We’ve all spotted them lurking in a darkened, cobwebbed larder at home or on the top shelf in the development stores, wrapped in nondescript packaging with a faded compliment slip attached. No one knows how long they have been there, or their precise source of origin, but every store cupboard seems to shelter ingredients that have never been used.There are two main reasons why obsolete ingredients remain unearthed in store cupboards. First, they may be concept ingredients brought back from travels afar which, at the time, were hailed by the development team as the latest gastronomic must-haves. Then, when they got back to the UK, this enthusiasm was not realised by their colleagues outside the department.
Second, it is the over zealous, but well intentioned, raw materials suppliers that have bombarded the development department with what they believe to be the latest ‘wonder ingredient’, which they shouldn’t be without. Sadly, there is often surprisingly poor forethought by the sales representatives as to whether the products they are trying to sell are compatible with the finished product. I recall one company I started working for many years ago which had a faded jar of preserved lemons and a bag of crystallised orange slices that had ‘lived’ on the shelves for more years than I care to mention. When I questioned the development team these materials had been left ‘just in case’. Just in case what? In case trends would come full circle so they could be incorporated into a new development by the team 10 years hence? Utterly ridiculous!
So in the end, on a fine spring day a few weeks later, the oranges and lemons were finally evicted from their home along with 27 other obsolete raw materials we found, which had also been living on borrowed time.
With spring now upon us, a good spring clean is surely overdue in your own development storage areas. So be brave, be mercenary and always remember: If you haven’t used it in the last six months then discard it. Believe me - you will feel better for the process!
Angela Mitton is a creative product developer at NPD consultancy Beetroot & Orange