Turning green waste into vegetable stock

It’s a new year and time to add some new perspectives to Bargainista. Welcome Kathryn Lagden, a regular contributor from Cooking with Kathryn, who’s focus will be primarily but not exclusively on food and cooking, you may remember her from our holiday wish list.

For many people, the New Year is a time for resolutions, new goals, or perhaps renewing commitment to previous goals. I’m not good at hard and fast rules (yep, I’m an Aquarius!) but I do use the changing of the year to think about where I want to focus my attention.

I’ve been thinking a lot about garbage so far this year. My new found interest in trash is probably a subconscious reaction to receiving two tags from the City of Toronto, each good for one extra bag of garbage above and beyond our allotment in 2011. And like many families at this time of year, we’ve made many trips to the bins with the cellophane, twist ties, and plastic wrap that keep all new toys impossibly difficult to access.

And then I read about how I can boil my garbage and create yummy goodness. Yep, you heard me right, I’m going to boil my garbage! I’ve often wondered why most recipes call for a few veggies like celery, onion, carrots etc. when we boil chicken bones to create stock but all the peelings and ends from these same veggies are tossed out. The folks at The Sweet Beet make it sound perfectly natural to boil up a whole bunch of food scraps into a delicious stock so I’m jumping in and giving it a try.

First step was getting my hubby on board. After all, collecting a bag of garbage in the freezer takes some commitment from everyone who is diving in looking for frozen treats and ice cubes for beverages. His only stipulation was that we don’t refer to it as “garbage”, we need a friendlier name. I’m thinking something along the lines of “Scrappy”, it would let me say things like, “please feed Scrappy those egg shells when you’re done cooking breakfast”.

I received a big soup pot from my sister for Christmas. I doubt that boiling garbage is what she had in mind when she gave it to me but with a bit of luck I’ll be serving up a delicious soup made with my own Scrappy Stock next time she visits.

I’ll be sure to report back and let you know if boiling garbage is a tasty way to reduce food waste! (And would love to hear suggestions and tips from anyone who has tried this.)

Note: Originally published as How I’m going to turn green waste into vegetable stock at Cooking with Kathryn.

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