Give Juice
Pulp a Second Life BY CELINE BEITCHMAN
Reducing food waste s an avid juicer, I go through pounds of produce each week, creating wickedly refreshing combinations of vegetables and the occasional fruit. As my tastes change over the seasons and days, I wind up with a wide range of colors and flavors in my glass. I’m also left with a mess of fibrous pulp. On days when my juicer is spewing green manna, I opt for the compost bin with my bitter strained solids, but when my juice is on the sweeter (or milder) side, those solids get a second life.
Put a little Mediterranean into your mealtime with this super-easy condiment:
Recovered Raita
• 1 cup cucumber pulp (from 2 juiced) • 1/2 cup celery pulp (from 3 stalks juiced) • 1 tablespoon lemon juice • 1 garlic clove, minced • 1/4 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt • Freshly cracked black pepper • 1 1/2 cups strained Greek-style yogurt Mix everything together, and enjoy alongside roasted vegetables, fish, or grilled meats.
What you can do with your juicing pulp will depend on your juicer and the combinations you choose. The textures might range from sopping wet or dry and stringy, each with their own potential. Centrifugal juicers that spin foods around like a washing machine before separating the solid and liquid portions will yield a wetter pulp that can add moisture along with some flavor, fiber, and color to your culinary improvisations. A standard masticating type, which crushes and presses at lower speeds, will more thoroughly dry out the fibrous by-products. If you’re an everyday juicer, like me, you will quickly accumulate more pulp than you can use. The drier stuff can be refrigerated for a few days or frozen for up to a month, but the moister stuff is best used right away. Mixed into everything from porridge to burgers to cake batter, there’s really no end to the repurposing. Let a mixture of good judgment, your palate, and a hefty dose of curiosity guide your experiments.
Here are a few ideas to get you started: • Mix up to 1 cup of not-too-bitter vegetable pulp into your favorite grain burger or meatloaf recipe. • Fold a 1/2 cup of sweeter pulp (think apple, beet, carrots, and lemon) into a cup of your favorite grain-based morning porridge or pancake/waffle batter. Celine Beitchman is a chef-instructor at Natural Gourmet Institute, a leader in health-supportive culinary education based in New York City. She is also a private chef and nutrition counselor. A graduate of NGI with a lifetime of apprenticeship experience, Celine is committed to promoting sustainable, healthsupportive foods. NATURALGOURMETINSTITUTE.COM 10 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM
Let a mixture of good judgment, your palate, and a hefty dose of curiosity guide your experiments.” PHOTOS: (TOP) TV LAND, (BOTTOM) MARC WOOD