What to do with carrot tops, beet tops, celery flowers, and more commonly wasted veggie stems! Try out one of our 5 ways to use up stalks and leafy tops.
1. Make Pesto
Fresh celery tops, radish tops, turnip tops, fennel fronds and carrot tops have incredibly fragrant flavours that shouldn’t be wasted. This Bob Blumer recipe allows these food scraps to shine.
2. Juice It
Stalks of collard greens, kale, broccoli, chard, carrots and beet tops make great additions to your morning energy juice – with or without the addition of a few ripe apples and fruits!
3. Make Veggie Stock
Keep a freezer bag of produce scraps, ends, peels and stalks, and add to it until you have enough to make a homemade vegetable broth.
4. Add Crunch To Your Stir Fry
Thinly slice vegetable stalks and use them in a stir-fry. Kale stems and broccoli stems give a great crunch to your dish, as well as added fibre.
5. Pickle Them
Stems of rainbow swiss chard, broccoli, kale ad beets can be diced and marinated in pickling liquid. These pickled vegetables add a bright colour to salads and can make a tasty appetizer.
Did You Know?
Believe it or not, the parts of veggies that we tend to scrap have even more nutrients than the fruit or vegetable themselves! Since the stems and tops of vegetables are rooted in the soil, they are packed full of nutrients, vitamins and fibre. The skins contain antioxidants, fibre and other health-promoting properties. Yet another reason not to toss them into the compost!