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Drink made from chocolate's rubbish finds home in Selfridges

A drink made entirely from the part of the cacao fruit that the chocolate industry cuts away and bins before a single bar is made has completed an unlikely journey from the waste pile to the shelves of one of the world's most famous department stores.

Flo Broughton, 47, from London, is the founder behind TRASH®, the upcycled superfruit water that is now stocked at Selfridges in London and at Panzer's Deli in St John's Wood, the celebrated independent food destination that has been feeding the capital since 1944.

The listings mark the brand's first major retail wins since its public debut at Taste of London last month.

Broughton is also the chocolatier behind Choc on Choc, the much-loved British chocolate brand she co-founded in 2003 and which has been stocked at Selfridges for years.

She’s now delighted the chocolate - and the fruit that chocolate-making leaves behind - now sit under the same famous roof.

Flo said: “Seeing TRASH® on the shelves at Selfridges, in the same store that has stocked our chocolate for years, is a genuinely emotional moment.

“I watched the best part of the cacao fruit get thrown away for two decades, and now it is sitting in one of the most iconic retail spaces in the world.

“That is the whole point of TRASH®.

“Nothing has changed about the fruit. The only thing that has changed is what we decided it was worth.”

Around 70 per cent of the cacao fruit is discarded at source in chocolate production, in a world that throws away roughly 2.5 billion tonnes of food every year.

TRASH® rescues that sweet, nutrient-rich pulp and cold-presses it into a crisp, zesty superfruit water.

Each 250ml can contains just 30 per cent rescued cacao fruit (not from concentrate) and 70 per cent water, with no added sugar, and delivers 40mg vitamin C, 150mg potassium and 28mg magnesium alongside naturally occurring electrolytes and antioxidants.

Farmers benefit too, earning around 30 per cent more income per cacao pod when the whole fruit is used.

Flo said: “We are also super excited about the Panzer's listing.

“This places TRASH® alongside carefully curated products from more than 80 countries at one of London's best known independent food halls, a shop with a reputation for spotting the interesting and the excellent long before the multiples catch on.”

Shoppers can taste TRASH® for themselves at in-store sampling sessions at Selfridges London on Saturday, August 8, where the team will be pouring the drink and sharing the story behind its creation.

Flo added: “These two listings could not be more different, and that is exactly why they matter.

“One is a global department store, the other is a much-loved local institution. Both of them back independent brands with something genuinely new to say.

“We are only just getting started.”

TRASH® is available in a 250ml recyclable aluminium can with an RRP of £3, and is Upcycled Certified and Buy Women Built.

Find it at Selfridges and Panzer's Deli, 13 to 19 Circus Road, St John's Wood, London NW8 6PB.

The brand is actively looking for ambassadors, stockists and partners. 

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chocolate PR .