushrooms are used to make a range of six meal mixes, which are cooked by adding water and heating for 30 minutes. Best sellers are the vegan haggis and Italian risotto mixes, but the firm is working with nutrition and health experts at the University of Aberdeen’s Rowett Institute to develop and expand the options.

Wendy Russell, professor of molecular nutrition at the Rowett, said: “Mushrooms are a rich source of protein, fibre, micronutrients, fatty acids and other bioactive molecules considered to be beneficial for human health.”