Hawke's Bay orchardist looks to change opinion on hail-damaged fruit

A Hawke's Bay orchardist is looking to make the most out of a bad situation, selling his hail-damaged nectarines.

The nectarines belonging to John Paynter's Yummy Fruit Company were among the young pipfruit damaged when a freak hail storm hit the region in early October.

Hail and rain ravaged the region and was said to be the worst hail to hit Hawke's Bay in more than 20 years, leaving piles of hail throughout Napier and Hastings.

READ MORE:
• Hawke's Bay orchard workers doing '70 hour weeks' to pick fruit as tourist workers leave
• Hawke's Bay orchard worker electrocuted after coming into contact with 33kV overhead line
• Seventy new jobs for Central Hawke's Bay as OIO approves farm conversion to huge apple orchard
• 'Heaviest hail in 20 years': Orchard owners fear for Hawke's Bay stonefruit after storm

Paynter said although his fruit was a little bruised and battered he didn't want to see food go to waste.

"In all my time as a fruit grower, it was the worst hail storm I can remember this early in the season. While some of our fruitlets got through without a scratch, most weren't so lucky and have grown up to be a bit battle-scarred," Paynter said.

"Here at Yummy we hate to see good fruit go to waste, and our stonefruit is still as delicious as ever under the skin. So we're introducing you to our very own Hailstone Heroes."

He said that globally one-third of all food is wasted, with research showing in 2017 Kiwis wasted $1.8 billion worth of food each week and he didn't want to add to that number.

"Just like people fruit comes in all shapes and sizes and despite being perfectly edible most strange looking produce is discarded or avoided," Paynter said.

"They've literally weathered the storm and grown up full of our usual Yummy flavour and nutrients."

His goal is to reduce food waste and to try to "increase ugly fruit consumption", while also supporting growers who had been affected.

The Hailstone Heroes will be sold at participating New World, Pak'nSave and Four Square supermarkets nationwide.