If you are tired of wasting vegetables, you should know that is possible to cook everything from the root to the stem and here we explain how
What does cook root-to-stem mean?
Most of the parts of the plants that usually end up in the trash can be cooked. Root-to-stem cooking sees the whole food item being used in the kitchen. This includes the leaves, skins, seeds, stalks, and everything in between. It can be difficult at the very beginning, but with careful meal planning, you can reap its benefits, not only for your health but also for your budget.
Try this and you will cook more consciously, which will help you stop throwing away useful food. In addition, this cooking type will surely make you transform the way you cook by getting a bit creative in the kitchen.
Get the most of your food with these tips
1) Make your own sauces and condiments
Many fresh herbs and their leaves and stems can be used to make tasty sauces and condiments. It is not difficult but you just need to be more creative with your leftovers. In fact, there are many tips and recipes about root-to-stem cooking in books and on the Internet.
2) Make vegetable soup
If you have leftover food scraps, make a soup! Making soup is a great option and there you can put all the ugly vegetables since they are perfectly blitzed up in a soup so you are not going to notice the difference.
3) Before composting, cook your food
Composting is an excellent tip to take care of the environment, but before moving to the compost, you can find a way of cooking your food scraps. Also, sometimes the parts that we throw away contain more nutrition than the parts that we eat and are rich in antioxidants and dietary fiber.
4) Spice up your cooking
The next time you cook, keep the stems of your herbs since they can end up giving delicious flavor to your salads, soups, and other dishes. For example, the stems of herbs like dill, basil, coriander, and parsley are full of flavor and nutrients. So chop up your vegetables and make them a great complement for your meals.
A root-to-stem-recipe: Baked Carrots with Herby Yoghurt
Ingredients
- 1 bunch baby carrots
- Fresh herbs with their stems like dill and basil
- ½ cup of Greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp of pumpkin
- 2 tbsp flaked almonds
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place baby carrots on a baking tray and drizzle with oil. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes
- While the carrots are baking, blitz up the herbs in a food processor and blend with Greek yogurt in a small bowl.
- Top carrots with the yogurt, flaked almonds, and toasted pumpkin.