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Upcycled veggie promise: IKEA launches broccoli leaf soup

IKEA is launching a soup made with upcycled broccoli leaves, following a partnership with non-profit Axfoundation.

Axfoundation has run successful large-scale trials with several food companies, wholesalers and retailers in Sweden.

This month, IKEA Sweden will launch a soup made from the discarded leaves of broccoli – the result of a food sustainability project kickstarted in 2024 by local non-profit Axfoundation in collaboration with specialist supplier Grönsakshallen Sorunda.

Axfoundation's “The Whole Plant” initiative, designed to bolster food innovation, reduce waste, and increase resource efficiency in Swedish vegetable farming, builds on EU-funded research conducted by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

The project brings together growers, processors, wholesalers, and food companies to conduct large-scale trials and commercialise innovative products using more parts of harvested plants.

IKEA Sweden's soup launch is one concrete result of the project. Swedish food company Sevan has also developed yellow pea and broccoli leaf patties and a local wholesaler has scaled distribution of organic Swedish broccoli leaves.

Broccoli leaves: A ‘highly versatile and promising’ food ingredient

Axfoundation said broccoli leaves have proven highly versatile and promising as a food ingredient during the ongoing trials and can be considered for an array of dishes and products, particularly given their resemblance to spinach leaves.

Using these discarded leaves can significantly help curb waste. According to the Swedish Board of Agriculture, 2,800 tons of broccoli are harvested each year in the country, yet only around 20% of the plant is typically used – the florets – with the stem and leaves largely left in the field.

Axfoundation said Sweden's broccoli harvest could be doubled if the fully edible upper leaves were used for consumption.

Speaking to Ingredients Network, Veronica Öhrvik, agronomist and project leader for Future Food at Axfoundation, said the goal is to “substantially increase” the harvest in 2026 and launch more broccoli leaf products.

“There is already a larger demand than supply, hence we believe that there will be more products with broccoli leaves, and not only soup,” Öhrvik said.

According to SLU research, broccoli leaves are more nutrient-dense than their floret counterparts too, containing fibre, vitamin C, and vitamin K, and so hold plenty of promise as a valuable food ingredient.

“Broccoli leaves are a clear example of a nutritious resource that is left unused today, representing a significant loss for both human health and the environment,” Öhrvik said.

It is important, therefore, that focus shifts from producing more food to “making better use of what we already produce”, she said – a concept proven efficient and scaleable via this project.

IKEA Sweden will launch the broccoli leaf soup across all its stores at the end of January.

According to Erika Norrman, country food manager at IKEA Sweden, this move aligns well with the company's core values.

“Creating more from less is part of our DNA and runs through all of our product development,” Norrman said. IKEA also wants to increase access to plant-based foods and so the broccoli leaf soup is an affordable way of doing this, she said.

Supply chain collaboration

According to Öhrvik, Axfoundation's work with the entire supply chain is a critical aspect to scaling and expanding such work. “From our experience, bringing together the entire value chain to solve problems and assuring that all parts in the value chain will benefit from the solution is a success factor.”

Communication between farmers, suppliers, food manufacturers, and academia also creates a strong landscape for innovation, she said.

“What we learnt in the broccoli leaf project is that the solution is not always the obvious. In this project, the key was not a vegetable food producer but a production unit producing processed meat. There is something really positive in opportunities showing up in unexpected places and through new collaborations.”

Beyond its “The Whole Plant” initiative, Axfoundation has a variety of upcycling food ingredient projects happening, including work to use discarded bovine blood and promoting wider consumption of fish parts beyond the fillet.

“The upcycled food ingredients we are working with today are excellent and healthy for us. By not using it as food, we waste so many nutrients and put pressure on the environment without any reason. Those ingredients are just as good as the ones sold today, and with higher food prices, we believe that more food ingredients will be upcycled and in the long-run considered just 'food ingredients',” Öhrvik said.