How to keep veges and herbs fresh longer
DOESN’T it hurt you when you open the refrigerator to put in new supplies to find fruits, vegetables or herbs shriveled up. Of course because that’s money gone to waste.
Housekeeping.com website gives us some useful tips on how to keep veggies and herbs fresh longer.
Keep salad crisp
You can make bagged salad last longer by transferring the leaves to a bowl or storage container, placing a couple of sheets of kitchen paper on top and tightly wrapping the whole thing with a wax wrap (or clingfilm) to exclude as much air as possible.
This will help it to stay crisp and prevent the leaves from wilting in the fridge.
If you’ve bought a whole lettuce, remove the individual leaves and leave them to soak in a bowl of cold water for a couple of hours.
Rinse them, shake off the excess water then spread the leaves out on a clean muslin or tea towel before rolling it up.
Pop the whole thing into a large, airtight food storage box and keep it in the fridge. You’ll be surprised how long the leaves stay crisp and fresh and you’ll have a supply of prewashed leaves
to hand whenever you want to whip up a green salad.
Chop and freeze
Chop onions and spring onions and freeze them inside an empty water bottle or resealable bag.
Once they are frozen, simply shake or take out what you need and return the rest to the freezer. Cher Loh, Head Tutor at the Good Housekeeping Institute Cookery School suggests: “For other vegetables, blanch them briefly and refresh in cold water before freezing.”
Veggie vase
Wrap damp paper towels around the bases of your herbs, or try storing them upright in a glass with about an inch of water. This will keep them hydrated and slow down wilting.
No more floppy herbs
According to Cher, “Soft herbs like parsley, coriander, dill, mint and basil can be stored upright at room temperature in a glass with cool water.
Chop any leftover herbs and store in an ice cube tray, fill with water and place them in the freezer. When you’re ready to use them, just pop as many cubes as you need into your cooking.
Hard herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, sage and chives, will last longer if stored in the fridge - wrap them in dry kitchen paper before putting into airtight containers or resealable bags.”