By Lyn Funnell
I bought some organic carrots in the supermarket. I’ll gently cook the greenery for Sunday dinner & save some for tomorrow’s stir-fry.
It’s sad to think that probably everyone else who buys them will cut off the greenery & bin it.
The Koreans use all greenery from the top of veg, radishes, etc & display them in bunches on their market stalls. Our farmers are throwing away a complete source of income every year. And you are possibly throwing away extra meals.
Like the Koreans, I now use kitchen scissors a lot. They’re ideal for cutting up greens.
These fennel leaves are full of fennel flavour. You can add them to your cooking or mix them in a salad. But don’t throw them away!
When I buy celery, I make sure that it has plenty of leaves inside it. They’re my favourite bits for adding to cooking. I sometimes find chopped celery stalks too harsh for some recipes. The leaves are more delicate and taste much nicer.
Of course, I use the stalks in salads, or to chew on for a snack.
Here is one of the biggest food wastes of all.
Do you cut off all the greenery around a cauliflower and throw it away? Well don’t do it again! You have at least one extra meal there!
Make a soup using any greenery recipe.
Cut the stalks into short lengths. Toss in olive oil and salt and roast for half an hour.
Do this when you have something else in the oven to save fuel.
Use the whole leaves, chopped finely, in a stir-fry.
The sprouted tops of onions are as strong as the onion bulb. They’re sweeter and tastier.
And if the onion goes off, you can still use the tops.
Chop them up and use in a salad, or in any recipe that uses an onion.
And finally, beetroot.
The whole of a beetroot is edible and the leaves are full of goodness; Vitamins A, B6, C and D.
They also have iron, fibre, and bone-strengthening calcium.
Steam or saute the leaves, or juice them. Add a drop of water if necessary. It will be a beautiful green colour.
If all the vegetable leaves that you throw away in a year were piled up on your kitchen floor, you probably wouldn’t be able to get in your kitchen!
So be more adventurous and economical and EAT YOUR GREENS!