One of the questions I’m often asked in relation to juicing is what to do with the waste (called pulp) which is leftover, apart from the obvious ‘slapping it on the compost pile’ or feeding it to the chickens. The simple answer is ‘more than you can imagine’.
For practical purposes, I recommend that when you juice you start with either the fruit or the vegetables and follow with the other. This way you can have separate pulp piles for fruit and vegetables. For some uses, the mixture of the two is just fine. Please note, the moisture content of your juice pulp can vary depending on your juicer, so you may need to squeeze out excess juice for the best results depending on the application. If you don’t have time to use the pulp immediately, you can place it in resealable zip bags and freeze it until you are ready. While some of the nutritional value may be lost when freezing, most of the fibre will remain.
Here’s selection of my favourites which I collected over the year. These are all full-proof, tried and tested and you’re invited to share them, improve them, comment on them and of course add your own.
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Blend pulp into a smoothie to add insoluble fibre.
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Use pulp from homemade cinnamon hazelnut milk to make Raw Cinnamon Rolls
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Add to a soup to thicken and boost fibre and nutrient density.
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Use fruit pulp to make frozen “pulp-sicles” or fruit pulp-ice.
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Make a veggie broth by boiling pulp with water, herbs, and spices, then strain.
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Make a “fruit tea” by boiling fruit pulp with water, adding spices such as cinnamon or ginger, cooling, and then straining.
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Add vegetable pup to vegetable salad and fruit pulp to fruit salad.
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Use vegetable pulp to add nutrient density to mac n’ cheese, vegetarian ‘meatballs’, or pasta sauce, or layer into a lasagne.
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Make fabulous fruit leathers.
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Mix it in cream cheese
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Use in homemade veggie burgers or fritters. Pulp adds moisture, flavour, and nutrition.
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Mix pulp into baked goods like muffins, cakes, bread, crackers, dehydrated or baked cookies and granola bars. Celery, onion, carrot, sweet potato, spinach, apple, and berry all do a fine job.
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Use fruit or vegetable pulp to add flavour, texture, and moisture to pancakes.
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Make dehydrated pulp crackers.
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Use pulp for raw pizza crust.
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Make pulp marmalade.
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Make a pulp crumble by mixing pulp with fruit and juice, reducing, and then topping with oats, spices, nuts, or seeds.
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Dehydrate and make trail mix with raw nuts, seeds, and dried fruits.
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Dehydrate and use like bread crumbs.
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Use in DIY skincare recipes like scrubs, masks, and soap.
Mix pulp into your dog’s food or make doggie treats.