Over 7 tonnes of perfectly edible cucumbers were destined to never leave the farm.
The reason why?
For not looking perfect enough for major retailers.
It might be hard to believe, but it actually happens everyday.
Any deviation from retailers' strict aesthetic standards can result in an entire truckload of produce from being rejected.
Fortunately with your help, we were able to rescue all of these cucumbers from rotting on-farm and put them in your boxes instead!
So why did this load of cucumbers get rejected?
1. Too small or thin
Major retailers' require that medium-sized Lebanese cucumbers have a length of 140-180mm and a diameter ranging between 25-40mm.
A lot of these little guys didn't meet those requirements, either for being too thin or not long enough.
2. Not straight enough
If you've always shopped at supermarkets, you might think that cucumbers always grow perfectly straight.
But in fact, many cucumbers naturally have a slight curve.
Sometimes, there are also physical obstructions (such as stems in the ground) which may cause the cucumber to grow around them. Variations in temperature can also play a role.
Whatever the reason, it has no impact on taste or nutritional quality!
3. Too weird-looking!
Some of these cucumbers really outshine the rest!
Between 5-10% are simply too weird for supermarkets, being a double or even triplet fused cucumber.
This can often happen because cucumbers grow too close to each other, which can cause them to fuse together.
These are always our favourites and kids love them!
What can you do to stop them from being wasted?
If you think it's ridiculous that food is thrown out because of its looks, you can help us rescue them!
We were able to save these cucumbers from waste, along with 30+ other varieties of cosmetically imperfect fruit and veg.
We source them from Australian farms, box them up and deliver to your door for ~30% cheaper than supermarkets.
So far, our community of over 30,000 Australians has rescued over 5 million kg of cosmetically imperfect fruit and veg from waste.
So fight food waste and try a box today!
If you don't love your box, we offer a 100% money-back guarantee so you can trial risk-free.