All Butternut Box meals are made with whole, human-quality ingredients which vary from dish to dish. There might be some ingredients that look a little different once cooked compared to how they look raw. With this in mind, we wanted to do a deep dive into what exactly you are seeing in your Butternut meals.
Quinoa:
Quinoa is a brilliant ingredient to include in your dog’s diet, since it is high in fibre, a good source of protein and is naturally gluten free. Quinoa is actually a seed, rather than a grain and in its raw form it looks like small round sand-coloured seeds.
Once cooked, the seed separates from the ‘germ’ which looks like a little white tail. This is totally normal and It shows that the seed is now cooked. If you are seeing small white threads throughout your dog's meals, the chances are that you are actually seeing parts of the quinoa seed - it’s nothing to worry about.
Blueberries:
Some Butternut Box meals include blueberries as an ingredient. These are highly nutritious for your pooch because they are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Once cooked and popped into a pouch, the blueberries become compressed and darker than when they are freshly picked and can appear as ‘dark spots’. These aren’t anything to worry about - they’re just blueberries that have broken down naturally in the cooking process.
Lentils:
Many Butternut meals contain lentils as an ingredient which are great for dogs, especially for those who require a grain-free diet. Lentils are an excellent source of fibre, which is important to maintain gut health and they also contain protein and potassium. We use a mixture of whole and split lentils in our recipes so they can appear in varying sizes and shapes in the end product. Once soaked and cooked, the lentils can break down a little and go somewhat darker than when they’re raw, which can lead to the appearance of ‘dark spots’ in the packaging. This is nothing to worry about - what you’re seeing is just cooked lentils and/or blueberries.