After the juice

August 29, 2009 5:06 AM

The juice comes out of the juice-extractor, and left behind in the machine is dryish fruit and/or vegetable pulp. Does anyone cook with this pulp? Does anyone have any ideas for cooking with it?

It just seems to me it is a shame to chuck it away. I guess it retains some nutritional value. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.

posted by londongeezer to food & drink (8 answers total)

Depends on what you're juicing. I sometimes use carrot residue to bulk out sauces like chilli or bolognese, and for expensive fruit (mangoes etc) I quite often put the crap back through the juicer and get another couple of ml of juice.

I figure that what's left is probably fibre and maybe some vitamins, but not much of the taste though. So the majority of it goes on the compost heap to help make more fruit & veg for next year.
posted by handee at 5:16 AM on August 29, 2009

My birth mother uses the pulp in breads in a manner similar to carrot bread of zucchini bread. But she is a notoriously quirky cook and the results can be hit or miss.
posted by idiopath at 5:29 AM on August 29, 2009

"How To Use Juicer Pulp (Includes Recipes)"

Found on a site called "The Happy Juicer."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:28 AM on August 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

The cookbook put out by the now long-gone raw vegetarian restaurant Delights of the Garden in Washington D.C. had a recipe for mock tuna salad made with juicer pulp. I have never made it and thus cannot vouch for it, but it can be found here. My google search in pursuit of that recipe, carrot pulp tuna salad, turned up a few other mock tuna salads along the same lines and some other ideas as well.
posted by jocelmeow at 1:18 PM on August 29, 2009

Again, it depends on what you are juicing but my mom makes cutlets out of it.
Crush some boiled potatoes with the pulp, my be a slice or 2 of white bread and fry the cutlets. I doubt if any vitamins would remain but that would make a very good roughage for your system.
posted by zaxour at 11:00 PM on August 29, 2009

Chooks and compost bins love it.
posted by polyglot at 3:02 AM on August 30, 2009

Certain vegetable pulp could be a good dog food topping, if you have a dog. A lot of dried fruits are bad for dogs, so I'd stick with dog-safe vegetables. If you don't have a dog, do you make smoothies?
posted by Lesser Shrew at 9:29 AM on August 30, 2009

'Chook' is Australian for 'chicken', by the way.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:41 PM on August 30, 2009