Onions are some of the most widely used vegetables for cooking around the world. They come in different colors, shapes, strengths, and seasons. But did you know after the ends are chopped off and the skin is peeled, those scraps can still be put to good use? Oh there are many ways to use onions besides flavoring a meal. Here are just five of them.
1. Vegetable stock- Take the ends of the onions, their skins, and any other vegetable bits such as carrot peelings, potatoes peels, and garlic skins and boil them in water for 30-45 minutes. Adding salt and spices of your choice to make a delicious stock that can be added to any savory dish.
2. Onion powder- Take the skins of some onions and put them in a dehydrator. After they are dried out, ground them in a coffee grinder for onion powder that can be added as a spice to a wide variety of foods.
3. Compost- All vegetable scraps make excellent additions to the compost pile. Onion scraps are no exception and are rich in nutrients that will go right back into the soil.
4. Scapes- If your onion bulbs don’t get used in time, chances are they will start to grow. Cut the top third of the bulb off, put it in some soil and harvest the green parts over and over as they re-grow. The green scapes taste just like onion and can be used in stir-fries or soups.
5. More Bulbs- Onion bulbs can grow more onions. The process is a bit long, but one bulb can yield multiple additional bulbs. Cut the onion in half, place the part with roots into water until new roots grow and green shoots emerge. Then place them into soil. After a few months, there will be a clump of tiny bulbs that will need to be manually separated and planted far enough apart to finish turning into bigger bulbs.
Onions are one of those foods where even the “waste” is useful. How amazing is nature when even after food is picked, it keeps on giving in so many ways. It’s no wonder the unassuming onion has survived millennia of human use and continues to gift us with its many flavors and bounty.
