Top chef says no-waste dining aids wallets, wastelines and wellbeing
Turning the food bits we usually bin into dinner is not only good for our wallets but our waistlines and wellbeing, too, says a top chef who wants to put skins and peels on the menu.
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When it comes to a healthy diet we’ve long been told to eat our greens.
But what about a supper of scraps?
Turning the bits we usually bin into dinner is the latest food trend that’s not only good for our wallets but for our waistlines and wellbeing, too.
Sustainable eating aims to minimise food wastage by using as much of the fruit and vegetable as possible.
Chef Matt Stone from Oakridge in the Yarra Valley — which was awarded for its sustainable, low-waste practices in this year’s delicious.100 — says he hasn’t peeled a carrot for years.
“There’s so much flavour and nutrients in the skin. It’s just about changing our mentality,” he said. “I adore French cookery and I take a lot of inspiration from it, but I think it’s taught us to refine things too much. So if you can re-engineer that to make some mashed potato or beautiful roasted carrots leaving the skins on, that’s a big step.”
Melbourne dietitian Karen Inge said eating the skin of vegetables maximised vitamin and fibre intake. “A lot of the vitamin content is under the skin, so when you peel you lose the vitamins and fibre. So whether it’s sweet potato or pumpkin or cucumber we should be leaving the skins on,” she said.
Oranges and other citrus fruits are usually peeled but Inge said they contained higher concentrations of healthy flavonoid compounds than the flesh. A single tablespoon of orange peel provides almost three times the vitamin C of the fruit, as well as four times the fibre.
“There are some very good compounds in them that are beneficial for our health. We’re learning more about the phytonutrients that are found mainly in skins, beginning to understand they are really important,” she said.
“Many of these flavonoids resist digestion, so they get into the large gut, and become healthy bacteria.”
Using orange or lemon zest as a flavouring in salads is one way to make use of nutrient-packed peel, or dry thinly peeled peel for use in stocks and sauces. “I like to grind the dried peel down to a powder and add to a salad of something like witlof and dates, things like that,” Mr Stone said.
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Watermelon rind is another food treasure we usually trash, but is both edible and contains citrulline — an amino acid thought to be beneficial for immunity. Mr Stone said pickled watermelon rind was a delicious accompaniment to fried meats and easy to make with a semisweet pickle of sugar, water and vinegar.
While this movement towards eating the whole vegetable was positive, Ms Inge cautioned about increasing consumption dramatically, as the added fibre could lead to abdominal discomfort, and recommended a gradual introduction.