New Ideas Association: from fruits and vegetables comes a new opportunity for socially disadvantaged young people

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    Thanks to a jam laboratory, the New Ideas social promotion Association teaches a trade and offers work to young people and adults in difficulty and socially disadvantaged, valuing these people and their qualities. Eight people work in this educational and therapeutic field with an age ranging from 25 to 60 years, followed by two tutors.

    The laboratory was established in 2009 at the Iolo family home as a pastime for women living there, then over time it has changed and has been entrusted to the New Ideas Association and from 2015 the marketing of jams and compotes began.

    The main value which the association recognizes is respect for nature and its mechanisms. In fact, the fruit is used at the right time of ripening and is harvested, whenever possible, by the workers themselves.

    The jams are made following simple and home recipes, without the use of preservatives or chemical additives, adding less than 40% of sugar thanks to the use of pectin, a natural gelling agent which is located in the skins of many fruits, allowing a reduction in cooking time so as to enhance the raw properties to their maximum.

    The workers are involved in every stage, from the harvesting of the fruits and vegetables with ad hoc outings and excursions, through cooking and packaging, up to the point of sale, being able to produce about 3000 units a year.

    “Our food processing laboratory and specifically for the production of jams,” said Piero Sambrotta, legal representative of the New Ideas Association, “has had an increase in both production and in the inclusion of volunteer members in the laboratory. The laboratory is organized to ensure that the people working there can follow the various stages from harvesting to purchasing, production and sales. People who come from backgrounds of major hardship are employed in the laboratory. The commitment generously given by the head of the laboratory has meant that sales channels have been implemented to such a degree that in some periods of the year we have had difficulty to meet demand.”

    You can buy jams and compotes from the New Ideas Association in eChiantiShop.

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