Most vegetable and fruit peels are edible, and yet it is much more common for people to throw them away. But why?

While cooking, most people do not even realise how much ‘waste’ is caused by throwing away the peels. Next time you are cooking, trying to fill up a container with all the peels and you might be surprised by the volume. Peels are healthy and nutritious, but if not baked and eaten they can also be used in a variety of ways:

  • Make your home smell nice – this one is quite a popular thing that a lot of people already do. Citrus peels are perfect for this, but even apple or pears work nicely. You can either dry the peels and use them as potpourri or boil them in hot water and leave them, so the citrus smells burst into the air.

 

  • Turn them into candy – surprisingly for some people, orange, lemon, and lime peels are edible. Mix them with water and sugar and boil them to turn them into nice citrus-y flavoured sweets. These can also be infused into syrups, vinegars, and oils.

 

  • Make tea – Lemon peels make for a lovely lemon flavoured tea. Lemon tea is very popular in the UK, but a lot of people use lemon slices for this, and while that does work, you can use the peels as well and avoid wasting them. You can also use orange, lime, or grapefruit peels for this. Onion peels are also good for making tea, as they can help alleviate the pain of a sore throat.

 

  • Turn them into beauty products – avocado is all the rage these days. You can see it being used in all sorts of beauty products, so why not try it at home. You can use the avocado itself for skin or hair masks, for example, but to try and avoid waste, you can also use the inside of the avocado peel on your skin and give your skin a boost. You can do this as well with vegetable peels, blend them together and mix with sugar, honey, and olive oil for a natural face scrub.

 

  • Cook them – while there are many uses for vegetable peels, the most popular way to use them is to cook them and eat them. Most peels, such as potato and carrots, are delicious when baked in the oven with olive oil, salt and peppers and other spices. You can also use these to make vegetable stock.

 

Now that we have shown you some smart ways to avoid food waste, why not give it a try? It is important to note that, before you cook them or use them as a homemade skin scare remedy, you should thoroughly wash them and make sure to remove any dirt or pesticides.

M&P Engineering is a leading manufacturer and supplier of food processing machinery and food packaging equipment. With over 50 years’ experience, M&P has become a well-established and recognised manufacturer in the industry.

Our Onion Peeling Machines are the easiest way to peel onions. They come with self-adjusting knives so that they can peel onions of different sizes with ease. They top and tail the onions, slit them horizontally, and finally remove the skin.

Our machines use a patented dry system that removes the outer skin leaving no slurry behind and provides a peeled onion that is comparable in quality to a hand peeled one. Our machines can top, tail and peel onions quickly and easily.

To learn more about M&P Engineering and our products and services, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of our team today.

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