Is your money going straight into the garbage? Just take a look at your food waste. We regularly throw away vegetable stems and roots that are perfectly edible. The piling mounds of trash that we throw away every year is starting to add up, so let’s take a look into our own household trash load and see what we can do to help.
Food scraps can transform into your next entree, save money, and help the environment all at the same time. Eating root to stem means exactly what is sounds like: making sure you are eating all edible parts of your produce before tossing it in the trash.
This growing trend is making it into restaurants already, so why not adopt it into our own kitchens? It’s eco-friendly and adopts the zero waste lifestyle in a simple and conscious way.
It’s important to know which vegetables you are able to eat the roots and stems of, so we created a list of some common food items in this area that can be eaten whole.
Root to Stem Guide
〉Carrots: Our produce department carries whole carrots which include the stems, so add the chopped carrot greens to your salad for hearty flavor and added nutrients. Careful, they can be bitter so make sure to blanch them first to your liking, like any food, practice makes perfect for particular taste bud preferences!
〉Potatoes: Seems obvious, but a lot of recipes call for peeled potatoes. Next time, skip the extra effort of peeling and just eat the skin! Make a baked potato and eat the whole thing, it tastes even better it you oil, salt, and pepper the skin before baking or grilling.
〉Broccoli/Cauliflower: Florets are generally more expensive and waste the stems, which have just as much flavor. Next time you are cooking, chop the stems up with your florets instead of throwing them away.
〉Celery: All parts of the celery are edible, including the leaves! Avoid throwing them out and use them in your cooking instead.
〉Turnips/Beets: Most people toss away the leaves of these root vegetables, but they are the most vitamin and mineral dense parts of the veg. Cook it just as you would the regular root and enjoy! They also make a great salad addition.
〉Chard: Chard stems are the most beautiful part of the plant, and taste great too. Make sure you blanch them until tender and sauté them for great flavor. It adds a nice pop of color to your dish.
〉Watermelon: If you feel like getting really adventurous, a popular root to stem phenomenon is pickled watermelon rinds. They taste tangy, sweet, and vinegary; just like Gherkins pickles. Check out this recipe here – if you dare.
Tag us in your root-to-stem dishes and we might just share it on our page!
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