Were digging up savvy chef tips to help you conquer the largest source of food waste: produce.
Food Scraps it’s possible for you to Eat (Don’t Throw These Away!)
“My rule of thumb is always ask yourself if this is truly ‘trash.’
Credit:BHG/Ana Cadena
Challenge yourself to reduce waste and get creative.
If you cant repurpose it, composting is always the best alternative.
You have the green light to eat all of the fruit and vegetable scraps listed below.
Credit:Jacob Fox
you could even add peels to your morning fruit smoothie.
Cooking also helps mellow out the sometimes-bitter flavor.
you might also dice and toss them into salads.
Credit:Grant Webster
Add them to pesto or use them as a garnish for vegetable side dishes and salads.
Citrus Peels and Juiced Flesh
Dont discard those juiced lemon halves.
Instead, Brekke suggests stealing a Test Kitchen trick.
Credit: Blaine Moats
Once dry, use a spice grinder or coffee grinder to blitz them into a fine powder.
Mix with salt or sugar to rim a cocktail glass (lime-saltmargarita, anyone?)
or to use as a dusting on sugar cookies, fruit tarts, or creme brulee.
Credit: Katlyn Moncada
Bring to a boil then simmer for 1 hour and strain.
Finely chop them and use them alongside the leaves.
Try them as part of aGarlicky Pickled Mixed Veggieblend.
Credit: Meredith
Dice shroom stems to add to fried rice, beef wellington, and bread stuffing.
Or make a umami-rich mushroom broth with dried mushrooms and stems.
Among the most flavorful things to infuse: the skins and trimmings from alltypes of onionsand garlic.
Potato Peels
Potato peels are prime contenders for stock as well.
Brekke also likes turning them into chips.
Toss them with oil and bake or deep-fry for a snack, she says.
Or just leave the potato peels on the spuds.
The same holds true for the seeds of other varieties of squash, including acorn and butternut.
OurRoasted Pumpkin Seedsrecipe asks for just 15 minutes of hands-on time.
Strawberry Tops
You may trim off the stem end of strawberries on autopilot at this point.
Remove them if youre cooking the berries, as theyll turn a not-so-appetizing green-black hue.
Otherwise, you might use them in smoothies, salads, and sauces.
Since we perfected theBest Pickled Watermelonrecipe, not a melon goes by that we dont make the most of.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajae.12036
