On to the Production Phase!!
In 2023 we were ecstatic to have the opportunity to apply to the Big Food Redesign Challenge on the strength of two regenerative food products we have in development, and now we are over the moon to share we’re through to the Production Phase of the Challenge!!!! We can’t say much about our two products (eyes only, thank you very much!), but we can share plenty about the Ellen MacArthur Foundations’ amazing work in the circular economy, and specifically for us, about their efforts in redesigning the food system to allow nature to thrive.
The Challenge was created following The Foundation’s 2021 study, The Big Food Redesign. The study explored how food brands and retailers can rethink the way they design food to regenerate nature. It sets out the Circular Design for Food framework, and establishes five actions companies can take to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy for food.
By rethinking the ingredients we use and how they're produced, it is possible to provide choices that are better for customers, better for farmers, and better for the climate. The Big Food Redesign Challenge offers FMCGs, brands, SMEs, retailers and producers the opportunity to become pioneers of a food system in which nature and business thrive together.
For more information visit our Product Page
Cooking with Leftovers.
We don’t just grow and sell mushrooms. We behave like them.
Or, rather, we aim to provide the same ecosystem services that mushrooms do by making productive use of organic materials that most others ignore. Our mycologist has been busy testing different agricultural byproducts for use in our special mushroom substrate blend, and when those materials aren’t exactly what we’re looking for, well, our product innovation team gets a chance to have more fun!
Pecan shells are an abundantly available byproduct of local pecan growers. Our intitial tests to use them as part of our mushroom growing substrate wasn't as successful as we were hoping; they weren’t as available to our mycelium as a nutrient source in our highly productive medium as we were thinking they could be. So we started cooking with the shells, and low and behold, they’re as effective as pecan wood in infusing flavor into smoking and grilling food! Trust us on this: we know!
So this product doesn’t only help grilling and smoking aficionados make their meals that much more savory, it reduces waste and prevents the need for pecan tree wood at the same time! And because rotting organic materials create methane—a GHG that’s 23 times more potent than CO2—this use has the extra advantage of eliminating methane emissions from the standard rotting process.
As our first circular economy product, these Pecan Smokin’ Shells are the result of creatively exploring what pecan shells can do if they don’t happen to be good in our mushroom substrate blend. Stay tuned for more!
Purchase this product on
Better Fresh Farm’s Marketplace