Even at farmers markets, you should pity the imperfect produce. The strangely shaped carrots, the splotchy squash, the bruised apple: They are just as delicious as their more sightly brethren, but often struggle to make their way into a buyer's heart.
It's estimated that about one in five fruits and vegetables are discarded by the seller, simply because they don't look quite as perfect as they could. That's understandable from the buyer's perspective, but creates a huge amount of unnecessary waste, especially for items like weirdly-shaped carrots, which taste no different from any other carrot. (In fact, they might taste better; irregularity can be seen as a sign of non-corporate produce.)
An array of groups have stepped up to alert the public about the joys of irregular produce; we've already seen a strangely sexualized ugly produce ad campaign in the San Francisco area, for one. One of the newest comes from Hungry Harvest, a startup that delivers imperfect fruits and vegetables to customers at a discounted rate.
Hungry Harvest's new effort is an emoji pack, available on the App Store for iOS users (that's iPhone and iPad). Ugly Produce!, a free and enthusiastic app, allows users to send a selection of imperfect fruit and vegetable stickers to friends. Those include heart-shaped strawberries and apricots, slightly brown avocados, over-seeded watermelons, and cutely entwined carrots. The app is free, and tells your friends (probably a little explanation is required) that you are on the side of the imperfect, the less than ideal, the beautiful-tasting but not beautiful-looking.
More from Modern Farmer:
Meet the Beagle Brigade: Protecting American Ag One Sniff at a Time
Insanely Bad Summer Drought is Decimating New England Farms
How Kudzu, "The Vine that Ate the South," Put Southern Agriculture on the Skids
Bee Species Placed on Endangered Species List For the First Time
How To Prune Your Fruit Trees
Also on HuffPost: