Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

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Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

Postby blob » Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:51 pm

I've been getting carrots lately in my CSA with their tops attached, so I did some googling to find out what I could do with carrot tops, other than find an animal to feed them to.

Came across this recipe: https://www.loveandlemons.com/carrot-green-chimichurri/

I made it last night and it was really delicious. I subbed out ACV for the white vinegar because that's what I had on hand. Had leftovers today for lunch and it still tastes great.

Curious if others had recipes/suggestions for parts of vegetables that often get tossed out?

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Re: Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

Postby Flight » Sun Feb 17, 2019 11:41 pm

Chickens get our left overs, but they dont like the carrot tops. I'll have to show this to my partner, who likes doing the cooking :)

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Re: Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

Postby silk » Sun Feb 17, 2019 11:43 pm

I would feed them to my horses, or my chickens. Horses love them!

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Re: Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

Postby heddylamar » Mon Feb 18, 2019 2:23 am

I generally feed carrot greens to the guinea pigs, they love their treats. But, I had a fantastic carrot green pesto in a restaurant a few years ago that has me giving the pigs side eye. One of these days they’re not getting the carrot greens!!

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Re: Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

Postby blob » Mon Feb 18, 2019 2:55 am

silk wrote:I would feed them to my horses, or my chickens. Horses love them!



Yes, that's the usual approach. But this chimichurri will likely keep me hoarding them :)

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Re: Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

Postby StraightForward » Tue Feb 19, 2019 12:30 am

Carrots and garlic scapes are usually ready at the same time, so I like to make a carrot and garlic scape pesto.

The scapes are quite the delicacy though, so sometimes I just prepare them much like asparagus.

Fresh radish greens are nice too. I will slice them thinly and sprinkle them in a salad along with the roots. OT, but if you ever have excess radishes, they are nice cooked - the flavor mellows, so they can be used as a side dish on their own.
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Re: Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

Postby AmityBee » Tue Feb 19, 2019 5:46 am

heddylamar wrote:I generally feed carrot greens to the guinea pigs, they love their treats. But, I had a fantastic carrot green pesto in a restaurant a few years ago that has me giving the pigs side eye. One of these days they’re not getting the carrot greens!!


I do too but not too often. I was told that (unless organic, maybe?) the carrot greens store a lot of the nitrate from fertilization. No Idea if that's true.

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Re: Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

Postby heddylamar » Tue Feb 19, 2019 1:41 pm

AmityBee wrote:I do too but not too often. I was told that (unless organic, maybe?) the carrot greens store a lot of the nitrate from fertilization. No Idea if that's true.


That’s good to know. Fortunately, I’ve never bought carrots greens specifically for the little beggers. They just get the greens that come with our organic CSA share. So lots of natural (composted cow and goat manure!) fertilizers :D

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Re: Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

Postby Chisamba » Tue Feb 19, 2019 2:26 pm

There are probably fewer nitrates and nitrites in carrot tops than you have in your own well water. The body actually needs a certain level of nitrates, ( which it converts into nitrites) nitrites in saliva are part of the bodys first defense against bacteria, and nitrites is essential to the body in the dilation of blood vessels, in fact they are used in treatment post heart attack.

i know the world of orthorexia puts a nix on nitrates but in moderation your body needs them.

that said i am not a fan of carrot greens but they are actually nutritionally more healthy than the root, they have vitamin K, calcium and lots of good stuff that i cannot name off the top of my head.

maybe i will give eating them a try again

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Re: Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

Postby KathyK » Tue Feb 19, 2019 3:40 pm

I collect and freeze anything that I can use when I make stock. Bits of onion, including skin, wilty scallion greens and the little root ends, celery remnants, bones/skin from cooked chicken, any skin/fat removed from chicken before cooking.

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Re: Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

Postby KathyK » Sat Feb 23, 2019 2:53 am

blob wrote:I've been getting carrots lately in my CSA with their tops attached, so I did some googling to find out what I could do with carrot tops, other than find an animal to feed them to.

Came across this recipe: https://www.loveandlemons.com/carrot-green-chimichurri/

I made it last night and it was really delicious. I subbed out ACV for the white vinegar because that's what I had on hand. Had leftovers today for lunch and it still tastes great.

Curious if others had recipes/suggestions for parts of vegetables that often get tossed out?

I made this chimichurri tonight. I put it over the roasted carrots, and on a turkey burger. It's delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe, blob.

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Re: Fun Use for Carrot Tops/What do you do with often discarded parts?

Postby blob » Sat Feb 23, 2019 3:30 pm

Glad you enjoyed it, KathyK!

I'll definitely be making it again with future carrot tops! Easy and tasty!


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