Once destined for the tip, these low-grade blueberries are being turned into wine

A new non-alcoholic wine made from blueberries bound for the tip is not only reducing landfill waste but also helping feed the homeless.

Food charity OzHarvest developed the beverage, known as Conscious Drink, in collaboration with one of the country’s largest blueberry co-operatives, in an attempt to rescue low-grade fruit.

Each week, the farmer-owned cooperative Oz Group donates 40 kilograms of second-grade fruit to OzHarvest.

The food charity first approached Oz Group, which is based on the NSW Mid North Coast, for donations several years ago.

OzHarvest Ventures general manager, Louise Tran, said the hefty donations led to talks about other profitable uses for the berries to allow them to help more people in need.

The idea for a zero-alcohol drink using the rescued berries came after OzHarvest Ventures collaborated with an Indigenous-owned bushfoods company, Kakadu Kitchen.

“It’s about sustainability, it’s about ethical harvesting of bushfoods and it returns profits back to OzHarvest to deliver meals to more people,” Ms Tran said.

The drink also uses native lemongrass, saltbush and pepperberry.

War on waste

Oz Group commercial development manager Shaun Tholen said the cooperative paid more than $255,000 in waste removal fees annually to dispose of sub-standard blueberries up until 2021.

“When I joined the company, there was fruit that was thrown into the skip bins,” he said.

Once picked, whole blueberries have a shelf life of 18 days in optimum temperatures.

Any fruit that lacks the blue colour or natural waxy coating, as well as those that are wet, undersized or broken, are pulled out of the batch through the cooperative’s computerised sorting system.

Over the past four years, Oz Group has snap-frozen 10 tonnes of B-grade fruit every year, some of which goes to OzHarvest.

Broken berries are sent to be pureed or juiced, leaving only the mouldy or insect-infested fruit to be mulched.

“We’ve made a small margin of profit, but it’s far better than throwing them out,” Mr Tholen said.

Growing demand

The first batch of the non-alcoholic blueberry wine was produced in time for distribution to Christmas gift markets late last year, making 2,000 bottles.

Ms Tran said strong demand for the product prompted OzHarvest to contact restaurants and ask if they were interested in stocking a second batch.

“We were super lucky to have the likes of the Sydney Opera House, locations in Melbourne … all really keen to stock it in their restaurants,” she said.

The first two batches have nearly sold out and production will ramp up next month to 13,000 bottles.

Mabu Mabu in Melbourne’s Federation Square was one of the first restaurants to add the drink to its menu.

“We have a broad clientele in non-alcoholic drinks and a lot of our customers were keen on the OzHarvest drink being made from rescued blueberries,” venue manager Jaiden Oritz said.

“It’s an effervescent wine alternative with a nice flavour and colour and the use of natives is right up our alley on our food and drinks menu.”

Food innovation hub in the works

Mr Tholen said the blueberry products’ success strengthened the case for a food innovation hub to be established in the Coffs area, which is predominantly known for banana production and horticulture.

Researchers from Queensland University of Technology and Coffs Harbour City Council started planning a dedicated food innovation and logistics precinct in 2021.

Project leader and QUT senior lecturer Ozgur Dedehayir said their design included a dedicated area inside the precinct for manufacturing.

“To turn second-grade crops into something more usable, to powder form, for example,” Dr Dedehayir said.

“The next stage has to be finding the larger funding to put the design into a reality.”