What do you do with your vegetable scraps? The odd ends of our fruit and vegetables can typically end up in landfill.
In 2018, the charity Waste and Resources Actions Programme (WRAP) published a report stating that 9.3 million tonnes of food are wasted each year in the UK alone. A whopping 70% of this total was deemed “edible parts”, with 6.6 million tonnes coming from households.
Many foods that we deem “inedible” are in fact edible. Everything from corn cobs to fruit skins can be used - if you know how to cook them.
Bradley Nairne, an Executive Chef at Well Dunn Catering, sat down to discuss what scraps we could be eating, instead of throwing away.
“[In our kitchen] we use any vegetable scraps to make stock” said Bradley. “You can use the ends of onions, carrot peels and bits you cut off to make a broth, which you can then use to make soup or pasta sauce.
“If you take peas out of their shells, you can use the shells to make stock for pea soup or pea risotto.”
Bradley continued, “whenever I make sweetcorn soup, I always take off the kernels and throw the cobs into the stock. This gets the flavour out of the cobs, and I can use the stock to enhance my soup.”
With over 30 years of experience in the culinary industry, Bradley and his team are dedicated to ensuring food waste is kept to a minimum in the production of their dishes. “Similar to a tamale, you can take the corn husk and put cornmeal inside before steaming. Using the corn leaves as a wrapper ensures you use every part of the vegetable, instead of throwing it away and using cling film.”
Bradley continued, “a lot of fruit skins contain pectin which help thicken up jams. Many people peel mangoes but in some Asian cultures, they cook the whole thing. The pectin in the skin helps thicken the jam. If you blend it and strain it, you wouldn’t even know the skin is in there.”
Modern recipes give a lot of encouragement to use entire fruits and vegetables when cooking and preparing food. This is demonstrated in the kitchens at Well Dunn Catering. “The greens from most vegetables can be eaten: radishes, broccoli, carrots. I use the entire broccoli. I peel and cut the stems into sticks, and then use them for crudité to dip into hummus and sauces” said Chef.
Hoping to help others prevent food waste in their kitchens, Bradley shared three easy recipes that everybody can make at home.
Carrot Top Pesto
“For pesto and salads, you can substitute your regular herbs for carrot tops.”
Ingredients:
150g carrot tops, tough stems removed, washed & dried
50g pine nuts, lightly toasted & cooled
2 garlic cloves, peeled
120ml extra virgin olive oil
75g parmesan cheese
A pinch of sea salt, to taste
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
Blend the carrot tops, pine nuts & garlic in a food processor. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil until slightly chunky. Add the parmesan, salt and pepper. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.
Apple Scrap Vinegar
Ingredients:
500ml tepid spring water
30ml sugar or honey
Apple scraps: peels, pips & cores
10ml cider vinegar with Mother
Method:
Add your apple scraps to a sterilised glass jar. Pour over the water, ensuring the apple scraps are completely submerged. Stir in your sugar or honey, and cider vinegar. Cover the jar with a muslin and secure with a rubber band. Let the mixture stand in a draft-free, cool place for 6-8 weeks, stirring every 1-2 days. After 6-8 weeks, strain and bottle your vinegar.
Bradley said, “craft cocktails are really cool right now. A lot of chefs are using fruit vinegars to make craft cocktails. They take pieces of strawberries or apple peels, and make different fruit vinegars. You can make them at home and use them in drinks or as salad dressings.”
Potato Skin Crisps
Ingredients:
Potato Peels
Olive Oil
Salt
Method:
Wash your potato skins, pat dry and lay them on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt, then roast in an oven at 180 C until crispy, around 20 minutes.
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal ‘Target 12.3’ is committed to halving global food waste by 2030. If you’d like to find out more about how you can contribute, head to wrap.org.uk/taking-action/food-drink/actions.
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