How to Turn Rind and Rind Into Delicious Snacks
I’ve never been a big fan of the rind, crusts or any hardened outer parts of various foods. Although I rarely find time for this, I prefer peeled apples and still remove the crusts from sandwiches if I feel a little youthful. As a result, I try to avoid recipes that recommend chewing the peel right away and the like.
But food scraps are silly and I’m a big fan of reworking alleged junk, so I decided to test a few peel-and-peel snacks to see if I could find a way to love them.
Apple chips
To be honest, I prefer using fruit peels in alcoholic infusions, and apple peels make a pretty tasty bourbon , but our friends at The Kitchn recommend turning them into apple chips with cinnamon and sugar, a little frying.
To make the chips, I just doused the apple peel with a little oil – I didn’t even melt it, I just took a little room temperature and spread it all over the peel in a large bowl with my hands, and then gave them a healthy sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon until they were well coated. … (I didn’t measure, but The Kitchen recommends a ratio of 1 teaspoon granulated sugar to 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon for the skins of four apples.) I also added a pinch of salt because salt is the friend of all tastes.
Then I sautéed them at 400 ℉ until they started to brown around the edges, then sprinkled with some more cinnamon and sugar. Result? They tasted like dried apple peel with cinnamon and sugar. The tastiest were those with a little apple pulp; the skin-only strips were fibrous and difficult to chew. But they still tasted like cinnamon and sugar, so I ate them.
Cucumber peel
Unless I’m making pickles, I prefer to peel the cucumbers. Aside from composting, I used green, slightly melon strips to flavor the water for a spa effect, but they actually make a damn good sandwich paste. (However, I would recommend removing all the wax that covers your seashells.)
Kitchn adds arugula , prosciutto, and mustard to their recipes , but honestly, a spread kitchen biscuit will taste good if you cut it fine enough and mix with these particular ingredients. I wanted to see if the peels could speak for themselves, so I chopped them up, mixed with a little cream cheese, and seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.
Then I made tea sandwiches because few things are as elegantly delicious as a cucumber tea sandwich. Result? While they lacked the light crunch of real slices, the taste was clearly cucumber and the sandwiches were made for a pleasant light lunch. I would eat this pasta again, that’s what I’m talking about.
Parmesan zest bites
I have to admit that I save up Parmesan peels to flavor soups, broths and even pasta sauce , but I’ve been intrigued by these layers of Parmesan peels for quite some time.
According toRichard Blays , all you have to do to get a crispy, crispy cheese snack is to cut the tough rind into small squares and then microwave it for 30 seconds, so I did.
My first batch didn’t go well. Apparently they had too much cheese on them, which caused them to melt into little chewy puddles of cheese rather than turning into crunchy little cubes. (I know I didn’t think “too much cheese” was real, but here we are.)
For the next batch, I cut very close to the crust, removing as much cheese as possible before putting the squares back in the microwave. This batch crunched just fine.
My honest opinion? Although they were cute and crunchy, they were quite soft and I will probably use the crust for the soup. I really think they would make a good crouton without bread, if that’s the kind of thing you’re into.
Carrot and Potato Chips
It’s actually quite rare that I have carrot or potato peels because those are two peels that I really don’t mind eating. (Also, carrots don’t really have a “peel”, do they? Just the outer parts that we sometimes peel off for aesthetic purposes.) Also, if I have a carrot peel, I usually give it to my face below, because what how can i not?
However, Angie (the aforementioned person) may have to start sharing her carrot peels because I am very obsessed with carrot chips.
To make yourself this crunchy, salty, no-waste snack, all you have to do is cover the rind with enough butter to cover – I used duck fat because I am me, but you can use vegetable oil – drizzle a little salt and place them in the oven at 400 degrees until they begin to brown around the edges (about fifteen minutes). When they’re all toasted, I take them out and toss them in, adding a little salt, pepper, and possibly nutritional yeast if I’m feeling real mad.
Result? These crusts make a delicious, salty crunchy crust that I can’t stop eating. In fact, I love them so much that I can start peeling all the potatoes and carrots for all uses, whether or not it is needed. Aside from being eaten straight out of the pan, they are also a great addition to soups and salads, but I’ve never gotten this far.