Sometimes, little changes made time and time again over many years can make a big difference in the long run. One example of this might be the way you make pasta. Saving a few pints of water here and there can add up over time.
For example, consider how you make pasta. The package says to boil four or six pints of water before adding the pasta...and you dutifully do. Then you pour it down the sink. What's the point? Is it necessary?
A New York Times article "Do you need all that water to boil pasta?" tackles just these questions. The author experiments using less and less water, down to 1.5 quarts, and found that it worked just fine. You had to stir it more often to keep it from sticking to the sides of the pot, but otherwise you were set.
But water isn't the only resource these changes save. Electricity/energy is also a big concern. It takes a lot of energy to get four quarts of water up to a boil. By using less water, you are also using less energy to cook the same delicious meal.
Check out the article for all the details. And think about other ways that you can, little by little, reduce your impact in the kitchen.
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Learning to live self-sufficiently and sustainably in the South.
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2 comments:
Even if you do use the recommended ammount of water to boil your pasta, that water can be put to good use!
It can be a good base for potato soup. It could be subbed for broth in vegetable, chicken, or other broth-based soup, with the addition of extra seasoning or bullion cubes. Can also be used for gravy.
Drain your pasta over a storage container, allow the pasta water to cool. Refrigerate if you plan to use within 3-4 days, freeze if you plan to use it longer.
Absolutely, Amy. I use my pasta (or bagel-making!) water to water my flower beds. There are certainly lots of good uses for the extra water.
Your comment brought my attention, though, to the fact that I had completely left out the bigger issue in my post. I guess I just assumed it would come across somewhere in my writing, but, re-reading my post, it certainly did not.
The bigger issue here is energy usage. It takes a lot more energy to get four or six quarts of water boiling than it does to get 1.5; this is the primary environmental impact, especially if one is thoughtful with one's water disposal, like you've said. I've edited my post now to explicitly say that. Oops!
Thanks so much for drawing my attention to that!!
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