Chefs are experimenting with dehydrated herb powders, upcycled spent grain bread and growing greens with leftover roots and seeds
Did you know that roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year – approximately 1.3 billion tonnes – gets lost or wasted? In the US, food entrepreneurs are upcycling food waste into rather creative products such as spent beer grain granola bars or relishes and condiments using surplus fruits and vegetables. Turns out that quite a few restaurants in Bengaluru are also finding ingenious ways of repurposing vegetable waste. From upcycled bread to leftover shoots and seeds, chefs have found new uses for food waste.
Growing their own greens
Microgreens, which are probably 10 or 12 day olds, are extremely rich in nutrients, antioxidants, essential vitamins and minerals. Since they require little time and space to grow, quite a few restaurants such as 1Q1, Sly Granny, Foxtrot and The Reservoire are experimenting with growing their own in makeshift containers. Prathik Shetty, co-owner of The Reservoire in Koramangala, says, “Leftover seeds are collected to grow microgreens such as bell pepper and mustard greens. We tried growing radish and mint with leftover roots but it takes ages to grow, so now we buy seeds to grow them in our kitchen itself. We use these young shoots as garnish or in salads.”
Akanksha Chaudhary, head of marketing, Azure Hospitality, which owns Sly Granny and Foxtrot, says, “The gardener [at Foxtrot] has taken the initiative to collect leftover seeds or roots from the kitchen to plant vegetables such as beetroot, spinach, coriander and celery in pots placed along the driveway, the kitchen garden at Mimansa as well as the al fresco dining area at Foxtrot. While celery is used in the kitchen almost every day, the other greens are used as and when they are available.” On the other hand, some of their service staff is experimenting with growing different vegetables as well as pineapple. For instance, celery roots are soaked for about half an hour and then planted in a pot. For pineapple, the crown is cut and soaked in water for two-three days until roots start to grow. Then this is transplanted to a regular flower pot. Since this is at a testing phase right now, the restaurant hopes to grow more of these vegetables for consumption in the kitchen in future.
Lemon and orange peels are used infuse alcohol at The Reservoire
Peels, herbs given new life
Apart from growing their own greens, several chefs are making use of peels, seeds and surplus herbs and vegetables in their own creative ways. For example, Krishnan Dinakaran, executive chef of Three Dots and a Dash, uses chilli and bell pepper seeds to make a sweet chilli sauce. “We make sugar syrup, add the seeds and chopped bell peppers to make this condiment,” he says. Similarly, they also dry celery leaves in the oven or in the sun and turn it into a powder which is used to flavour pastas or a béchamel sauce. “Garlic and onion peels and rosemary stems are thrown into stockpot; while dried and seasoned tomato peels are used as powder for garnishing,” chef adds.
According to Nithin Haridass, executive chef, XOOX Brewmill, tomato peels contain a high number of carotenoids and shouldn’t be discarded from the meal. “For certain dishes, we need to get rid of the peels to achieve a smooth texture, hence, we carefully sundry the peels and infuse it with extra virgin olive to make a tomato flavoured labneh (Mediterranean yogurt dip) which is served as a part of the mezze fusion platter,” he says. Similarly, they use peels to colour and flavour their dehydrated beetroot & rice crisps appetiser. “Peels of beetroot, ginger, garlic and other vegetables are used to make a stock. Leftover rice is cooked in the same beetroot stock and the final result post the dehydration process is the flavour-packed red crisps,” Haridass explains.
Aromatic orange and lemon peels are used by a number of restaurants to infuse with alcohol or use in marmalades and sauces. “We serve fresh orange juice for breakfast at The Reservoire so there are a lot of leftover orange peels. Since we have 180 varieties of cocktails, these peels are used in the bar to infuse with vodka or tequila for making citrus based cocktails,” Shetty says. Given that oranges are expensive, it’s a great way for the restaurant to make better use of its inventory. Sometimes, if they are running low in stock, they even source leftover orange peels from juice vendors. According to Shetty, on an average, they reuse about 10 per cent of the food wastage from their Sunday brunches and weekends. Leftover gulab jamuns, for instance, are turned into a pudding, while leftover dough is fashioned into bread baskets for presentation purposes.
At 1Q1 Kitchen and Bar, chef Aditya Singh Bhadoria has come up with some innovative ideas for recycling food waste. Raspberry pulp and seeds, which is left over from making raspberry sorbet or compote, is spread on silicone sheets and dried in the oven for six-seven hours to make raspberry leather used for desserts. Leftover lemon peels are burnt to make a lemon ash that’s sprinkled over meringue for a lemony, smokey flavour.
Instead of throwing out herbs such as coriander and basil that are past their prime, Chef Vikas Seth of Sanchez and Sriracha, dehydrates them in the microwave and then crushes them into a fine powder to use in herb mixes. Since they use a lot of avocado for guacamole and other dishes at their Mexican restaurant, Sanchez, Seth is now serving their newly introduced avocado margarita in avocado shells for an element of surprise. Meanwhile, broken yet perfectly edible tortilla chips are used in the tortilla soup.
Upcycled brewery breads
Perhaps, the most interesting example of upcycled food is bread made from spent beer grains by microbreweries such as XOOX Brewmill and Brew & Barbeque. Haridass of XOOX Brewmill explains the process: “The leftover grain from the brewery is used to create some of the most unique and flavourful breads. The spent grain is sent to the mill and the resulting flour is mixed with regular refined flour/whole wheat flour in a pre-determined quantity.” Colour of the bread varies depending on whether the grain was used for a double IPA or stout.
Nuthan Prasad, executive chef, Brew & Barbeque, tells us that they’re using 10 per cent of their spent grains to make breads and burger buns. He’s also experimenting with recipes for brownies and gulab jamun that will incorporate spent grains. “This is not only a great way of using perfectly good grains that would go to waste but it’s also an added attraction on our menu. People want to try out something different every once in a while,” Prasad explains.
Whether it’s done to make better use of their inventory, grab attention with out-of-the-box dishes or for more altruistic reasons, these restaurants prove that creative thinking and small steps can go a long way towards reducing food wastage.