By Branston NPD team
Put down the peeler and find out how you can use spud skins to create or enhance your recipes.
Potatoes are definitely a popular choice of comfort food and can be cooked in lots of different ways to suit your mood, whatever the season: potato dauphinoise, jacket potatoes, chips, wedges, new potatoes, mashed potatoes, the list is endless.
Although potatoes are loved by the general population with 96% of households in the UK regularly putting them in their shopping baskets, the same cannot always be said for potato skins, sadly.
It is true that we are all guilty at some point of throwing away potato skin; maybe we’ve eaten a jacket potato and left the skin at the end, or we’ve prepared a bowl of mash and thrown away the peel in the preparation process. In fact, it is estimated annual food waste arising within UK households, hospitality and food service, food manufacture, retail and wholesale sectors is at around 10 million tonnes, 60% of which could have been avoided.
What we don’t always consider, is that the skin also holds a lot of goodness and nutrients and can be easily repurposed from trash to delicious treats.
Here is a short list of benefits of the potato skin and why you should definitely think twice before binning it:
The health benefits of potato skins
- It contains potassium which helps stabilise your blood pressure levels
- There is no fat or cholesterol
- It is packed with fibre which aids the functioning of the digestive system
- It is rich in antioxidants and nutrients that prevent disease
- It contains vitamin B and C which are beneficial for the metabolism and maintenance of healthy tissue and organs.
So how can we make the most of potato skin?
Fun (and nutritious) potato skin recipe ideas
Making use of the potato skin isn’t as hard as you might think, nor is it time-consuming. Here are a few potato skin recipes to whet your appetite.
Broccoli and cheddar-stuffed potato skins with avocado cream
Stuffed potato skins are satisfying and indulgent – a perfect treat at the end of a long, tiring week. Follow this recipe for a scrumptious mix of flavours that will be sure to get your taste buds tingling.
These flavoursome potato skins are a great alternative to fried chunky chips or crisps. They are perfect for snacking or serving as a starter at dinner parties – make sure you prepare enough as they are bound to disappear quickly!
Instead of using potatoes as a key ingredient of soups, try out this interesting recipe which uses potato peel instead. With the addition of onions, stock cube and milk specified in the recipe, this is an ideal dish for a cold winter’s evening and is guaranteed to instantly warm you up.
Next time you’re peeling potatoes, don’t just reach for the bin – try out these recipes and enjoy the results!
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