A while ago I did a post about using every part of everything when cooking. This time, I want to talk about vegetable stock. Vegetable stock is useful for soups and some rice recipes and lentil recipes I have. And it is the easiest thing. But the recipe takes like 1 month + to prepare.
Step 1: Save ALL the food scraps. Ends of carrots, potato peels, pumpkin peels, onion (but no the skin stuff), broccoli bits, zucchini bits.... basically everything. I find it funny that I use the skin of pumpkin from when I make pumpkin soup to help me make the stock that goes into the soup. Soupception. Freeze these in freezer till ready (I collected scraps for a month).
Step 2. When you have like a decent amount of scraps (I had a 4L ice-cream container and go 1 jar of stock....) Put all in a pot, and 3/4 fill with water (don't cover it with water fully).
Step 3. Boil. - the scraps will decrease in size
Step 4. Simmer for 1/2 an hour.
Step 5. Strain. Scraps NOW go in the compost. And stock goes into fridge/freezer.
Why does everything I make look like poo at the end?
It does look much darker than expected.... but it smells AMAZING!!
I have heard you can also add salt. But I'm a bit on the can't be bothered side of that.
Now I wouldn't label this as reusing... because you don't reuse scraps. It isn't reducing, it isn't refilling, it isn't recycling, it isn't refusing, it isn't rotting... I think we need a new category called 'recognising.' When we look at objects, especially foods, we need to recognise all of the pieces that they have and use them to their fullest.
e.g. Lemon - juice (can be used in recipes and for cleaning), skins, (can be used for recipes and cleaning), seeds (can be used for replanting).
Pumpkin - flesh (soup), skin (stock), seeds (snack or replanting)
Someone once told me that oranges were like the Trinity. I have never liked that analogy because to me, the trinity was always like one of those Russian wedding rings, where it is one ring, but three rings. But I think that was more of a reflection on my inability to see how each part of an orange had the same value. But now I see that, I guess an orange is an OK way of explaining the trinity.