Waste not: skins and peels

If I peered my sticky beak into most food waste caddies across the country, I’d wager the bulk of their contents would be made up of fruit and vegetable skins. Potato and carrot peelings, banana skins and squeezed out citrus fruits won’t necessarily inspire most people to think beyond the compost heap, but there is a world of flavour and thrifty domestic maintenance waiting to be uncovered.

People too often reach for the peeler when a quick scrub would do, but there’s no denying that there are times when skins-off is the only way to go. Mashed potato is a case in point; it absolutely must be smooth and creamy to hit the spot, and freckled chunks of skin just won’t cut the mustard. It might be better for you, but I’d rather take silky comfort over added fibre here, but it doesn’t mean those potato skins should be given a one-way ticket to the bin. They can be saved and tossed in oil and salt, along with some extra flavours if you like (paprika, cumin, chopped rosemary, or even good old malt vinegar), then deep-fried or baked in a hot oven for twenty minutes.

You can do the same with parsnip and carrot skins (though check after ten minutes for carrots), or long ribbons of pumpkin skin. After a Sunday roast you can use up all your veg peelings to make my pakoras on Monday. Even tough-as-old-boots butternut squash skins need not be wasted; if you chop them finely, they can be cooked down to make fantastic chutneys, or used alongside lemon or lime rinds or mango skin to make fragrant Indian mixed pickle.

I usually prefer my apples and pears unpeeled (even in tarts), but my three-year-old often has other ideas. If I’m left with a chopping board full of apple peel, I like to slice it up finely to add to slaws – it works really well with red cabbage and beetroot. If you don’t want to use them straight away, try dehydrating apple and pear skins in a low oven for about an hour to add to muesli. You can also try boiling up fruit skins with a little sugar and water, plus a squeeze of lemon juice, to make lovely homemade squash, ready to be diluted with water or added to cocktails.

It’s always a shame to waste citrus peel, so I mostly try to rescue the zest before juicing to use later. Aside from candied peel and adding to cakes and puddings, a chef friend recently suggested I try coating strips of lemon zest in salt before leaving them to ferment for a few days at room temperature, and it has been a revelation chopped up and tossed in zingy salads or through strings of spaghetti. I like to dehydrate strips of orange zest for homemade shichimi togarashi, but on days when I forget to pre-zest, I’ve found uncooked syrups from old squeezed out lemons, limes or grapefruits are effortless ways to keep some sunshine in your fridge whatever the weather. Simply chop up the rinds, cover with sugar and stir them every hour, or so, until all the sugar has dissolved, then mash them down to release more of the oil in the skins, before discarding the rinds and bottling. It also works with pineapple skins. Another fantastic use for fruit skin and cores is to make homemade vinegars.