I made banana sorbet for a sustainable cause. Here's why (and how).

If there is one thing this world needs right now, it is to be more sustainable. There are 17 sustainable development goals, set by the UN, but I took part in a workshop last week that focused on food wastage. (More specifically, Goal 12 — 'Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns'.) This workshop, Clean Your Plate, was conducted by AIESEC in Sunway and it was an incredible one.

Did you know, that if wasted food was a country, it would be the third highest emitter of greenhouse gases after the USA and China? Yes, I know... food wastage is something that we have all been lectured about countless times, but the following stat was personally shocking:

40% of food waste is caused by the wastage of imperfect foods.

Now there were two things that popped in my mind: (1) What in the world were imperfect foods? And (2) 40% must mean we're really out of our minds. Well, we kind of are.

What are imperfect foods?

Imperfect foods refer to those goods that are unfortunately not fitting our criteria of food. Some instances of these include:

• Discolouration, because even a slight black/brown spot would do us great harm.

• Abnormal shapes.

• Fruits that are not picture-perfect.

Reasons behind their appearances:

• Rough weather.

• Genetic changes.

• Storage mess-ups.

But supermarkets aren't selling these produce. Who can blame them? No one wants to purchase them anyway.

Alright, but how does making banana sorbet even help address the issue?

I was taken aback when I got to know that we had to make sorbet for the workshop. I mean, I had never heard of it before, but it is basically very similar to ice cream. But the sorbet was besides the point. (Don't worry, I will tell the recipe.) The point of this activity was to not just use any banana, but imperfect bananas, which highlights the fact that food does not have to go to waste just like that. They can be reused for a number of things, and taste is certainly not compromised!

Here is the recipe to make banana sorbet

(recipe by The Unusual Greens and Salad Atalier):

Ingredients:

• Frozen imperfect banana (sliced) - 300g (1 1/4 cups)

• Raw cane sugar - 140g (3/4 cup)

• Coconut milk - 80g (1/4 cup)

• Cocoa powder - 50g (1/2 cup)

• Espresso powder - 8g (1 1/2 tsp)

• Chocolate bar (chopped) - 35g (1/5 cup)

• Water - 410g (1 3/4 cups)

• Toppings of your choice

• Ice bath

Equipment:

• Blender

• Stove

• Ice bath

• Measuring bowls

• Spatula, whisks

• Freezer-safe container

• Pot

• Electronic balance (optional)

Steps:

1. Add water, coconut milk and raw cane sugar into the pot and heat them under low heat for 8-9 minutes while continuously whisking.

2. Turn off the heat . Add cocoa powder, espresso powder into the same pot and whisk the mixture until it is well mixed for 1.5 minutes.

3. Stir in the dark chocolate bar - whisk and combine until everything is homogenous.

4. Place the pot into an ice bath to cool down the mixture to room temperature for 20 minutes.

5. Separate the bananas into three parts. Blend the mixture in an ice blender with ⅓ of bananas for 2 minutes under high speed. Add in another ⅓ of bananas and blend for 2 minutes. Repeat the step until the bananas are used up.

6. Pour the mixture in an air tight and freeze-safe container and allow it to freeze for 4 hours.

7. Take the partially frozen mixture out and beat it using an electrical beater/mixer under speed level 1 for 1.5 minutes. Then, freeze it right after for another 2 hours.

8. After 2 hours, you can see the sorbet has been gently set around the edges. Repeat step (7) for another 2 times.

9. Freeze for 3 hours after completing step (8). It is recommended to freeze the sorbet under -18C.

10. When serving, leave the sorbet under room temperature for 7-10 minutes before scooping (depending on the freezer temperature).

11. Serve with your favourite toppings and you are ready to dig in!

I did not say this wasn't a lengthy process, and you may be wondering what the point of this was when we could just buy ice cream outside. The whole message is that there is always something that can be made from imperfect foods rather than just tossing them out of the whole food equation.

And an undeniable fact is that the sorbet was just out of this world! I highly recommend experiencing the process of making the sorbet, because good food taste better when you know the time, effort and responsibility required to make use of imperfect foods.

Being sustainable in little ways = a brighter future.