Buzz
When it comes to savory, no-cook sauces, pesto is hard to beat. You can spread it on bread, toss it with grilled veggies, drizzle it over fish, or mix it into pasta. While it's commonly made with fresh basil, you can actually create it with almost any green, even kitchen scraps.
In fact, the scraps don’t even need to be super leafy. Tough, fibrous stalks, herb stems, and the tops of root vegetables are all great for making pesto. To test the limits, I gathered a variety of greenish plant parts that would normally go into the compost pile.
Carrot Greens
Starting with carrot greens, I followed the instructions in this article, using the following proportions to prepare the vibrant sauce:
2 cloves garlic
2 cups of plant matter
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts (or any nuts of your choice)
1/2 cup Parmesan or other salty, grating cheese
Juice from half a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
To start, I peeled a couple of garlic cloves and tossed them into the bowl of my food processor. I used the “pulse” function to chop them into a fine mince. Then, I added the feathery carrot tops (with the long stems), olive oil, and pine nuts, blending it all until smooth. Next, I added the cheese and pulsed it just until it was incorporated. After that, I squeezed in the lemon juice, seasoned with salt and pepper, and gave it another quick blend.
The result was a fresh, grassy, and green sauce with all the garlicky, salty flavors you'd expect from pesto. It was more vegetal than the classic basil pesto, which gave it a distinctly summery vibe. I loved it so much, in fact, that I plan to never let a store clerk remove the tops from my carrots again.
Chard Stems
I’ll admit, I don’t usually struggle to eat chard stems—I simply eat them along with the leafy part—but some people prefer to remove them before cooking the more delicate part of the greens. I made this pesto the same way as the previous one and, although it was quite unattractive, I was pleased with the results. You can use it in the same way as any other pesto, but I think it would be especially delightful as a sauce for vegetable pasta.
This pesto had a delightful crunch and a fresh, bright flavor with a slight bitterness. Its crisp texture makes it an excellent choice as a sandwich spread, especially when paired with rich, creamy cheeses and savory, fatty meats.
Strawberry Tops
As you might expect, a pint of strawberries doesn’t yield many tops, so I had to adjust the recipe considerably. After dividing the ingredients by eight to match my 1/4 cup of tops, I blended everything together and ended up with just a small cup of pesto.
This was by far the most bitter pesto I’ve ever tasted, but I enjoy bitter flavors, so I happily spread it on some crusty bread. If you’re eager to try making fruit stem pesto, I suggest saving your strawberry stems throughout the season rather than making small batches like the one I did here.
Cilantro Pesto
While cilantro isn't technically a 'scrap' in the traditional sense, I’m absolutely terrible at using fresh herbs before they spoil. (Sure, I know about herb ice cubes, but my freezer space is limited.) I happened to have some cilantro that was on the verge of wilting, so it was the perfect candidate to include in this roundup.
The only change I made to this pesto was replacing lemon juice with lime, and the outcome was simply delicious. Blending cilantro with oil and a touch of cheese toned down the sharpness, while still allowing the herb's flavor to shine. It definitely tasted like cilantro, but in a much milder way than the fresh herb itself. Make this and put it on tacos to improve your life.
I could happily spend all day turning scraps, stems, and leftover herbs into pesto, and I’m excited to try out turnip tops, kale ribs, and Italian parsley next. Heck, I might even make pesto out of that wilty baby kale sitting in my fridge. I was originally planning on making a salad, but that seems so dull now.
