How to use Fruit and Vegetable Scraps

When cooking with whole fruits and vegetables, there is often some processing that needs to be done to get to the desired product. There are peels, leaves, skins, stems and other assorted scraps that are often discarded in the path to reaching the fleshy, delicious hearts of produce. While it’s easy and rather mindless to throw these scraps away, you could actually be missing out on quite a lot by doing so. In many pieces of produce, the traditionally overlooked and neglected bits sometimes carry incredible tastes and aromas that, when utilized correctly, can be given new, delicious life.

By applying a little tender loving care to these odds and ends, you cann’t only fortify your cooking with delicious flavors, but also stretch your dollars and minimize food waste to make sensational new dishes out of scraps you would normally throw away. Here are some examples of quirky fruit and vegetable scraps and some creative, tasty ways to use them.

Apple Cores

Apple cores are one of the most under-utilized parts of any fruit out there. Like the cores of many fruits, apple cores don’t lack at all in great apple taste. You can use them in a number of ways to draw the best of their apple flavor out of them.

Steep apple cores in hot water for 20 minutes to make a simple, crisp apple tea, throw whole apple cores into pots of cooking jams, marmalades and barbecue sauces, to lend a gentle apple sweetness before removing and discarding the cooked cores. Apple cores can also be blended into a shake or smoothie with other fruit or even on their own; all you have to do is strain it to make sure you get any bits of seeds out.

Asparagus Woody Ends

When roasting or grilling asparagus, it’s common practice to hack the woody ends off the end of the vegetable as they are chewy, fibrous and not very pleasant to eat. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have great asparagus flavor. The best way to coax this flavor out of the woody ends is to simmer them in water for 30 minutes and make an asparagus stock. Use this stock in asparagus risotto or soup.

Beet and Turnip Greens

Bunches of beets or turnips often come with a leafy bundle of greens attached. Far too often, cooks simply cut these greens off and do nothing with them. These greens, however, carry amazing flavor and can actually be used just like any other green. Simply give them a good wash, a rough chop and lightly sauté them with a little butter, a splash of white wine and a pinch of salt for a surprisingly tasty side of sautéed greens.

Broccoli Stems

When breaking down broccoli, the florets are always the most coveted part while the stem is often tossed aside. This is a mistake. Broccoli stems have tons of bright broccoli flavor and have an appealing crunch that makes them terrific to eat raw or in salads. Simply shave these stems thin or julienne them then toss them with any number of different accompaniments and dressings to make a sensational broccoli stem salad. Broccoli stems also work very well when cooked, try blanching them and blending them into broccoli soup or puree.

Carrot and Parsnip Peels

Similar to potato peels, carrot and parsnip peels are often an afterthought. Despite this perception, these peels are incredibly tasty and can be put to good use. Lightly fry carrot or parsnip peels in a little bit of oil until they curl up and get golden brown and crispy. The frying caramelizes the sugar in the peels and brings out some sweetness to offset their natural bitterness. These crispy little peels are delightful to munch on and can be rather addicting. Eat them as a snack or use as a garnish on top of a root vegetable soup.

Citrus Peels

The skin of any citrus fruit actually carries more citrus flavor than the juice or flesh of that fruit because that skin is full of fragrant oils. Thus, wherever you want the great taste of citrus, citrus peels can be used, making them outrageously versatile. Whether it be lime, lemon, orange or grapefruit, the citrus fruit’s skin can be put to good use in a multitude of ways. Toss citrus peels in a little simple syrup and bake them to make delightful candied peels, steep them in oil or hot water to make a variety of flavored oils and teas, leave them out to dry then grind them to use in marinades, dressings or anywhere else you would fresh zest.

Corn Cobs

If you ever come across a recipe or a dish that requires corn kernels cut off the cob, don’t throw that cob away. Corn cobs have a delicious, milky residue that positively oozes sweet, earthy, intense corn flavor.

The best use for these cobs is to simmer them for an hour or two to make a rich, golden corn stock. This corn stock can be used to intensify a sweet corn soup, as a cooking liquid to maximize corn flavor in a corn risotto or can be reduced and used in a sauce such as in this incredible recipe for sweet corn spaetzle.

Kale Stems

Kale leaves have many great uses. Put them in salads, blend them into drinks or braise them for a heartier dish. But whenever you make any of those things, it first involves ripping the leaves off the stem. The stems can be a little thick fibrous and tough, but they actually have even more kale flavor than the leaves do.

Every time you get some kale stems, save them so they can be put to good use. One creative but delicious way to use kale stems is to blend them up with some herbs, nuts and cheese to create a shockingly tasty kale stem pesto.

Potato Peels

A lot of home cooks will peel potatoes directly over a trash can and watch the peels tumble into the abyss without a second thought. However, saving these peels could pay off delicious dividends. Scrub and rinse the potatoes before peeling them, then save the peels. Take these peels and fry them for a couple of minutes in hot oil until they get brown and crispy or spread them on a sheet tray and roast them in a hot oven with a little oil for the same result. Now, toss these peels with a little salt, pepper, maybe some parmesan cheese, herbs, truffle oil, hot sauce or whatever else you can imagine.

Think of these crispy peels sort of like potato chips, they’re a blank culinary canvas that you could flavor a million different ways. These peels make a great snack and are especially tasty with a cold beer.

Featured image: Jcomp; Image 1: Freepik

1 thought on “How to use Fruit and Vegetable Scraps”

  1. Can you use fruit scraps like boil them then add some other ingredients and make it into a fruit juice? If so any suggestions on how?

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