Cooking with food scraps saves waste
Cauliflower leaves, cherry pits and radish tops. With fresh fruits and veggies in season, the compost pile is especially large in the summer months.
What if you didn’t need to toss the trimmings?
The New York Times offers uses for the scraps we’re so quick to toss out, creating easy solutions to reduce edible waste.
Some of the ideas are listed below. Read “That’s Not Trash, That’s Dinner” at The New York Times for more suggestions, like cooking those radish leaves.
Broccoli stalks
That prepackaged broccoli slaw sold at the grocery store is really just shredded broccoli stalks. The NY Times proposes cutting off the outer peel, shaving the remaining stalk into ribbons with a vegetable peeler. Add lemon zest and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for a delicious and super-simple raw salad.
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Cauliflower leaves
These, cut across the ribs, can be sautéed with minced onion.
“It’s like a silky version of a cabbage leaf, with a hint of cauliflower,” organic farmer Julia Wylie told The New York Times.
Celery leaves
Chop the leaves at the end of celery stalks to create a fluffy version of celery salt.
Caution: Cherry pits, peach leaves, apple seeds
These fruit leftovers have culinary potential — infuse homemade wine with peach leaves or add cracked-open cherry pits to panna cotta — but only consume in moderation. Chef Andrea Reusing warns that these pits and seeds contain small amounts of cyanogens, compounds that can produce cyanide.
Make it now: Roasted watermelon seeds
It’s summer’s version of roasted pumpkin seeds. Here’s how to roast your own watermelon seeds, according to the folks at Country Living.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Toss watermelon seeds in olive oil and sea salt.
- Roast the seeds on a baking sheet for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Enjoy.
How do you use up produce scraps?
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