Orange, pink, yellow and purple fresh Pansy edible flowers
29 April 2022
Nurtured News

How We Pressed Edible Flowers to Stop Food Waste

Pressed Edible Flowers & leaves and dried edible flowers were our response to reducing food waste in lockdown. Check out the full story below of how these have grown to be one of our most popular ranges, and how they came about!

What is Stop Food Waste Day?

Compass Group introduced Stop Food Waste Day in 2017 as an initiative to tackle global food waste. Figures from their website Stopfoodwasteday.com shows that 45% of fresh crops produced globally are lost or wasted each year.

At Nurtured in Norfolk, we wanted to do our bit to contribute to a more sustainable world, and one with less food waste! That’s where our dried and pressed edible flowers and edible leaves came in…

Nurtured in Norfolk employee pressing purple, yellow and cream Pansy edible flowers

Where did the dried edible flower story start?

Back in March 2020 when the country was put into lockdown, we were forced to close our doors. As with the whole of the food and hospitality industry, this lockdown had the potential to be very devastating for Nurtured in Norfolk.

We had gone from dispatching huge quantities of edible flowers, bunched herbs, baby vegetables and micro cress on a daily basis, to dispatching nothing. This meant our warehouses and greenhouses were stocked with product, which had nowhere to go!

After a warehouse clear up, we started to think what could be done in the greenhouses? We didn’t want to lose our crops, but the fresh edible flowers were being wasted.

Fresh Pansy edible flowers on pressing blotting paper

A bit of trial and error…

Then, through an idea from our company directors, and a little trial and error, we began drying the edible flowers. This was proving successful and the edible flower petals were coming out nicely. We started the range small, drying just cornflowers to begin with. Although, with more and more successful trials, we started to dry all the blooming edible flowers.

When we reopened in the summer, these dried flowers proved popular with our customers. Now, we have more than 10 different varieties of dried edible flowers, all of which you can shop on our website here.

Pressing Pansy edible flowers into blotting paper

When did pressed edible flowers and edible leaves come in?

As for our pressed edible flowers, these came a little later… After the first lockdown, we were relieved to reopen! We were back open and dispatching orders – and our dried edible flowers were popular! Our dried edible flowers were going down a treat with our customers, and we were seeing some wonderful images and feedback on social media.

We were also seeing ideas for our new product range; the pressed edible flowers. Having seen the popularity of our dried flowers, and some customers pressing our fresh flowers into their cakes, our directors decided to trial pressed edible flowers. There seemed a gap in the market, and this was something our customers wanted! With lots of fresh viola flowers still blooming in our greenhouses, we first trialled pressing violas. These worked out well and were launched as a new product!

Nurtured in Norfolk employee packaging pressed Pansy edible flowers at the warehouse in Dereham

Where are the Pressed Edible Flowers at now?

Our pressed edible violas received amazing feedback so we started to grow and press more – and trial more edible flowers in our press! From this initial idea and the positive feedback, our pressed flower range grew quickly. We then introduced pansies, paradise (abutilon), primula and daisy pressed edible flowers. Not only were we pressing flowers, but we also started pressing leaves! These have all proven incredibly popular with our customers and are a great way to use any edible flowers which may otherwise not be used.

What makes our dried and pressed edible flowers even better is their 6 month shelf life. If you only need one or two pressed edible flowers for your creation and want to ensure you’re not wasting any, do not fear! If kept in their sealed bag in the cupboard, our dried and pressed edible flowers will last 6 months.

 

You can check out how our products have been used by our customers over on our Instagram.

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