Show me a recipe that doesn't say use only the white part of the leek.
First, bought leeks often only have 3" of white, & the cost of the waste is enormous.
Second, it all tastes the same?
Third, would you waste 3/4 of your lovingly grown fruit?
I certainly use it all Tim. Sometimes keep back a bag or two of diced green in the freezer for adding to soups.
Ditto, I only 'waste' the root and about an inch or a shade more of the leaf tip ... - otherwise the dish has a very insipid look, no colour at all !!!
They say "use only white" because the green is said to be bitter, like the green shoot of sprouting garlic.
Either that or the recipes are developed by the Leek Promotion Board in conjunction with the supermarkets! ;D
I only throw away any really tough outside green leaves and you only get those on old leeks. I watch ready steady cook and they always use the whole leek. They used them last week and do you know they never even washed them lol. I always seem to get loads of dirt in mine. So I slice them longways and then slice them so that the dirt doesn't get stuck in the rings. Nothing worse than grit in ya veg.