A West Kelowna business is relishing in its latest save, about 55,000 pounds of zucchini.
Co-owner Kyla King had started up RadJamz in 2016 with a goal of eliminating food waste. In 2021, Garrett Millsap joined King to start up RadRelish, with the main product being Millsap's grandmother's recipe for zucchini relish.
About a month ago, King received a call from the Greater Vancouver Food Bank with a big idea.
The farm providing the zucchini asked to remain anonymous, but King explained, "They have to grow a certain spec for it to go into the grocery store...they have to be the perfect zucchini. They grow an extra 80 per cent of zucchini that they usually end up composting."
The new BC Farmer Tax Credit, however, is pushing farmers to redistribute surplus crops. With too much zucchini to handle itself, the Greater Vancouver Food Bank asked King and Millsap to help use it up before it spoils by turning it into condiments.
"For perspective, we did 30,000 pounds of zucchini processing in two months last year," King told Capital News. "We're doing about 55,000 pounds in a week this year. It's all hands on deck."
King added that they are working against the clock to process it all before it goes bad, but has purchased a second grating machine to speed things up. She has also been able to offer temporary work to stay-at-home moms, retirees and others who could use a little extra income. "It's nice to be able to rally together as a community."
"There is absolutely nothing going to the landfill," Millsap added. "We have to cut all the stems off... We've been putting them in a bin and, luckily enough, so far, we have two pig farmers who have been coming to pick up bins for the pigs."
RadRelish products can be found at select grocery stores and are available on Amazon.
"The one ask that Kyla and I both have is that the community gets out and buys our product off the shelf. We have so much zucchini," Millsap said. "We are going to need to restock the shelves so that we're not storing all this zucchini."
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