TRASH®, the upcycled superfruit water made from rescued cacao fruit, secures listings at Selfridges and celebrated London deli Panzer’s
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, just months after a British founder with two decades inside the chocolate trade decided that the fruit everyone else called rubbish deserved better.
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 that, for the first time, the chocolate and the fruit that chocolate-making leaves behind now sit under the same famous roof.
“Seeing TRASH® on the shelves at Selfridges, in the same store that has stocked our chocolate for years, is a genuinely emotional moment,” said Flo. “For two decades I watched the best part of the cacao fruit get thrown away, 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% 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% rescued cacao fruit (not from concentrate) and 70% 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% more income per cacao pod when the whole fruit is used.
“We are also super excited about the Panzer’s listing” said Flo. “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 this weekend, Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July, and again on Saturday 8 August, where the team will be pouring the drink and sharing the story behind its creation.
“These two listings could not be more different, and that is exactly why they matter,” added Flo. “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 now 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. For trade enquiries, samples and stockist information see https://trashdrinks.com/.
