http://www.democraticunderground.com/11281689Oh my.
Curmudgeoness (8,387 posts) Mon Oct 8, 2012, 07:14 PM
Juicing?
A friend has been juicing for about a year. She has been giving her v****e waste from after they are juiced to other friends for their compost piles, but the others are now full and she asked me if I wanted some for my compost. I said bring it over. She brought a week's worth in a 5 gallon bucket so heavy that the two of us had trouble lugging it to the backyard.
Am I the only one who thinks that this is the biggest waste of food short of just throwing it away without eating it? So here I sit, thinking that there has to be something that can be done with the "waste" from juicing to use it for food. Can it be used in soups? Casseroles? I am just shocked at the amount of food that is being tossed out, although my compost will appreciate it. I realize that it would have to be used sooner than when I got it----it smelled so bad that I was close to hurling, so a week of accumulation isn't going to cut it. But could it be frozen for use?
Does anyone juice? Do you throw the used v****e material out? Any ways of using it or is it of no value after the juicing process?
MuseRider (22,530 posts) Mon Oct 8, 2012, 07:54 PM
1. I juice
I either use the waste in my compost or feed it to the goats, they love it. You can certainly use it in your cooking but I don't think I would use it for flavoring since I doubt there is much left but I don't really know.
Curmudgeoness (8,387 posts) Mon Oct 8, 2012, 08:08 PM
2. Ah, goats....well THAT is a good use for it.
You make a point that I have no answer to....is the flavor lost in the v****e matter??? Is everything of value lost? The fresher material looked beat up and rather pureed, but it still looked like it had some value. More questions.
MuseRider (22,530 posts) Tue Oct 9, 2012, 12:45 PM
5. I do think it loses most of the flavor in the juice but when I got our juicer there were a lot of recipes that called for using the left overs. I started using the juice for a cleanse and found it so great that I still do it some. V****e blends are great, I believe part of the reasoning is that you can get more vitamins and minerals this way. I don't know about you but there is no way I could eat enough to get that many.
Curmudgeoness (8,387 posts) Tue Oct 9, 2012, 07:39 PM
7. Ah, so there are uses for the leftovers!
Good to know. I guess I have work to do finding options.
You are right, I cannot eat enough fresh fruit and v****s as I would get in a glass of juice. I suppose that my only question would be "does your body need that much vitamins and minerals, or is it just producing rich urine?"
Flaxbee (11,309 posts) Mon Oct 8, 2012, 11:30 PM
3. I like fresh carrot juice -- but the amount of carrots I use to get maybe 3 cups of juice is rather appalling --- and there is a lot of waste.
I don't have a compost pile; I need to buy a good bin for it.
It's amazing how things that sound like a good idea - juicing - end up being so wasteful.
I'd feel better if I had goats
And probably will reduce our carrot juice to a 5-lb bag per week, with some ginger, apples and a few other odds and ends thrown in. We don't "juice" as part of a diet - we (me and husband) just like fresh carrot juice...
Curmudgeoness (8,387 posts) Tue Oct 9, 2012, 07:44 PM
8. Don't buy a bin designated a "compost bin" since they charge a fortune just because that is what they call it. Just buy a large plastic trash bin, drill a punch of holes in it for aeration (in the bottom too) and you have a decent bin. Or if you have a place that you can just make a chicken wire bin, all it costs is the money for some wire mesh and something to connect the edges to make a circular bin.
Or get some goats. Or pigs.
shireen (7,259 posts) Thu Oct 11, 2012, 01:12 PM
9. thanks ...
i just bought a house and am determined to put all garden waste back into the garden. When i had some trees trimmed a couple of weeks ago, i asked to keep the branches so i can mulch the small ones (bought a small wood chipper), compost the leaves, and use thicker branches for garden decor like trellises, posts, and such. I'd also love to make miniature furniture pieces and a fairy house for a miniature garden.
The garbage bin idea is great! Wish i had seen your post before i bought a tumbling composter and a collapsible composting container.
Curmudgeoness (8,387 posts) Thu Oct 11, 2012, 06:38 PM
10. Damn. That happens to me a lot too.
I used to use a garbage bin that had a lid that could snap on tight, and I would tilt it over and roll it around, like a tumbler. LOL. I am just too cheap to buy a fancy tumbler, but it looked like a great idea. I also have a 4 x 4 bin I made with lumber and have had it for about 30 years. Actually, I was forced to devise that one because when I wanted to start composting and lived in the city, it was before it was fashionable. Even in the city of Houston, I was not able to find one store that sold compost bins---and most places didn't know what composting was.
Good luck with using all the tree litter. But maybe you don't have as many big old trees as I do. I have so many branches and limbs come down that I have to deal with them----hence, a fire pit. I do use them for my stakes in the garden, and I do have some nice pieces as garden decor, but it is overwhelming. As to the leaves, I use my mower to shred them and then catch them, and they make nice mulch in the garden....I have not had leaves thrown away for years (and I used to have over 60 bags every fall).
shireen (7,259 posts) Mon Oct 8, 2012, 11:50 PM
4. seems like a lot of wasted fiber
A friend of mine makes smoothies out of v***s and fruits using a vitamix. She says that regular blenders don't do a good enough job blending v***s/fruit into shakes but a high-end blender like the vitamix makes a big difference. It sounds like a really healthy way to consume v****s as a drink, and there's no waste.
Curmudgeoness (8,387 posts) Tue Oct 9, 2012, 07:35 PM
6. Now, I could get behind this concept.
It really is the waste that bothers me about this. Now is you talk to a serious juicer like my friend, she will say that the heat generated from the blenders destroys the vitamins. I cannot give an opinion on this since I don't know the research on it, and when I did a search for info on it, all I got was the pro side of the issue.
I will admit to buying some of those V-8 Fusion drinks to try in the winter when I don't eat as many fresh v*****s and fruit as I should. I love them when they are in season, but they are dull at other times. So I suppose that I could be tempted to do this if it weren't for the waste. Oh, and the expense....the amount of money my friend pays for produce is more than my whole food budget, just for a glass of juice!
Oh now, this whole thing about "waste" is a bunch of bullshit.
During the spring, summer, and autumn out here in the Sandhills of Nebraska, when the weather's torridly hot and so it's too hot to cook, or to even eat solid foods, franksolich juices all the time. Fresh fruits or fresh vegetables and ice.
Sometimes it's so hot and I'm so tired I don't even bother to peel--or deseed--the things, tossing them in whole and juicing them.
This creates "pulp," which I
assume is dietary fiber and roughage.
<<has never gotten "waste" from juicing; consumes the whole bit.
If there's anything the primitives need added to their diets, it's fiber and roughage, and a lot of it; it'll clear out their intestinal systems clogged up with anally-retained Hate and rage and anger.
