Next Time You Buy Strawberries, Don't Throw Out The Tops

The only downside to strawberries is the amount of waste they leave behind when taking off the green tops. Besides being tedious at times, removing strawberry hulls often leaves a sizable amount of the berry scraps going right into the trash.

Many would be surprised to hear this, but strawberry hulls are actually 100% edible. The leaves themselves do not have much flavor on their own, but the fruit attached to the leaves is just as flavorful as the rest of the berry.

There are many ways to utilize strawberry tops to get the most out of your berries and avoid wasting fruit. They can be used to infuse fresh strawberry flavor into beverages, blended into smoothies, or cooked down into jams and syrups. There are plenty of other ways to stretch your strawberries to get the most value out of them too. Use some of the suggestions below to make full use of your produce.

The easiest way to use up all of your strawberry tops is by infusing them into liquid. The remaining juices inside the strawberry tops will impart their flavor to anything you choose. For example, you can steep your strawberry tops in vinegar to make a fruity and flavorful salad dressing. Just throw the hulls into a jar with red wine or balsamic vinegar for at least an hour to add their sweetness before using the infused vinegar in a vinaigrette.

The same mode of operation can be used to infuse strawberry flavor into any alcohol such as gin, whiskey, or vodka which can then be used in a variety of cocktails. A personal favorite of mine is strawberry-infused Aperol to give the beloved Aperol spritz a vibrant, summery twist. Even just soaking strawberry tops in water will imbue a subtle berry flavor to make hydrating a little more chic and satisfying.

Though it takes a few extra steps than merely soaking the hulls, strawberry tops can also be blended or cooked into many different recipes.

If you are ever making a fruit smoothie, you can simply throw the whole strawberry tops in, greens and all. This will give strawberry flavor as well as an additional nutritional boost from the green tops much like adding greens like spinach and kale into a smoothie.

When cooked down with sugar and a little bit of water in a saucepan for a few minutes, you can make a simple strawberry syrup out of all your hulls. After straining out the solids and leaves through a mesh strainer, the syrup can then be used to drizzle on top of ice cream or yogurt or served with pancakes for a fun change from your normal maple syrup, or even stirred in with seltzer to make a homemade strawberry soda.