Okay, we’ll admit it. We’re produce junkies. Give us all the fruits, and give us all the vegetables. We make mean smoothies, stir fries, and one heck of a fruit tart.
If you’re like us in that your love for fresh fruit and veg runs deep, then you’ll know the strife of watching your fresh produce turn brown and mushy. Determined to fight the signs of aging produce, we scoured the internet and looked for some of the best methods to keep our fresh foods ripe and delicious for longer.
If you have any tried-and-true produce hacks that you’d like to pass on, we greatly appreciate all the help we can get. Keeping a larder of fresh produce isn’t cheap, and seeing our goods go bad is always a punch in the gut — and the wallet. Let’s help each other out, and pass on the good word.
There’s truly nothing worse than limp celery.
According to the Just A Little Nutty blog, wrapping the entire bunch of celery in aluminum foil keeps it crisp and crunchy.
Although you should try to keep your produce unwashed if you’re intending to keep it in the fridge, Just A Little Nutty realized that the aluminum foil trick doesn’t discriminate.
Your ants on a log (ahem…or Bloody Marys) just got a lot better.
Don’t recycle that Trader Joe’s bag just yet. Your potatoes may want to move in.
This is what celebrity chef Sarah Moulton says, hence why potatoes are shipped in breathable burlap sacks. But understandably, when you buy potatoes in bulk at the store, you won’t want to keep them in the plastic netting they’re often sold in.
If you’ve banned paper bags from your home, you can alternatively store potatoes in cardboard boxes or even wicker containers. And potatoes should always be kept away from sunlight, in the coolest part of your kitchen (that’s not the fridge).
According to designer Jihyun Ryou, per LifeHacker, the ethylene gas produced by apples prevents potatoes from sprouting. And this theory has been proven true by at-home chefs and America’s Test Kitchen alike.
Therefore, being able to store them in an area where their ethylene gas is put to good use makes both apple’s fellow produce and potatoes happy.
Or in a large beer stein, mason jar, etc. Hear us out on this one.
According to TheKitchn.com, the best way to preserve your fresh bundle of asparagus is shockingly similar to how you prepare a bouquet of flowers for display.
Then, place the bunch into a vase filled with about and inch or two of water. See? This seems pretty familiar, right?
You have asparagus that lasts a lot longer than it would in a plastic bag in your produce drawer.
If you stay on top of replacing the water in the vase, you can keep your asparagus fresh for up to a week. (This method works for keeping basil fresh, too!)
Berries and vinegar sounds like a combination made in hell. But if you aren’t going to eat them all in one sitting, you’re going to want to rinse them with this concoction.
Food52 recommends mixing one cup of vinegar with three cups of water. Then, give your berries a quick dunk and remove them with a colander. Then, feel free to rinse them with cold water to ensure you won’t taste the vinegar.
Lingering moisture can make this entire process null and void. Use your salad spinner, lined with paper towels, to dry the berries off before placing them storage.
We are all too familiar with opening a bag of lettuce one day and having it go bad by the next.
Luckily, there’s a way to cheat the spoiling cycle. When you open your bag of pre-washed lettuce, place a dry paper towel into the bag before returning it to the refrigerator.
This will keep your lettuce fresher for a longer period of time. Who else is going to start meal-prepping with this produce hack?
Wash your lettuce leaves and place them in a plastic bag with a dry paper towel. Replace the paper towel when it becomes soaked to ensure ultimate freshness.
Keeping your basil, cilantro, and parsley in a small vase, like one does with asparagus, is great. However, this method doesn’t work for all herbs.
The loose wrap keeps moisture from settling on the herbs and producing mold.
Just make sure to stay on top of replacing the paper towel as often as needed.
Print isn’t dead, people. Your avocados still appreciate the daily paper.
Simply place your avocados in a dark, ventilated environment. This presents the perfect opportunity to reuse your newspaper. Nothing wrong with being a little eco-friendly in the kitchen!
Then, when it’s ripe, recycle the newspaper and talk politics with your avocado before preparing it for breakfast. Or maybe just add the avocado to your toast or omelette. Your choice.
One bananas turn ripe, it’s a race against the clock to eat them all before they go brown. Or make delicious banana bread.
Simply detach each bananas from the bunch and individually wrap the stems in plastic wrap, tinfoil, or even recycled plastic bags.
And separating the bananas ahead of time makes it easy to grab one on the go.
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