Ways to Keep Fruits and Veggies Fresher for Longer
preferable – keep them away from heat sources and direct sunlight. And if you’re still not consuming them as quickly as you hope, do move them around in the bowl to avoid bruising.
Wrap your leafy greens. Leafy greens should be consumed within one to two days of purchase to ensure both freshness and that you are getting all the nutrients out of them. But if you are going to store these greens, the best way to extend their life is to wrap the unwashed leaves in a paper towel so that the towel can absorb any excess moisture – if the leaves retain excess moisture, they will rot quickly. After wrapping in the paper towel put them in plastic bags and keep them in the fridge.
Refresh lettuce and herbs with an ice bath. If your greens have started to look a little wilted due to the cold temperature of your fridge, or from being left on the counter for a little too long, you can easily refresh them by giving them and ice bath. Simply place the lettuce leaves or herbs in a large bowl of ice water and shake the greens around a bit to revive them. A minute or two should awaken them and get them looking fresh and new!
Freeze your fruits and veggies. If you overestimated how quickly you could consume your purchases, don’t get down on their eventual demise – and waste. Instead, chop those ripened fruits and veggies up and freeze them for use on a future occasion. You can freeze items such as bell peppers, green beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, celery, cucumbers, onions, eggplant, mushrooms, strawberries, blueberries, bananas… and the list goes on! Just make sure you blanch them in hot water before sticking them in below freezing temperatures. Blanching neutralizes bacteria present in foods, delaying spoilage.
Refrigerate ripened bananas. There’s a lingering myth that refrigerating bananas only makes them go bad faster. While a banana in the fridge may find a brown or black skin in just a few hours, what lies beyond the peel remains perfectly okay. The cold temperature of a fridge encourages an enzyme found in bananas (polyphenyl oxidase) to polymerise phenols in the banana skin into polyphenols, which in turn blackens the banana skins. However, the cold temperature also keeps the banana from ripening even further keeping the fruit perfect within.