The Scariest Part of Halloween? Pumpkin Waste
It’s that time of year again: all manner of ghosts and ghouls are in the air for Halloween (in a fun way). Sadly, though, it’s also a time of year that sees a huge amount of food going to waste (in a not-fun way). That’s what’s really scary.
Luckily, we’re working as hard as ever alongside our growers to find a home for as much fresh veg as possible. And we’re not just talking about pumpkins here — the rest of the squash family are in dire need of rescuing, too. But how come?
It all goes back to the summer just gone; no doubt you remember the sweltering temperatures which hit the UK for months on end. All that heat on top of long stretches without any rainfall meant stacks of squash crops matured extra-quickly, turning out smaller than usual. Sure, some veg is naturally a touch undersized each year, but there’s a lot more small stuff this time around.
Because of the drought, lots of growers had to prioritise which of their crops they would water by irrigation — which, of course, is a finite resource, and an expensive one at that. In the UK, irrigation isn’t meant to be the main method of watering crops. It’s only meant to supplement rainfall, and for most growers, squash isn’t the top priority.
They may be small, but they’re all still completely fresh and delicious. You know us — we stepped in right away to rescue as much veg as possible. Working with growers based in Worcestershire and Sussex, we picked up almost 8,000 kilograms of butternut squash, perfect for sweet, rich autumnal soups. We grabbed about 7,300 crown prince squashes too, rocking their appropriately ghostly pale skin.
We were particularly excited to save 20,000 kilos of green and red kabocha squash from our Worcestershire grower. Nutty, earthy flavour wrapped in deep, vibrant colourful packages, our grower was contracted to supply supermarkets with veg weighing around 1.5 kilos, but most of their kabocha came in around 700g. Mini squash, major flavour.
You won’t be surprised to hear that we’ve been rescuing stacks of pumpkins, too. We’ve picked up 14,400 jack-o-lanterns-in-waiting. Whether you carve them into devilish decorations or not, make sure you make the most of your food. According to sustainability charity Hubbub and the Sustainable Food Trust, roughly 22.2 million pumpkins purchased every year wind up uneaten or binned, and over 60% of shoppers don’t eat the flesh after carving their pumpkins. Imagine that!
We’ve got all the recipes you’ll need for a proper pumpkin feast — or any other squash, for that matter. Roast the seeds, whip up some risotto or how about trying stuffed squash? We’ve even got a recipe for granola.
Whenever we hear an SOS — save our squash — we’ll always be there to answer the call, and we know our community will be too. Happy cooking.
