Key points
- Nutri V, our food innovation partner, is launching 100 per cent vegetable powders at Coles supermarkets.
- Shoppers will find the four powders – broccoli, pumpkin, cauliflower and mixed veg – in the fresh vegetable section.
- Nutri V has diverted over 200 tons of vegetables from landfill and added over a million serves of vegetables into the supply chain.
Remember broccoli lattes? You’ve heard of turmeric lattes and even a coffee served in an avocado. Just when you thought coffee trends couldn’t get any crazier, the broccoli latte concept came along.
The lattes were a fun way of highlighting two very real challenges our society is facing: food loss and poor diets.
Now, you can make them at home! Our partner, Nutri V, has launched the broccoli latte powder in Coles supermarkets.
Enter Nutri V
In 2020, we helped establish Nutri V, a vegetable innovation company. The goal was to bring the powders behind broccoli lattes and other vegetable-based foods to market.
They developed a range of 100 per cent Aussie grown vegetable powders. Now, they're launching them in Coles supermarkets across Victoria.
There are four powders – broccoli, pumpkin, cauliflower and mixed veg – available in the fresh veggie section. If you don't live in Victoria, don't worry. You won't miss out – a rollout to other states is planned in the coming months.
Between 20 and 30 per cent of vegetables grown in Australia don’t make it to retail stores because they don’t meet specification. Nutri V convert imperfect or excess veg, leaves and stalks that are otherwise still perfectly nutritious into a powder that contains fibre, is ready to use and can be added to almost any meal.
Imagine broccoli powder in Bolognese or pumpkin powder in brownies!
And remember Nutri V Goodie snacks? Nutri V launched these vegetable-based ‘Twistie-like’ puffs in Coles supermarkets in November 2022.
So far, Nutri V has diverted over 200 tons of vegetables from landfill! In the process, they've added over a million serves of vegetables into the supply chain.
Just eat it
Almost two in three Australian adults are overweight or obese. So, being healthy, and eating a healthy diet, is a huge focus for many of us. But despite the increasing popularity of ‘superfoods’ and health and wellness, Australian diets are still poor.
Our research shows the average Australian is still not eating the recommended daily intake of vegetables a day. And we know it can be hard to get those five serves of veg everyday while also trying to drink enough water, getting in your 30 minutes of daily exercise and doing all of the other things you have to do. So, it's worth trying to make it easier to squeeze in a couple of extra veggies. This is especially true if you have fussy kids who don’t fall for the ‘they’re cute little trees’ line.
Don't waste the taste
Over one-third of all food produced globally is lost or wasted. All of the food we waste takes water and energy to produce, transport, prepare and sell. And all these resources are wasted when we throw food in the bin. Waste occurs all the way along the chain from farms to supermarkets and households. But we can help reduce food loss on farms and create a new revenue stream for farmers at the same time.
On a broccoli farm, the heads are usually separated from the leaves and stalks, which are ploughed in as a fertiliser replacement. Excess, unsexy, or ugly, broccoli too won’t make the cut. That’s why we started looking at new and creative ways to use produce from the farm.
Powder power
With funding from vegetable growers through Hort Innovation, we developed a prototype broccoli powder to help pack extra veggies into your diet. The 100 per cent broccoli powder is made from whole broccoli. It is produced using a combination of selected pre-treatment and drying processes. These help retain the natural colour, flavour and nutrient composition of fresh broccoli.
Broccoli contains protein, fibre and health-promoting bioactive phytochemicals. These make it an ideal candidate for being turned into a powder ingredient. We’ve also developed powders from a range of vegetables like beetroot, carrot and cauliflower.
While broccoli lattes mightn't have taken off, the powder packs a healthy punch. It contains approximately one serve of your five-a-day vegetables in every two tablespoons.
This article was originally published on 6 June 2018. This is an updated version.