I quite liked this article in the Herald today:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6
&objectid=12110258

Apart from chicken carcasses I hadn't given any thought to the other items that could be used. Any others to share?

norse_westie - 2018-08-21 06:19:00

Broccoli stalks...no, don't like broccoli at all.
I do eat cauliflower leaves - the smaller ones.
Chicken carcasses are for making stock.
Green part of leek - didn't know anyone didn't eat that....

Beetroot leaves, yeah I have tried them, same family as silverbeet of course. But they aren't that tasty.
Parmesan cheese rind. Lol, we are way too budget to even have parmesan.

lythande1 - 2018-08-21 08:24:00

I save all the clean peelings etc and when enough I dehydrate them, grind to a powder and use for making vegetable stock, flavouring sauces etc.

jan2242 - 2018-08-21 08:34:00

Apart from the aquafaba, which I use in the dish I cook or ensure I have only a tiny amount left when cooking for hummus, and the orange skin suggestions which involve a lot of sugar, I use all the rest of those items. Maybe not always as they have suggested but there is very little waste in my kitchen.

buzzy110 - 2018-08-21 10:52:00

I have very little food waste either ...if I do, some goes to my chooks & the rest into the compost so even if I don't eat it, I don't consider it 'waste' either.

samanya - 2018-08-21 12:53:00

Apart from the chickpea brine I use everything stated in the article.

mitzi502 - 2018-08-21 15:06:00

That was a good read. Apart from Beetroot (not a fan in this house) and chicken carcass everything else gets eaten. Love to eat radish tops/leaves. Quite peppery when cooked with some onions. With chicken carcass I am just lazy. After cooking dinner I can't be bothered making chicken stock however on occasions I have been known to do so, so must make a bit more effort. I don't peel veggies/potatoes unless necessary. I do peel carrot only if I am grating and keeping it for sandwiches. Kids don't like brown carrots in their wraps.

marcs - 2018-08-21 16:22:00

buzzy110 wrote:

Apart from the aquafaba, which I use in the dish I cook or ensure I have only a tiny amount left when cooking for hummus, and the orange skin suggestions which involve a lot of sugar, I use all the rest of those items. Maybe not always as they have suggested but there is very little waste in my kitchen.

Buzzy I use a peeler to peel my blood orange skin (have a tree out back) and air dry them till well dried and crispy. They keep for a very long time. Just grind in a spice grinder and use up in all sorts of things. I do admit I don't do this with every orange but I make the effort when in season to dry some. It goes well in cakes, scones, soups and all sorts.

marcs - 2018-08-21 16:25:00

I freeze vege peelings (including onion skin), veges past their best, the ends from carrots and parsnips, etc. etc. in a ziplock bag. When I have enough, I make stock and chuck in a chicken carcass if I have one. When the stock is done I just strain it and freeze it to use in soups, stews etc.

kitty179 - 2018-08-21 18:21:00

marcs wrote:

Buzzy I use a peeler to peel my blood orange skin (have a tree out back) and air dry them till well dried and crispy. They keep for a very long time. Just grind in a spice grinder and use up in all sorts of things. I do admit I don't do this with every orange but I make the effort when in season to dry some. It goes well in cakes, scones, soups and all sorts.

I dry orange zest in long strips and use it in Asian braised meat dishes, also in French beef stews. I think dried lemon peel would be interesting to try too.

davidt4 - 2018-08-21 18:27:00

It used to infuriate me when I worked at Lonestar in Sydney... For hours we'd gut potatos for the entree potato skins and bacon... all the fluffy guts goodness would go in the bin... but our potato and gravy we served with steak came out of a pouch...

southerngurl - 2018-08-21 18:29:00

marcs wrote:

Buzzy I use a peeler to peel my blood orange skin (have a tree out back) and air dry them till well dried and crispy. They keep for a very long time. Just grind in a spice grinder and use up in all sorts of things. I do admit I don't do this with every orange but I make the effort when in season to dry some. It goes well in cakes, scones, soups and all sorts.

Marcs, is what you call air drying, similar to dehydrating, I suspect it is.
I don't have access to blood oranges, but I have heaps of lemons & apart from marmalade, they go in the compost bins, & despite what some people say about citrus in compost ...never have a problem.

samanya - 2018-08-21 18:33:00

Tonight I have a soup made from the stalks of brocolli (plus a potato and the head of the brocolli).

For a while, I stopped using a potato peeler, I peeled using a knife. (The peelings were thicker). And then roasted the peelings, the kids loved them.

duckmoon - 2018-08-21 20:15:00

marcs wrote:

Buzzy I use a peeler to peel my blood orange skin (have a tree out back) and air dry them till well dried and crispy. They keep for a very long time. Just grind in a spice grinder and use up in all sorts of things. I do admit I don't do this with every orange but I make the effort when in season to dry some. It goes well in cakes, scones, soups and all sorts.

davidt4 wrote:

I dry orange zest in long strips and use it in Asian braised meat dishes, also in French beef stews. I think dried lemon peel would be interesting to try too.

Both excellent suggestions that I would be keen to take on board. Can you both tell me if you are using a dehydrator or how you dry the skins please?

I don't have a dehydrator but can probably use my oven overnight on a very low heat - say 50-80C.

buzzy110 - 2018-08-22 09:37:00

A question for Davidt4. I was wondering if you have preserved (salted) limes before and would you say they were good to eat?

I'm only asking because I tried preserving oranges and they were the most disgusting food, next to roasted corned beef (done in my early days) that I have had the not-pleasure of making. Yesterday I did two jars as an experiment in an effort to use up all of the lovely limes I have and will be happy to do more if you say that they are as good as preserved lemons.

buzzy110 - 2018-08-22 09:42:00

I dry orange zest by threading it into a bunch on to embroidery thread with a darning needle, and hanging the bunch outside in the porch for a few days until it is leathery. Then I keep it in a jar.

I've made preserved salted limes but found them not as versatile as preserved lemons . I think the lime flavour is something we associate with freshness, and it seems a bit odd when it is fermented. I imagine they would work quite well in Moroccan and Persian dishes where you would normally use dried limes. And maybe in guacamole? But thanks for the reminder - I've still got a big jar of them in the spare fridge and had forgotten about them.

davidt4 - 2018-08-22 12:00:00

We had a glut of feijoas and limes, husband made wine out of each load. I always eat the lemon skins (yeah I know, odd). My mother used to only eat the white inside stalks of the celery until dad told her the green stuff wouldn't kill her and I'd watch her peel the mushrooms and eat the skins as a kid. Dad insisted on spuds with peels as 'you ate anything growing up in WWII'. Chickpeas, we use a tonne so we always rehydrate and cooking from dry. As for carcass/bones, they get chucked to the chooks to get every little bit of fat and meat off, they are picked clean and the birds hollow out as much marrow as they can, so we get lovely eggs after a carcass feed by the girls. What with the chooks, dogs and pre-teens there's not much food waste. I did learn that people throw away the rind off parmesan from the article, it always gets scoffed here so it didn't occur to me people would chuck it anyway.

tielfan - 2018-08-22 15:20:00

davidt4 wrote:

I dry orange zest by threading it into a bunch on to embroidery thread with a darning needle, and hanging the bunch outside in the porch for a few days until it is leathery. Then I keep it in a jar.

I've made preserved salted limes but found them not as versatile as preserved lemons . I think the lime flavour is something we associate with freshness, and it seems a bit odd when it is fermented. I imagine they would work quite well in Moroccan and Persian dishes where you would normally use dried limes. And maybe in guacamole? But thanks for the reminder - I've still got a big jar of them in the spare fridge and had forgotten about them.

Thank you. I'll do that and I won't make anymore preserved limes. I probably have enough.

buzzy110 - 2018-08-22 16:50:00

We add stalks etc to soup in winter, must say not so good at using them in summer. By the time the chooks, the worm farm and the compost bins get kitchen scraps there is not much waste. Only weeds and the odd meat bones go into our green recycling bin. If I have time I will make chicken soup from bones- will at times but a tray of necks for a couple of dollars to make soup. Bit of a pain getting meat off to add to the soup though!

katalin2 - 2018-08-22 17:14:00

samanya wrote:

Marcs, is what you call air drying, similar to dehydrating, I suspect it is.
I don't have access to blood oranges, but I have heaps of lemons & apart from marmalade, they go in the compost bins, & despite what some people say about citrus in compost ...never have a problem.

During summer when weather is hot (here in Auz but I have done it in NZ too) I just peel the orange and dry them in the sun for the day then for about a week in side the house in a airy place. You can I suppose put them in the dehydrator or extremely low oven to dry them out quicker but the weather here is so warm that it dries crisp. Normal orange peel would be fine. Not sure about lemon but I zest the lemons and freeze them in a glad bag and of course freeze the juice in ice cube trays. I have a chest freezer which helps.

marcs - 2018-08-23 19:46:00

buzzy110 wrote:

Both excellent suggestions that I would be keen to take on board. Can you both tell me if you are using a dehydrator or how you dry the skins please?

I don't have a dehydrator but can probably use my oven overnight on a very low heat - say 50-80C.

I dry in a hot sun for the first day (I live in Auz (WA)) so hot sun in summer) then leave it in a airy place inside the house for the week or till very crispy dry. You can use a low oven but I have never done it this way. It would work though. I love add them to my Christmas fruit cake instead of those horrible peel you buy in the supermarket. Gives the best flavour.

marcs - 2018-08-23 19:50:00

Thanks for the tips marcs ...I have a dehydrator so at this time of the year here, I'll use that.

samanya - 2018-08-23 20:05:00

marcs wrote:

I dry in a hot sun for the first day (I live in Auz (WA)) so hot sun in summer) then leave it in a airy place inside the house for the week or till very crispy dry. You can use a low oven but I have never done it this way. It would work though. I love add them to my Christmas fruit cake instead of those horrible peel you buy in the supermarket. Gives the best flavour.

Brilliant marcs. Both you and davidt4 have been so helpful. You both dry your peel in a similar way as well.

buzzy110 - 2018-08-24 09:44:00

** bump - good reading and tips here **

autumnwinds - 2019-08-19 23:45:00

I never wasted a scrap till we stopped having hens, now I feel so guilty throwing away the scraps I used to cook up for my feathered girls, but chooky days are over for me regardless of the guilt

rainrain1 - 2019-08-20 07:08:00

I really check the food scraps now, and things like broccoli stalks I've now got new recipes for.

Then, my worm farm needs regular feeding, so everything bar a few things like potato peels, citrus and onion skins go into that. So very little actually finds it's way to the rubbish bin these days...

autumnwinds - 2019-08-20 10:08:00

I like Broccoli stalks better than the heads.

samanya - 2019-08-20 10:30:00

Well ripe banana skins or/and feijoas are great in smoothies
Always eat all potatoe peel and kiwifruit,also pumpkin and carrots

Flakey feftover in cereal boxes get added to mueslis

lilyfield - 2019-08-20 16:45:00