Mango Case Study
On August 13th, Cultivating Communities was doing their morning waste audit at the Queen Victoria Market and noticed 20 boxes of mangoes that were being sold for $2 a box. From three months of diligent market monitoring, they knew that if these mangoes didn’t sell, they would be composted.
After chatting with the stall holders, they agreed to allow us to take any boxes that weren’t sold so at the end of the day, Chris revisited and rescued just over 10 boxes of overripe fruit.
Totallying 147kg of mangoes – a significant haul to repurpose.
Chris has transformed the mangoes into a range of products including mango hot sauce, mango vinegar, and mango kombucha. The hot sauce has made an impressive debut at Cromwell STREAT cafe, where it was featured in a new ‘Egg and Bacon’ roll and immediately sold out.
“Mangoes are one of those sought after fruits that are so unique and prized. Colloquially known as the ‘king of fruits’ in some cultures, once they are bruised and over-ripe they are often discarded. We were fortunate enough to intercept a glut of these orbs of joy from the FOGO bins and set to work. The washing, slicing and separating process allows opportunity to connect with the ingredient, sense its aroma and ruminate on the possibilities of its destiny. In that moment, it became clear that a fermented hot sauce would be a worthy resting place.
The flesh lent itself perfectly to the process: gooey and sweet. But the skins retained flavour too... So again, we set to work to create two more labours of love: mango vinegar and mango kombucha.
It is no coincidence that these three products, made from parts of one single ingredient, were fermented. The billions of microbes making this process possible symbolises the great effect of individual actions when enacted in community. Fermentation can be described as the transformation of one ingredient to another by way of a microbe. I believe we all have the power to change our food system by way of an individual act.”
These innovative products diverted from compost are now available at the Purpose Precinct Shed F 26/27 at Queen Victoria Market. Open Tues, Thurs, Friday and Saturdays.