NEW USES FOR OLD THINGS

For reasons unknown, I’ve become very conscious of the zero-waste movement in the past year or so, and things I’d previously have chucked out ( jam with only half an inch left in the bottle, sad single carrots, soft bananas and anything sprouting), I now try to find a use for. Thus, the dog gets homemade gluten-free banana cookies and we eat more stir-fries than usual.

So when No-Waste Kitchen Gardening turned up in the letterbox, I liked the look of it. “Stop tossing your carrot stumps, cilantro sprigs, lettuce and avocado pits in the trash,” it said. “No-Waste Kitchen Gardening gives you all the information you need to grow and re-propagate produce from your kitchen scraps.”

There was nothing in there that told me how to regrow the jam, but the carrots and sprouting veg are certainly dealt to. I also found instructions for re- growing ginger, which is very appealing because I love ginger and hate throwing out the wizened wee bit that’s always left over. And basil! Yes, you can regrow basil, which is immensely useful intelligence for a failed basil grower like me.

From now on, whenever something in the fridge is past its best but I’d like more of it, I’ll be looking for instructions in this book.