We lop off broccoli stems, snip away carrot tops and snap woody ends from asparagus without a thought. The mindless tossing of scraps, peels and other produce trimmings is the norm in today's kitchens. Flashback a generation or two ago when frugality reigned and those throwaways would never have been wasted. What wasn't served on the plate went into the next day's stew or stockpot.

Fed more by eco-awareness than economic necessity, chefs are finding newfound inspiration to cook with the entire plant, "root to stem," using culinary ingenuity to blur the line between compost and cuisine.

On trend with "nose to tail" eating, where chefs utilize all parts of the animal, "root to stem" minimizes food waste and lowers your dietary carbon footprint. One-third of the food produced worldwide is wasted or lost, which uses up energy and produces carbon emissions as it decomposes. The Food and Agriculture Organization found that waste rates for fruits and vegetables were the highest of any food.

It was the introduction of industrialized foods and the awareness of pesticides that changed people's perception of fruit and vegetable peels, rinds and greens from healthy, nutrient-rich food ingredients (nutrients are often concentrated in the skins or just beneath) to something unhealthy, unsafe and unattractive. In just a short time, we've become so distanced from the entire plant that we no longer know that cauliflower leaves, for example, are edible and nutritious, or that broccoli stalks are delicious shaved into a crunchy salad with lemon.

Summer CSAs and farmers markets are now in full swing, ripe with local produce. (Organic is the safest choice for root to stem eating to protect against consuming chemicals from fertilizers and pesticides.) Turn a fresh view to the season's bounty and experiment with every root to stem. Don't miss out on those powerful nutrients that you may be tossing away.

Forgotten Food Parts

Don't waste these fruit and vegetable parts when you're cooking.

Edible Parts -- Fruit or Vegetable -- Culinary Use

Greens or tops -- Carrots, beets, turnips -- Sauteed, use in green smoothies

Leaves -- Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, celery -- Flavor and garnish salads and soups; substitute for cabbage

Stems -- Chard, kale, collards -- Braise or saute

Stalks -- Broccoli, asparagus ends -- Sliver for slaw; coin or cut into dipping sticks

Peels -- Potato, citrus -- Bake potato peels for snacks; use citrus for zest or candied

Rinds --Watermelon -- Cut outer peel and use in place of cucumber in salads

 

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How to Use the Whole Plant, From Stem to Root

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