Until now, precious stones have been considered diamonds, rubies, sapphires, or emeralds, which took years to form. Recently, lab-created stones are changing the industry, but there is also a new method that goes even further: turning food into precious stones.
A silversmith is using food waste to create jewelry with precious stones. "These are tomatoes. I tried many times with lemons and oranges, but they were so pale that the pigment wasn't very visible. Pineapple solved the problem," Anabela Chan told CNN.
The foods undergo drying, boiling, cooking, and grinding to extract pigment. Then distillation and bonding are carried out, processes that take several weeks. "It's a very short time compared to conventional precious stones, which take millions of years in nature, or several months in the lab," explains Chan.
According to her, the most beautiful part is that these stones created from food can be used by more people who want to have something precious, and this can happen by turning waste into luxury products.