Eat your stems.

Do you ever trim broccoli stalks away in favor of eating just the little florets?  Or what about that big, beautiful bunch of carrots with green tops still attached; ever toss those in the compost or – gasp! – trash?  Do you take the time to neatly peel potatoes before tossing them in soup?  If you answer yes to any of the above (or to any of many similar leafy, stemmy or peely scenarios), let me suggest you reconsider in the future.  You can 1) save money, 2) eat better and be healthier, and 3) be less wasteful by eating your stems!  …and leaves…and peels…

1. Save money.  Let’s face it.  Fresh produce is expensive.  So if you’re going to have it – and you absolutely should – you should eat as much of it as you can.  That way, you’ll have more food to go around, and less of a dent in your wallet.
2. Eat better.  Often the stems, leaves and peels we discard have equal or greater nutritional value than their more well known edible parts.  Potato peels, broccoli stalks, kale stems – they’re all packed with goodness for you!
3. Be less wasteful.  If you eat it, the ground doesn't have to.  At least, not directly.  According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, one third of the food produced worldwide is wasted or lost.  Worse, fruits and vegetables have the highest wastage rates of any food!

Now, some of you are thinking about pesticides and chemicals for something like a potato peel.  I’ll be the first to admit a conventionally grown potato comes with its fair share of those.  So this strategy of eating all the parts works best when you're buying organic.  If that’s out of the budget or unavailable, scrub well with a veggie scrubber.

Below is a picture of my mom being silly as Vanna White, but seriously demonstrating lovely carrot tops – we LOVE them in smoothies.  They’re sweet, mild, and blend nicely with water.  We’ve tried celery leaves that way too, but I’ll warn you those are better sautéed or substituted for celery than they are for sweet smoothies.

Here’s a useful table I adapted from Environmental Nutrition on “Forgotten Food Parts”

Edible parts	Fruit or vegetable	Use
Greens or tops	Carrots, beets, turnips	Sautéed, or better yet, used in green smoothies!
Leaves	Broccoli, cauliflower, celery	Flavor or garnish in soups and salads, substitute for cabbage
Stems	Kale, chard, collards	Chopped small, sautéed and added to other veggies (great in pasta!)
Stalks	Broccoli, asparagus ends	Sliver for slaw (especially broccoli), cut into dipping sticks
Peels	Potato, citrus	Bake potato peels for snacks (or just leave them on!!); use citrus for zesting