Show the Planet and Yourself Some Love: Sweet Upcycled Treats for All

Written by Allie Arnell

These sustainable brands are making it easy to spread the love with upcycled sweets this Valentine’s Day. The newest trend for the conscious food consumer, upcycled sweets keep food waste at bay while simultaneously delighting that sweet tooth.

Recognized by Whole Foods as a 2023 top food trend, upcycled food consumption is growing in popularity. The upcycled food movement promotes foods that are made with ingredients that otherwise would have gone to waste. Through the Upcycled CertifedTM Program 496,103 tons of food waste is diverted annually. Second-chance ingredients like cacao fruit, green bananas, oat pulp, spent barley, and soy byproduct can give way to serendipitously satisfying upcycled treats. Enter upcycled cookies, candy, cakes, and more.

These Upcycled CertifedTM creations are changing the game when it comes to tackling food waste. Sweet ingredients can be stretched farther and fbrous waste can be made sweet—all while often offering a nutritional lift. These treats will be sure to love you back during this season of love.

Climate Candy

FAVES

“Perfectly imperfect” fruits and vegetables fnd new purpose as Climate Candy. Unwanted but completely edible produce is dehydrated, sweetened, and transformed into a nostalgically chewy fruit candy that leans into its natural sugars and fruity favors.

Through the Upcycled CertifiedTM Program

496,103 of food waste is diverted annually.

tons

Supplant

Dark Chocolate; Milk

Chocolate; Sea Salt Milk

Chocolate; Coffee Milk

Chocolate; Orange Dark Chocolate

Supplant is dedicated to using the entire plant in their products. By gathering and processing fber-rich agricultural byproducts (like corn husks, stalks, stems, and cobs), their technology creates “sugars from fber.” Those sugars end up in a better-for-you chocolate bar approved by Chef Thomas Keller.

Blue Stripes Urban Cacao

Whole Cacao Chocolate Bar; Hazelnut Covered Cacao Beans; Dark Chocolate Covered Cacao Beans

Traditional chocolate production wastes 70 percent of the cacao pod—Blue Stripes wants to change that. Their clever chocolate confections utilize the entire cacao pod: shell, fruit, and beans. The result? Not your grandmother’s chocolate bar.

Simple Truth

Plant-based Chocolate Chip

Cookie Mix; Plant-based Sugar

Cookie Mix; Plant-based Brownie Mix

Okara four powers these spruced-up baker’s pantry staples. Okara is a nutrient-rich pulp byproduct of tofu and soymilk production. Remarkably, the prepared cookies are a seamless substitute for the cult classics— crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and sweet, as promised.

Upcycled Vanilla Oatmilk Cookies; Upcycled Chocolate Chip Cookies; Upcycled Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

These fancy cookies have their respective fancy fours to thank: they’re made from oat milk waste, Okara, and coffee cherries (the fruity pulp that surrounds coffee beans.) These players pack much-welcome fber, protein, and vitamins into a sweet and crispy, snackable treat.

Doughp

Brownie Beast

Brownie Cookie Dough

This ready-to-eat cookie dough is for snacking or baking. Partnering with ReGrained, Doughp uses their upcycled Supergrain+ blend. It winds up checking all the boxes: rich, chocolatey, and sustainable with a nutritional boost.

Diana’s

Banana Babies; Banana Bites

Diana’s saves viable bananas from the scrap pile by using bananas with superfcial blemishes or imperfect shape. Their chocolate-covered bananas are frozen at peak freshness, and the fnal product boasts a quality that is far from compromised. It’s a win-win.