Up-cycling is a newish term for recycling food that would otherwise become waste, and making usable products out of it. And that is anything from meat processing leftovers, corn stalks after harvesting cobs, to spent grain after making beer. This practice is worth supporting.
Behind the scenes, I think more large agricultural businesses are jumping on this bandwagon because they have done so poorly at waste reduction and recycling efforts, this becomes a way to create new income streams with minimal investment and generally good PR outcomes. What do you think?
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The Upcycling Start
The first written mention of the term upcycling was in a 1994 article Salvo, an architecture and antiques magazine. It came up during an interview with mechanical engineer Reiner Pilz who is quoted as saying: I call recycling down-cycling. What we need is up-cycling, thanks to which old products are given a higher, not a lower, value (1). The first industry to use this framework was the fashion business, going back to WWII years when clothing items were hard to find, or afford.
But the term was coined earlier in that year by two German engineers, William McDonough and Michael Braungart, to describe remodification and re-engineering of older items to be reused and given a second life (2). Of course they were talking about items that were already being recycled, such as metal, glass, and paper.
I think food waste hit as a concern during the pandemic when there were lots of news stories and articles about milk being dumped, farm animals being sold or killed, and fields laying in waste. These were caused by all the food supply issues we are still dealing with today, namely transportation and logistical issues.
Soon afterwards, upcycling was named a top 10 trend by Whole Foods in 2021.
Food Waste
When I say the term food waste, I am including two aspects of food.
- Food Waste: any human-grade food that does not end up feeding people; but is left to rot in the fields or ends up in landfills, anaerobic digestors, or incinerators (3).
- Farming Waste: any non-human-grade plant or animal material that does not end up feeding people.
I have heard that 28% of agricultural land goes to grow food that is never eaten by humans but is used for feed. For me both processes I define above produce waste, although I am only directly involved in the human food waste portion as I am not a farmer. So I will use both these definitions as food waste.
Is Upcycling Just Recycling Rebranded
The only common thing between the two is the reuse of a used item. Recycling is really a process of turning waste into something of lesser quality. Like turning cardboard boxes into pulp to make newspaper. Upcycling is all about repurposing waste, into a new ingredient. Like turning whey, a byproduct of cheese making, into a new powdered animal feed supplement to sell to farmers.
Benefits
In general, there are common sense benefits to upcycling items that are in our households.
- Reduction in items going to landfill as waste
- Reduces the need for new manufacturing
- Minimizes what we take from our limited global resources
- Reduces our carbon footprint: 8% of human-cause greenhouse gas emissions come from food loss and waste
- Supports new sustainable jobs
But for food specifically it helps by reducing food waste, uses all of the crop that was grown, and helps feed the hungry.
Food Upcycling + Recycling Efforts
This section will give examples of what farmers and businesses are doing to upcycle, but also will give ideas on what we can do at home to upcycle food. For instance, eating leftovers can save time, effort and serious cash if you eat them for lunch instead of ordering out (4) But you can also transform the leftovers into new dishes, like turning old rice into fried rice, or roasted veggies into hash.
Bread
Left over or dried bread? Make your own bread crumbs or Panko, or croutons. Or make a food dish such as panzanella salad.
- Panzanella Salad (derived from Ina Garten)
- Either buy or make a vinaigrette.
- 1t finely minced garlic
- 1/2t Dijon mustard
- 3T Champagne vinegar
- 1/2C good olive oil
- 1/2t kosher salt
- 1/4t freshly ground black lemon pepper.
- Heat a large skillet and 3T good olive oil in a large saute pan.
- Add 6C cubed stale bread pieces and 1t kosher salt.
- Toss the bread ~10min, over low heat, until nicely browned.
- In a large bowl, mix 2 chopped tomatoes, 1 skin-on with seeds cucumber, 1 chopped red pepper, 1 chopped yellow pepper, 1/2 sliced red onion, ~20 basil leaves coarsely chopped, and 3T capers.
- Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette.
- Season liberally with kosher salt and lemon pepper.
- Let the salad sit for ~30-45min to blend its flavors.
- Either buy or make a vinaigrette.
Corn Germ + Cobs + Husks + Silks
Corn is one of those vegetables that is low on EWG’s residual pesticide listing, but any pesticides applied are generally sprayed on so will hit the husks and silks. Make sure the husks you buy or harvest yourself, are clean and free from those chemicals.
Corn Fiber
Agrifiber writes that corn fiber can be used as a water holding, thickener, or gelling agent in: Dairy, Bakery, Sauces, Fillings, Soups, Yogurt, Meat Patties, and Coatings.
Corn Germ
One brand, Kazoo Snacks, reported: We use 40% upcycled corn germ in our chips — As such, we only need to use 60% virgin growth corn. Our upcycled corn germ is a byproduct of the corn starch industry, they grow the corn for the starch, mill off the bran and germ and send them to a waste channel. We reclaim and upcycle this germ into our tortilla chips.
Corn Cob
Completely dry the cobs in a low oven, then use them as wood chip replacements for grilling or smoking foods. When dried, they can even be used as pot scrubbers, and then compost them. Add the cobs after eating the corn on the cob, to boiling water to make a broth for use in a corn chowder or other soups, for cooking grains, or even for use in risotto. The cob will impart a corn aroma to the broth and will naturally (think cornstarch) thicken it too.
- Corn Stock
- Place cobs in a large soup pot
- Ratio is 3:4 or ~3 cobs per 4C of water
- Cover with cold water and bring to boil
- Reduce heat, put on a lid, and simmer for ~1 hour.
- Strain the cobs and compost, but save the broth.
- You can use or freeze the broth.
- Place cobs in a large soup pot
Corn Husk
Corn husks are a byproduct of processing corn and are great to use, fresh or dried, as wraps to package food for steaming or even grilling. We usually find them wrapping tamales. Or they can be used to line a bamboo steamer so food does not stick.
Heiwa Slippers are made in farm villages in northern Japan. They are made from naturally dried, woven corn husk. Inedible corn husks have been disposed of in very large quantities, but these slippers recycle and make use of them. In the autumn when corn is harvested, the corn husks are carefully peeled away and dried, and then in the winter when farm work comes to an end the husks are meticulously woven together.
Corn Silk
Fascinatingly, there is one silk for every kernel on the cob (5). But even the silk can be upcycled into food. The corn silk can be deep fried and served like a nest with poached eggs, or as a topping to salads or casseroles. An Asian favorite way of using the corn silks is to make a healthy tea.
- Corn Silk Tea
- Simmer 1T cleaned and chopped corn silk.
- In 1C boiling water.
- Strain and serve.
- Optional: add a squeeze of lemon.
Cows
Dairy cows eat a Total Mixed Ration (TMR) that is made up of: corn and grass silage, hays, legumes (alfalfa), and other by-products from producing human food and clothing such as almond hulls, cottonseeds, distillers grains, citrus or pomegranate pulp, and soybean meal. This roughly translates, in California at least, into about 85% of what cows consume, is made up of byproducts of making foods we eat (6).
Meanwhile, overtime, industries have grown around leftovers from cow slaughtering. Although I knew industries have started to utilize all aspects of the cow’s body, so that nothing goes to waste, I was surprised at some of the items in the graphic above. This too is upcycling in that all parts are used so minimal waste is produced from slaughtering these animals.
Fish
NatGeo writes about two commercial salmon fishermen, scores some serious creativity points. Troubled by the fish skin tossed out by the industry, the duo behind Tidal Vision decided to transform it into items like wallets that you can actually use. These wallets look good and won’t make your pocket smell like fish. Next up for Tidal Vision: turning crab shell fiber into high-tech, antimicrobial clothing.
If you do not like fish skin, you can easily fry it and it can become human, dog, or cat treats.
- Fried Fish Skin
- Separate skin from the fish, make sure there are no bones.
- Slice the skin into strips, it will shrink so make them ~1” wide.
- Toss the skins in a bowl with some kosher salt, and let sit ~10min.
- Pat dry to avoid splatters.
- Heat oil in a skillet or wok.
- Fry outside of the skin down until it turns brownish, then flip. Do not let it burn.
- Remove and drain the oil from the crispy skin.
- Serve.
Fruits
The often thrown away strawberry tops can be used to make an infusion, tincture or extracts. Again, just make sure they have been cleaned. In fact, you can also throw them into a smoothie.
Overripe bananas we often turn into banana bread, or add to smoothies so they are not wasted.
H&M reports banana fiber and grape skin leather are now (2021) being used in sneakers. The London brand Pangia are also using upcycled grape skins, stalks and seeds from the wine industry to make their zero-waste sneakers. But in addition to that, they’re repurposing industrial waste to make the rubber soles of the shoe. Even the ends of their laces are made using upcycled plastic ends (and stuck together with bio-based glue).
Apple peels and cores (minus seeds) can be used to make your own vinegar, make an apple peel tea, roast the peels and add sugar and cinnamon, etc. But we waste more of an apple by eating it the way we do, if we ate it north to south (or end to end) we would wind up eating 30% more apple. The reason is that the “core” is a bit of a myth and comes from our eating style more than a core actually being there.
Please note: while apple seeds do contain amygdalin, which can convert into cyanide when apple seeds are crushed or chewed, the amount is extremely low. Which means you’d have to eat a ton of apple seeds to be affected by the cyanide inside of them.
Grains
Rye, wheat, oats, etc., are all farmed and the main food item is harvested for human food. But what is left behind are stalks which used to be burned or otherwise disposed. These days those left over pieces of plant material are turned into animal feed, bedding, and other items usable on farms.
Agrifiber writes that upcycled powdered oat fiber can be used as a stabilizer, emulsifier, or batter enhancement in: snacks, bread, cookies, whipped desserts, and dips.
Tattersall Distillery uses, according to Netzro, tons of nutrient-rich, spent rye & corn grains that are recovered every week. During the distilling process sugars are extracted, then using Netzro proprietary technology, the spent grains are restored leaving behind the nutritious fiber and protein. This marks the first time that upcycled grain from a distillery will be made commercially available as edible ingredients. In 2017 they started the reclaiming and processing of spent grain from various breweries throughout Minnesota.
Greens
Turnip, Chard, Kale, and Beets all have greens we can eat. But often people discard the spines and just cook with the leaves, but all parts are edible. So I cook them by first separating the leaves from the spines and giving them a good clean. Then chop them both up separately, because after the oil and aromatics, I add the spine parts to my skillet so they get a slightly longer cook. Then add the leaves as they wilt pretty fast.
- Similarly I use the fennel fronds, the feathery parts as a salmon topping or will chop the sturdier parts and add to a stew or roasted veggies.
- I will add carrot greens and celery greens to salads.
- And use the broccoli stems not just the flowers, by chopping them into coins (whatever thickness I want) and adding them to my dish.
Onion + Garlic Family
The paper sheathing on onions and garlic can be used in making broths, the onion specifically will help darken the color of the broth. You can also add carrot, parsnip, turnip, etc., peels to broth making, just make sure the food has been well cleaned.
Leeks often see their dark green fibrous part discarded, but the whole plant is usable, white and green, just cook the darker green parts a little more. The same with scallions, use both the white and green parts.
Potatoes
From the farm, potato by-products are primarily used as animal feed. But they are also prepared and used by companies for nutritional or pharmaceutical compounds.
In bakeries, the high level of fiber in potato peels is utilized for commercial muffin preparation to replace wheat and prevent muffin oxidation (7). Potato starch is widely used by the pharmaceutical, textile, wood, and paper industries as an adhesive, binder, texture agent, and filler, and by oil drilling firms to wash boreholes (8). Potato starch is also used as a substitute for polystyrene, and used specifically in disposable plates, dishes, and knives.
Potato waste has a high nitrogen content and can be used as fertilizer. It was reported to be as effective as ammonium nitrate fertilizer for corn growth under optimal application level (9). And their starch can be liquefied and fermented into fuel-grade ethanol. In fact, a study in Canada’s potato-growing province of New Brunswick estimated that 44,000 tons of processing waste could produce 4-5 million liters of ethanol.
Seeds
We will soon be seeing Sesame Seed Milk on shelves, packaged in recyclable Tetra Pak® cartons. This is a new use for a really sustainable plant. Reportedly it features 9g of complete protein per serving (containing all nine essential amino acids) which is 9x more protein than most almond milks and 3x more protein than most oat milks.
Seeds from pumpkin or squash can be cleaned, dried, and eaten as a snack or used as a topping to other foods.
That is all I have time for now. Hope this gave you ideas.
—Patty
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