Aldi’s “Upcycled” Cookies Are Made With This Really Interesting Ingredient

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When you hear the term “upcycled,” rarely does food come to mind. When something has been upcycled, it means that it was saved from the trash and used to make something else. So when Aldi’s Upcycled Cookies hit shelves this week, shoppers had to do a doubletake to better understand what exactly these cookies are made from.

“New Upcycled cookies,” @aldifavoritefinds captioned their August 2 Instagram post. “Vanilla oat milk and okara chocolate chip. One of my kids and I thought it said Okra and we were both like ‘eww gross.’ Then I realized it said okara and I had to Google that term.”

Basically, okara is the soy pulp that remains after pureed soybeans are filtered during the production of soy milk or tofu. Though it’s a byproduct that could be considered waste, okara is an important part of many traditional Japanese, Korean, and Chinese dishes, and is becoming more popular in vegetarian Western dishes (including chocolate chip cookies, it seems!).

And the vanilla cookies are made with a similar pulp that is a byproduct of the oat milk production process.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgwg7l5rbu2/

A post shared by ??Aldi Favorite Finds?? (@aldifavoritefinds)

 

Upcycled Cookies, made by Fancypants Baking Co., are all 100% nut-free, non-GMO, and are sold In 100% recyclable packaging. The company also only sources from sustainable farms and production facilities, including Renewal Mill, which makes the okara flour Fancypants uses to make its Upcycled Cookies.

By eating upcycled, you can do your part to reduce the percentage of food supply waste (which currently sits at 40%).

So, would you eat a cookie that’s been made with upcycled ingredients? Head to your local Aldi to see if Upcycled Cookies are in stock so you can give them a try.

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