Short-dated and imperfect items from our range at a reduced price
Our offers are delicacies from our current range that we are selling at a lower price for a specific reason. This could be a short best-before date, a dent in a lid or box, a season that has just passed, or excess stock. You will not find products with an expired use-by date or clearance items of unknown origin here.
Short-dated goods (MHD-Ware) is the trade term for food products whose best-before date is approaching; at our shop, these are included in our sale section alongside imperfect items and seasonal leftovers. They are the exact same chocolates, oils, and spreads that otherwise appear in our full-price categories, just with a closer date or a dent in the tin. If you are looking for discounted food and still want to eat well, look here—while stocks last.
What the best-before date promises
The best-before date is the date up to which a packaged food product, if stored correctly, safely retains its aroma, taste, and texture.
This requirement has been in effect in the Federal Republic of Germany since December 22, 1981, when the Food Labeling Ordinance came into force. The manufacturer themselves determines the deadline on the packaging. Many calculate this with caution because they stand by the quality until that day. Therefore, a well-sealed chocolate usually tastes just as good the day after the date as it did the day before.
The use-by date, marked with "use by," works very differently and is found on highly perishable goods such as fresh minced meat. Once it has expired, germs can multiply that can neither be seen nor smelled, and such goods may neither be sold nor re-labeled.
Incidentally, wine, vinegar, and sugar do not need a date on the label at all. According to the Federal Office of Consumer Protection, retailers may even continue to sell goods that have passed their best-before date if they check their quality and take responsibility for them.
Imperfect goods with a dent in the lid or box
For us, imperfect goods (B-Ware) are products whose packaging has suffered on the way to us, while the contents have remained untouched, which we check by hand for every single item.
The tartines from Rue Traversette travel to us from Saint-André-de-Sangonis in the Hérault region, where Stéphane Strobl cuts his vegetables by hand and cooks them in a kettle. If a box arrives with dented lids, we check every jar for an intact vacuum, clean it, and offer it for sale as an imperfect item. The dented tartine tastes exactly the same as its flawless sister, the Tartine La Magnifigue with tomato and fig.
The same sometimes applies to our pasta, which travels to us from Italy in boxes. A dented corner or a tear on the edge does not change the bronze-drawn noodles inside in the slightest. A pot of boiling salted water doesn't ask about the packaging anyway.
When the new harvest or the next season arrives
Some of the offers follow the calendar, because every year brings a new olive oil harvest and two major holidays after which seasonal goods have to make room.
Olive oil is a natural product that changes its character over the months. The spiciness becomes milder, the green in the aroma becomes quieter, and the oil appears rounder. It thus finds its place in beans, soups, and warm vegetables. When the fresh pressing from Apulia arrives in winter, the older olive oil with a shorter date moves to the sale section.
The Ciccolella family has been growing olives near Molfetta since 1878. Their motto is "We do not inherit the land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." This is also why Olio Ciccolella only has their oils bottled when an order is received, and we would rather find a buyer for an oil from the last harvest in our sale than see it end up in the drain.
With drinks and sweets, it is the seasons that cause the range to change. A spring Secco from the Manufaktur Jörg Geiger still tastes of strawberry and elderflower in autumn. Some gift boxes from the Easter or Christmas period also migrate to the sale after the festivities.
Sometimes the reason is even simpler: we have more of a product in stock than will be sold in the coming months. We then offer part of it at a lower price, whether it is a Secco from Swabia or the dense Condimento from Il Borgo del Balsamico in Albinea.
Tartufi, bread, and spices with a short date
A wide variety of foods end up in our sale as short-dated goods, from chocolates from Turin to Schüttelbrot from South Tyrol to spice blends.
These candidates include the tartufi from La Perla di Torino from Piedmont. Sergio Arzilli founded the manufactory in Turin in 1992 after being diagnosed with celiac disease, and his daughter Valentina runs production today. As the date on the bag approaches, we offer the last tartufi at a lower price, and that does not change their melt-in-the-mouth quality.
Hannes Schwienbacher has been baking the mini Schüttelbrot from Ultner Brot in the fourth generation in St. Walburg in the Ultental Valley, using natural sourdough and rye from his own mill. Shortly before the date, the last packs of the crispy flatbread move into the sale.
Spice blends and pickled items also end up here if the manufacturer sets their date tightly. Spicy cornichons from Orléans or a little bag of pasta seasoning with olives and chili lose none of their bite by that date.
Saving food with a clear conscience
Those who buy short-dated goods can save food, and that is necessary. According to the Federal Environment Agency, around 10.9 million tons of food ended up as waste in Germany in 2023.
Private households throw away the largest part of this, around 58 percent of the total amount or 74.5 kilograms per person per year. About 7 percent of the waste is generated in the retail sector, and that is exactly where we can do something by offering reduced goods visibly instead of letting them get old in the warehouse.
Since 2002, we have been searching from Nordhorn for food that is produced with respect for its ingredients. A dent in the lid or a closer date does not change this work. It would be a shame if a jar of confit from the Languedoc were to end up in the trash just because of a dent.
How to find reduced food with us
Only short-dated goods, imperfect goods, and other reduced food that we actually have in stock are on this page, and as soon as the last supply is sold, the item disappears from here.
Where a short best-before date or a defect is the reason for the discount, this is stated on the product page, usually including the date in the case of a short best-before date. This way you know what to expect before you buy.
The quantities are often small; sometimes it is just a single jar or a last can. If you want to buy a product without a discount, you will find it in its category, for example under Canned & Preserved Goods or Chocolates & Truffles. What has just arrived can be seen in the New Arrivals. Check back often, because the sale of delicacies changes with every delivery.
