Ingredient Philosophy

|

Ingredient Philosophy |

We begin with an essential, overlooked ingredient — We call it Spare — and bring it front and center. 

Where it started

As a chef-founded food company, you’d think we began with a recipe in mind. A dish, cuisine, or even just a product. Truth is, we had a number: over a billion pounds of whey are discarded in NY State every year. Which means we had over a billion reasons to use it.

Why Whey?

The better question is: why tonic? With hundreds of functional beverages competing for shelf space, we didn’t set out to craft another sparkling health drink. But of all the ways there are to make brilliant use of brilliant whey (its color is literally neon), Spare Tonic® was our favorite, climate-friendly solution to the enormous amount of waste produced by the strained yogurt industry. Complex, delicious, and made to do good for you and the planet.

More Ways To Use More

Let’s talk Edible Surplus: our second (and counting) estimable ingredient stream. It makes a great case for overlooked food and offers a solution to the fact that 30-40% of all food gets wasted. We rescue these viable ingredients and make them shine from rib to trim; because whole foods do more for our bodies and more for the planet when we keep them as food in our food system. Inspiring? We think so.

IT’S ALL FOOD

Sun-blistered odds, shaggy heads, imperfect crowns and woody ends = seriously good food for people.

Fiber, calcium, folate, potassium, manganese, vitamin k + carotenoids, choline, vitamin c + vitamin a
Fiber, calcium, folate, potassium, manganese, vitamin k + carotenoids, choline, vitamin c + vitamin a

Some Say Tomato, We See Potential

We couldn’t tell you why our society assigns more value to some parts of food than others. Why broccoli leaves and stems fall second to its more illustrious head despite having 1.5x the nutritional density. A broccoli head is only 30% of its biomass, but mono-crops of kale are grown, depleting our soil of essential nutrients. And that’s our opportunity.

What’s in a claim?

Spare Food is buzzword agnostic. Of course we value the integrity of our ingredients, but when your first priority is to find more ways to use more of the food we already grow and produce, there is simply no room for discrimination. We do use organic and non-GMO ingredients when we can, but we don’t stop there when it comes to putting good food to good use. As for nutritionally viable, perfectly healthy and edible, WHOLE ingredients? Check plus.

The Culinary Revolution Is Here

If you work in food service, now is the time to scale real change. To bring healthier, more flavorful, and climate-friendly food to people where it counts: on the plate and for the planet. We built the foundation, now it's your turn to make it shine.