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Can asparagus ends be used to make veggie broth, or will it be too strong of a taste?

Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Dan Marek - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Recorded

This event was on March 18, 2025

Join Chef Dan Marek in his virtual office as he welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to Ask Anything – from cooking techniques to course-specific questions, to how to turn your cooking passion into profit or simply hearing the perspective of a professional chef, Chef Dan is ready to answer them all.

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Question

Toni Crawford

Can asparagus ends be used to make veggie broth, or will it be too strong of a taste?

Answer

It'll absolutely be too strong of a taste. Um, and, uh, you know, for the ends, I, a lot of people cut too much off of asparagus. You don't have to cut a whole lot off, just cut a little bit off of it. And you know what Chef Jacque Poppen says to do is use a peeler and peel the ends of it as well. Because what you're trying to do is get rid of the woodiness on that asparagus. So just chop off the very end of it and then you can peel the end and you get a nice tender asparagus the whole way. But definitely don't use as scraps and veggie broth 'cause it will, uh, overwhelm the broth. Um, so, you know, yeah, I can't think of a single use case that I would use that for. If you're looking for something specifically to have an as, uh, uh, you know, asparagus flavor, you totally can, you know, cook it down and maybe blend it with some peas or something like that for a sauce.

Dan Marek

Director of Plant-Based Culinary & Dev

*Dan Marek* is a chef educator who has been teaching vegan and vegetarian cooking for over 15 years. At Rouxbe, he is our Director of Plant-Based Culinary and Development where he helps develop content, classes and builds courses for many of our partners. Dan is a board member of Slow Food Austin, the Institute of Child Nutrition, and Conscious Capitalism. He has earned his BA in Journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and holds certificates in Nutrition from Cornell University. Prior to his role with Rouxbe, Dan worked with Whole Kids Foundation training teachers and food service at schools across the country on nutrition and culinary best practices. He also worked as a Healthy Eating Educator at Whole Foods Market’s flagship store in Austin, TX, was a personal chef for some of Austin’s elite business people, taught classes in culinary techniques at Austin Community College, The Natural Epicurean, and Le Cordon Bleu. Dan also regularly volunteers cooking or speaking about nutrition for the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Marathon Kids, Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, and the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas.