Juicing Down on Food Waste
Working down on food waste took a new turn this morning. In a couple of days, I’ll be heading back to Minnesota, to my old home town. And there to live with my pops for another stretch of weeks. In other words, I’ll be gone from this house-n-home to settle for a time in another. In other, other words, it’s time to prep for storage some of what’s either heading for bad now or will land there while I’m gone. Sure, Mr. Hollywood will be here. But he’s not one for “cooking” and even less for dealing with food threatening to go all funk on him.
Take, for instance, the citrus in the basement fridge (a.k.a. “Siberia” and not so named for the temp). At Christmastime for many years now (so many that they predate me), Mr. Hollywood has gifted great crates of citrus from Texas to colleagues, family, and friends alike. It’s a welcome, healthy gift especially at that winter time of year. And he always gets a case for us too. Trouble is, we don’t always get through it before the oranges and grapefruit start turning spooky. This year was no different. By the way, it’s July.
And I had a whole bunch of farmers’ market beets, oodles of tender carrots way too tiny to peel, and a wrinkly finger of garlic on the upstairs fridge door. There are grapes turning brown on the stem ends and a paper bag of Albemarle pippin apples (older than the Christmas citrus) all of which are wrinkled and half of which are rotten on one side or the other.
Enter the near-forgotten juicer. What fun I had! First, let me say it’s a wonder the shape those citrus – seriously hard as rocks, their rinds like leather – and the apples, once I’d cut away the soft brown bits turned out to be.
Here’s what I made. But the point is not to go buy a juicer.
I intend to put mine into rotation among my community here (many of whom are members of a CSA and at a loss as to how to handle the bounty of vegs they don’t necessarily want to eat raw or feel inclined to cook). Also, do note that there’s a lot of a fruit or vegetable that doesn’t get juiced. I still think best is to eat them entire. But if you juice, do compost too. And if you don’t have a composter, simply bury the tailings in a planter or under an azalea. It’s all good.
Oh, except the mint. I also juiced mint all by itself. Yuck. But I totally recommend some sprigs in a mix such as with beets, apples, and/or grape. I wish I’d had watermelon. But again: this wasn’t making juice for juice’s sake so much as about not letting these foods go all to waste.
I’m freezing the little jars of beet-ginger-apple. It’s so intense I’m thinking I could make mocktails with them… if I don’t just drink up as I did this morning.
And I had a whole bunch of farmers’ market beets, oodles of tender carrots way too tiny to peel, and a wrinkly finger of garlic on the upstairs fridge door. There are grapes turning brown on the stem ends and a paper bag of Albemarle pippin apples (older than the Christmas citrus) all of which are wrinkled and half of which are rotten on one side or the other.
One more thing, I messed up my back pulling invasives. Sipping these delightful concoctions, darn if I didn’t feel better. Maybe not so much because they healed me as because they were so much fun to imagine and make, so satisfying to create out of what would otherwise surely go to waste, that I forgot for the time the pain that is standing, sitting, lying down… Delight, I say. Delight.
Beet-ginger-apple
Carrot-orange-grape
Grapefruit-plum
Choose your own combos. Go wild. Sure is better than going to waste.
