Why You Shouldn’t Discard Onion and Garlic Peels While Cooking? Onion and garlic peels are packed with nutrients and surprising uses, from seasoning to fertilizer and odor removal.
Onions and garlic are two spices that Vietnamese people use almost daily in cooking. They help eliminate fishy odors and add delightful flavors to dishes, while also providing numerous health benefits. Onions are rich in vitamins C, B6, potassium, and folate, while garlic is abundant in vitamin C, B6, thiamine, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, copper, and manganese.
Reasons to Keep Onion and Garlic Peels
Not just the flesh, but even the peels of onions and garlic can be effectively utilized in various ways that not everyone knows about.
According to Times Entertainment, the reason you shouldn’t discard onion and garlic peels is that both contain many beneficial nutrients such as minerals, vitamins A, C, E, and antioxidants.
- Onion peels are a source of flavonoids called Quercetin, a powerful antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties that can help improve cardiovascular health.
- Garlic peels contain the antioxidant Phenylpropanoid which protects the heart by reducing bad cholesterol levels, boosting immunity, and slowing down aging.
Onion and garlic peels can be effectively utilized in many ways. (Image: Times of India).
Both onion and garlic peels contain essential oils, which you can use in various ways to elevate your cooking recipes. This is another reason why you shouldn’t discard onion and garlic peels.
Dry roasting onion and garlic peels and then grinding them into a fine powder, mixed with other seasonings like salt, pepper, and chili, can create a unique flavor for dishes such as salads, stews, soups, and curries. This is a cooking secret used by many chefs in renowned restaurants around the world.
Some famous chefs roast onion and garlic peels until they are charred and store them in jars for later use. Their secret is to add this mix to delicious dishes to impart a perfect smoky flavor.
Additionally, if you want to thicken your curry, soup, or broth, add onion peels to the pot. Once the soup and curry reach the desired thickness, use a spoon to remove the peels and enjoy.
For Indians, adding onion and garlic peels to rice during cooking is a secret to enhancing the nutrition and flavor of the rice they prefer.
How to Utilize Garlic Peels in Daily Life
Garlic peels have many amazing uses that you can take advantage of. (Image: Mashed).
Now that you know why you shouldn’t discard garlic peels, here are some ways to utilize them:
Odor Removal from Shoes
You can take advantage of the antibacterial and antimicrobial properties of allicin in garlic peels to eliminate shoe odors. Simply place a handful of garlic peels into each shoe and leave them overnight; the moisture inside the shoes will disappear, leaving them dry. Of course, the unpleasant smell will also be gone.
Foot Soak
Soaking your feet has many benefits, not only reducing fatigue but also preventing colds. You can add a few garlic peels to your foot soak, ideally in water heated to 60 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the water helps release allicin completely, enhancing its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, eliminating foot odor, and leaving your feet cleaner and more comfortable.
Feeding Poultry
When feeding poultry, you can mix a bit of garlic peel into their feed or grains.
Garlic peels are rich in allicin, which has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. Garlic peels not only stimulate the appetite of the poultry but also reduce disease rates, increase survival rates, and enhance the flavor of the meat.
Making Fertilizer
Garlic peels are high in potassium and phosphorus, making them suitable as fertilizer for flowers and plants. These elements are essential for the growth of flowers and plants.
Simply add garlic peels directly into the soil, and you can provide additional nutrients to help the flowers and plants thrive while saving money on fertilizer.
