Waste not want not !

August is seen to be the height of the tourist season, well it certainly is if you look at the price of flights, travel and accommodation!.

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In the good old days, for many being on summer holiday meant taking a good book somewhere relaxing to read it in peace, such as on the beach or under a cooling shady palm tree.

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Today, kindles and other modern apparatus allows us to download any novel ever written on planet earth at the click of a few buttons, from virtually any location, ?although for me personally, the act of turning a page underpinned ?by the tactility that a real book offers, is part of the joy.?

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Alas whilst I thought I was in a minority, ?it certainly came as a surprise to find out that each year 640,000 tons of books end up in landfills (according to the National Wildlife Federation).

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Whilst my initial thought was to hope that none of my own cookbooks were amongst that lot, it was sad to hear of such a waste.

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This swiftly spurred me on to look into how many trees ?it would roughly take to produce ?640,000 tons of books .

Whilst I am no Carol Vordeman it appears that it takes on average 24 trees to make one ton of paper, this roughly equating to approximately 26,666 trees to produce.?

In effect a small forest every year, simply disposed of!.

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Food waste is even more depressing, as according to a global report, 923 million tons of food is thrown away every year.

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The “food waste index” revealed that 17% of food from shops, households and restaurants go directly in the bin with some 60% of that waste being from the home.?

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As a shock horror statistic shows that the 923 million tonnes of food being wasted each year would fill 23 million x 40-tonne trucks, bumper-to-bumper, enough to circle the earth seven times.

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And whilst we moan about the cost of living, inflation and hiked up food prices, maybe we should just consider for a few moments using up the produce we do buy and certainly for the benefit of our own pockets, as according to Wrap research, the average UK household could save ￡700 per annum, simply by only purchasing the food they eat..?

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Literally, food for thought, as they say.

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I leave you with a recipe ( hopefully using up a few seasonal left overs...)

Happy Summer, wherever you may be spending it.

?Salmorejo:

Salmorejo is a simple Spanish dish and similar to that of the more well-known chilled Gazpacho soup.

Salmorejo is made from humble and in most cases left over ingredients. Perfect for a summers lunch or light evening meal, creating a no waste dish with perfect flavours, Using up Ingredients such as left over stale bread and over ripe tomatoes are just perfect.

Salmorejo is probably harder to say than to make, as you simply add all the ingredients to a blender and puree until completely smooth and creamy. You’ll just need to factor in some time for the soup to chill before serving, (allow approx 1 hour in the refrigerator) .

·???????? Recipe

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·???????? 1 ? 1lbs of very ripe tomatoes.

·???????? 5 oz of stale crust less bread

·???????? 25 ml ?olive oil,

·???????? 1 crushed and peeled clove garlic.

·???????? 1 tablespoon of sherry or sherry vinegar

·???????? ? tsp of sea salt,

·???????? ? teaspoon of black ground pepper.

·???????? 60-80ml cold water ( to attain the correct consistency).

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·???????? Method

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·???????? Place all the ingredients into a bowl or food processor and blend on high speed until very smooth.

·???????? The soup should be thick and creamy and similar to the consistency of yogurt.

·???????? Cover and place into the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour to chill.

This soup is also very versatile as you can add a few leftovers to garnishes such as trying it with some slithers of finely shredded ham, or use up and embellish with a few hard boiled eggs by adding a few sliced or chopped eggs into the serving bowl. ?

You may also wish to add a chopped green or red pepper , either placed into the serving bowl or even added to the blitzing of the soup.

Enjoy chilled in the sun with a good book !

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