We eat a variety of fruits and vegetables in my home as part of a healthy diet. A confession: I wash and refrigerate potatoes and refrigerate onions, which we’re not supposed to do. The reason why: I have a Manhattan-size, not a suburban-size kitchen, so I lack a cool dark place to store a bag of produce, and if I had to buy one potato or onion at a time, I'd lose the motivation to cook. I dislike having a job before I start a job!
Not including the above compromises, I try to follow as closely as possible the ways experts tell us to keep produce fresh. But it gets confusing. Certain fruits and vegetables release ethylene, a natural gas that speeds up ripening. Let’s learn which ones.High-ethylene produce includes apples, bananas, kiwi, avocados, tomatoes, and peppers. What the USDA calls ethylene-sensitive produce includes leafy greens, mushrooms, broccoli, cabbage, and cucumbers. If we mix high-ethylene produce with ethylene-sensitive produce in the same crisper drawer, they will spoil sooner rather than later.
We’re supposed to keep apples, bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, avocados, potatoes, and onions at room temperature, but I don’t -- except to let avocados or bananas ripen at room temperature -- before tossing them into the refrigerator. Immediately, you can refrigerate berries, leafy greens, cauliflower, green onions, mushrooms, and peas.
Ways to make fresh produce last longer include storing the high-ethylene produce and ethylene-sensitive produce in 2 separate crisper drawers. There’s usually a slide knob on the outside of each crisper drawer to set for high- or low-moisture produce also. Plus I bought thin plastic bins to store like produce together, which I place outside on the shelves of my refrigerator since all my produce won’t fit into my crisper drawers. I also have refrigerator liners, which absorb moisture inside the refrigerator to some extent. Moisture and poor air circulation greatly contribute to food spoilage.
Food experts tell us not washing produce keeps them fresh longer (which frankly I also ignore). I wash berries, leafy greens, and a stalk of celery before tossing them in my refrigerator. Remember, I dislike having a job (washing celery or potatoes) before starting a job (cooking ). Washing produce also keeps my refrigerator and refrigerator liners cleaner.
Often I slice or dice and freeze celery, peppers, and mushrooms to keep them from spoiling. Mostly I buy bags of frozen peas and mixed vegetables (diced carrots, peas, green beans, and corn) instead of fresh peas or mixed vegetables.
Once produce like an onion or apple is cut, I store it in a Rubbermaid plastic food container, not plastic wrap, as I’m slightly afraid of the chemicals in plastic wrap touching the food.
What my family loses by my storing produce such as potatoes or onions in our refrigerator instead of at room temperature is some flavor, but not enough flavor that we detect it. Certainly we’d notice a difference if we had the luxury of farm-fresh produce, but we don’t. (Sometimes the freshness of supermarket produce is also questionable.) We deal with the compromises of city life. Our main objective is to get healthy food into our pie-holes before it welts, tastes bad, grows eyes, stems and fuzz, or decays! At least we’re eating a variety of imperfectly stored produce rather than not eating produce or rotted produce, right?Do you have any hacks for keeping produce fresh?
You may also enjoy
