nutrient dense food

[ukfarmer]

Yes, you can test food for nutrient density, using a refractometer, but why would you want to ? First, ndf tastes better, second it does not rot, but will dehydrate over time (tomatoes can be kept for 4 months at room temp on a shelf for eg), thirdly as you eat this type of food, you are not hungry after consuming as it has delivered the requisite minerals, so you are unlikely to get fat.
Where do you get it ?- well we as farmers are very slowly waking up to the fact certain people may want this tastey food, and we have to alter our land to be able to deliver this type of food. Currently the highest volume of produce achieved with the lowest input and sold for the highest price is the best possible outcome, but I am asking mumsnet if there are any takers for nutrient dense food before we start the change

I would have thought it was in UK farmers' interest to work on raising the bar & producing the best quality/flavour/nutirious food as standard across the industry rather than hoping to get a premium for a small amount of nutrient-dense product (specially branded I bet) in isolation. If you can demonstrate to retailers that British = better flavour = better sales = improved market share you'll be able to command a premium for the majority of the crop that way and not be dependent on a few specialist outlets or reliant on consumers spotting nuances of acid ratios and brix levels.

there would be no premium, as identical food has to be priced to the lowest denominator, as purchases are made on appearance and price, not taste. The customer has the choice of paying and asking for food to be of a certain quality, testing it in fact by taste and re-ordering. When enough customers care to choose high brix food, that demand could be met- at the moment there is no demand, so you get crap food at the lowest price.
For instance, milk from the bottle tests 11 or 12 brix, but you can get milk at 20 brix, but does anyone ever ask?
Tomatoes rot, go mouldy at 4 to 6 brix, but 12+ can be kept dehydrating at room temperature for 4 months, until the seeds inside start to grow