Kale Persimmon Salad with Pecan Yogurt Dressing, a simple salad of red kale with persimmons and pomegranates topped with a pecan and maple yogurt dressing. A delicious partnership with Imperfect Produce!

I consider myself to be somewhat of a food waste warrior. I buy my pantry staples in the bulk section, hit the produce clearance rack at the local market, and practice “root to tip” cooking as much as I can. I make sauces from carrots tops and compost food scraps. I though I had this food waste thing down.

But then Imperfect Produce approached me to partner in bringing a recipe to life with foods rejected from grocery stores, and I realized I was missing a perfect opportunity to make a difference. Imperfect Produce is an organization that sources rejected “ugly” fruits and vegetables that are not able to pass grocery store beauty standards, a forgotten and under utilized source of foods that never sees the light of a market or store.

When farms harvest and sell their goods, misshapen and ugly produce are not accepted and often these fruits and vegetables are not sold. Not only does this mean no income for farmers, but these fruits and vegetables are often discarded and wasted.

Per Imperfect’s research, as much as 20% of a farm’s harvest never make it off the farm because they do not meet store standards. An oddly shaped apple, a squat looking pear – while perfectly nutritious and tasty, they’re wasted because stores don’t think they will sell.

At the core, an apple is still an apple – no matter what it looks like on the outside.

So after learning this I set out to show that even discarded and “ugly” fruit and vegetables can be beautiful. Imperfect Produce sent me a box filled with fall harvest vegetables – some where old favorites (hello sweet potatoes and pomegranates) and some where new to me (rutabagas?). But no matter their shape and size, they all were beautiful and delicious in the dishes I created.

Kale Persimmon salad with pecan yogurt dressing

When I opened the produce box and found an oddly shaped bunch of kale and two large but lopsided persimmons, I knew they would be married into a delicious winter fruit salad. Add a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds and a slightly sweet pecan and maple yogurt dressing and it is now officially my new favorite cold weather salad.

This Kale Persimmon Salad was super simple to make and held up well for leftovers, which is a characteristic most salads unfortunately cannot boast. Because the dressing is thicker and kale is such a sturdy green, I suggest getting your hands in there and massaging the dressing on the salad for the best dressing-salad ingredient integration.

Yes, I just said “ingredient integration” when describing a salad. And I also recommended you massage your kale. We’re very serious about salad around here.

Do you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, or Seattle? Do your part to be a food waste warrior and check out Imperfect Produce in your area.

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Loving this kale persimmon salad?

Try another of my favorite cold weather salads:

• Honey Citrus Carrot Salad: a simple shredded carrot salad with a citrus honey mustard dressing
• Enoki Mushroom Orzo Salad: served warm or cold, this orzo pasta salad with mushrooms and truffle oil is great for dinner and leftover the next day
• Plum + Apple Wheat Berry Salad: a fruit and grain salad with fresh fall apples and the chewy crunch of wheat berries

How do you combat food waste? Do you compost, buy ugly produce or hit the produce clearance section? I’d love to hear your tips!